As you have probably seen or heard, our fearless, trash-bag-shaped approximation of a president—in a move that endangers the lives and the healthcare of American women, trans men, and nonbinary folks—dropped a metaphorical bomb earlier this week. In a speech before an anti-choice organization hilariously named after Susan B. Anthony, Trump announced a "gag rule" prohibiting health care providers that offer abortion services, abortion-related counseling, or referrals to abortion providers from receiving federal Title X grant funding.
So! Since we know that critical thinking isn't a strong suit of his, we thought we'd put together a fun little list to remind our president—and vice-president, and members of Congress, and anti-choicers everywhere—just what abortion actually is.
Abortion is...
1. Legal.
2. A safe medical procedure to which Americans have a constitutional right.
3. Legal.
4. A family planning choice and an alternative to parenting or adoption.
5. Legal.
6. A necessary option for pregnant people who cannot afford, are not ready to, or do not want to carry the pregnancy to term.
7. Legal.
8. Life-saving in many pregnancy conditions, including preeclampsia, infection, and disease.
9. Legal.
10. A private decision made privately by a patient in collaboration with a doctor as part of that patient’s health care, which is private.
11. Legal.
12. Essential to women and trans and nonbinary folks’ bodily autonomy.
13. Legal.
We won’t go back.
top photo: Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt pro-choice demonstration in front of SCOTUS, by jordanuhl7 via Wikimedia Commons
More from BUST
#ShoutYourAbortion Activists Model Fierce Abortion Fashion
Activists Explain Why Abortion Is A Human Right
I Had An Abortion, And This Is What It Was Like
Hannah Matthews is an organizer, activist, and writer based in Portland, Maine. Her work has appeared in Time, Inc., SELF, and BUST Magazines, and online at McSweeney's Internet Tendency and Ravishly.com. She can be reached at hannahmatthewswrites@gmail.com
