During this dystopian, Handmaid’s Tale-like time where conservatives are attempting to reverse Roe v. Wade, many are asking what men can do to both to support women and speak up and out.
Comedian and CNN-host W. Kamau Bell crafted the hashtag #ShoutYourVasectomy, his take on #ShoutYourAbortion. Bell highlighted his decision to get the procedure on his show United Shades of America after he and his wife decided they don’t want anymore kids. He documented his self-proclaimed “uneventful” journey, but raised an important question: why are men able to get this procedure and not have to endure the same stigma women do when they have an abortion?
In a Sunday tweet, Bell said, “To be clear #ReproductiveJustice should cover women, the Trans community, non binary people, anyone with a uterus, and more. Let’s make everyone’s reproductive healthcare & services as easy, professional, & uneventful as my vasectomy. #AlabamaAbortionBan #ReproductiveRights”
This fight cannot be won without our male allies. We need everyone to come together to rally against the men and women who are implementing these bills into laws.
Male celebrities like Jordan Peele and J.J. Abrams are standing in solidarity with women by choosing to not shoot in Georgia for their new HBO series Lovecraft Country. Georgia is deemed the Hollywood of the South, making it a hot spot for movie and television filming due to attractive tax incentives. But when Georgia governor Brian Kemp signed the outlandish fetal heartbeat bill into law, men in Hollywood like Peele and Abrams took action. Other actors like Jason Bateman, who films his hit-Netflix show Ozark in Georgia, vows to boycott filming in the state if the legislation survives in court. A similar boycott was called for in 2018 when the state’s Senate passed a bill allowing adoption agencies to deny same-sex couples from adopting children.
Are you a man who wants to help but doesn’t know where to start? Donate to nationwide organizations like Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and NARAL. Or The Yellowhammer Fund which is based in Alabama. You could volunteer as a clinic escort with more information found here. And maybe most importantly, continue to speak out about how this is so dangerous to not only women, but our growing society as a whole. Condemn these laws. This is an not attempt to preserve life, but an effort to continue stripping away our rights as women to leave us in poverty, unemployed, or in jail.
We cannot do this alone.
Top photo: YouTube screenshot from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
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