FLASH: This campaign just reached its goal of $25,000. A generous donor will now match every dollar up to $5,000. Your donations will help us reach the "stretch" goal of $35,000 to bring more people on the Ride. Please share the news with your friends that their donations count DOUBLE today.
Abortion
Rights Freedom Ride 2014: Ground Zero Texas
A
fight to turn the tide in the all-out assault on women's right to
abortion and birth control.
We
draw inspiration from the original Freedom Riders because of their
willingness to put everything on the line to stop a horrible
injustice that millions had grown to accept as “just the way things
are.” At stake today is whether women - one half of humanity -
will be legally treated as less than full human beings.
Texas:
GROUND ZERO
“If nothing
changes, on September 1st all but six abortion
clinics in Texas will be closed (there were 46 in 2011).
“Women will
begin dying from dangerous illegal abortions. Others will be
imprisoned for self-inducing abortions. Thousands more will have
their lives foreclosed by being forced to bear children they do not
want – shattering their dreams, trapping them in abusive
relationships, and/or driving them into humiliating and dangerous
poverty. Rural, poor, immigrant, and women of color will be hardest
hit.
“Worse, this
emergency in Texas is not an isolated problem.
“Hundreds of
abortion restrictions have been enacted in recent years. Six states
have only one abortion clinic left. Eight abortion doctors and staff
have been murdered. Countless women have been shamed and humiliated.
“Those
driving this attack on women's most fundamental rights are deadly
serious. They will not stop until all abortions have been
criminalized for all women in all circumstances.
“THIS MUST
NOT BE ALLOWED! Forcing women to have children against their will is
a form of enslavement.”
-
from statement initiated by Abortion
Rights Freedom Ride Advisory Board Members:
Diane Derzis, Carol Downer,
Merle Hoffman, Sunsara
Taylor, along with Sikivu Hutchinson and Rev. Donna Schaper
A
Time for Courage and Daring
Courageous people are doing important work to keep abortion
available. At the same time, it must be confronted soberly:much
more is needed.
What happens this summer in Texas will affect women everywhere.
It is the responsibility of everyone who does not want to see women
forced to have children against their will to stand up and fight.
Not some time in the future, but now.
Volunteers
will travel through Texas, joining with people in Texas and around
the country to stand up in mass, independent political resistance.
People's
Hearings – Modeled after the Emergency Speak Outs which
involved testimony of abortions before legalization, courageous
abortion doctors, and others, we will hold People's Hearings which
will be live-webcast around the country every week to wake people up to
the true emergency and stakes of this fight.
Honor Abortion Providers – With banners for people to sign, we’ll spread the message: "Abortion Providers Are Heroes."Dramatic
Protests – Politically
confront forces and institutions behind the anti-abortion attacks
with images and stories of women who died when abortion was illegal,
bloody coat-hangers, and shackles representing female enslavement.
![]()
WEEK
OF DEFIANCE – Final week
of August, a national WEEK OF DEFIANCE. Into the streets with the
pictures and stories of women, bloody coat-hangers, and shackles
across the country.
After
that – If
the clinic closures go forward on September 1st,
Abortion Rights Freedom Riders pledge to stick around to be part of
mobilizing people's outrage and refusing to accept this assault on
women's lives.
The
Funds We Need
$25,000
is needed to get the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride on the road. It
will help make it possible for inspiring young activists and others
to be on the road for a full month having a major political impact as
well as involving hundreds throughout Texas and thousands around the
country. Think: airfare, van rentals, gas, housing and living
expenses. Think: thousands of leaflets, palm-cards, stickers,
banners, etc. It will help with the cost of national webcasts to
project the message of the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride throughout
society in real time.
Then,
there will be additional fundraising during the month-long ride to
cover the rest of the costs, including to help produce a high quality
film so that the impact of the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride can be
felt far beyond the summer.
Give
as much as you can, whether that be $2,500 or $25 or $5. It really
matters.
Other Ways You Can TAKE PART
Join
the Freedom Ride in Texas - sign up online
for part of the time or the whole ride.
Sign the new Statement on the Emergency in Texas here.
Tune
in every Wednesday night throughout August for the live webcast
People's Hearings. Spread the word about this and bring friends
together to watch, thereby building communities of resistance.
Take
to the streets wherever you are for the end of August WEEK OF
DEFIANCE.
Reach
out to people you know in Houston, Austin, San Antonio and the Rio
Grande Valley and ask them to join in with the Freedom Ride and
speak-outs, provide housing, organize welcome parties and protests,
and offer support in any way.
Send
in testimony for the People's Hearings with your own pre-Roe abortion
story or statement or story from today about what women are being
forced to go through.
Email
text or video to be posted on to StopPatriarchy(at)gmail.com
Who
We Are
The
Abortion Rights Freedom Ride 2014: Ground Zero Texas was initiated by
the movement to End Pornography and Patriarchy: The Enslavement and
Degradation of Women (StopPatriarchy.org). You can read our Call
to Action
here.
The
Abortion Rights Freedom Ride Advisory Board consists of:
Diane Derzis, owner,
Jackson Women's Health Organization (last abortion clinic in
Mississippi)
Carol Downer, co-founder of Feminist Women's Health Center which began doing abortions in 1971
Merle Hoffman, CEO Choices Women's Medical Center which began
doing abortions in 1971
Wendy Robinson, Director, Voice of Choice
Mary Lou Singleton, licensed midwife and family nurse practitioner, founder of Personhood for Women
Sunsara
Taylor, writer,
Revolution,
initiator,
End
Pornography and Patriarchy: The Enslavement and Degradation of Women
You
can read the Report from last summer's Abortion Rights Freedom Ride
in 2013 here.
Watch
the webcast of our April 11, 2014 Speakout at Advent Lutheran Church
in NYC, and see photos from the April 12 actions across the country
here.
We
value and seek to work with everyone who is working to defend women's
right to abortion and to end all forms of violence and oppression
against women. Contact us at StopPatriarchy(at)gmail.com.
We
have a powerful track record of going right up against the most
entrenched institutions and forces of patriarchy, and bringing
forward powerful, transformative and contagious resistance.
Thank
You
Whatever
you do, THANK YOU for being part of a movement that can really make a
huge difference for the future of women everywhere!