We Had Abortions

[purplerabbit]

We Had Abortions.

Step forward. Let your voice be heard.

Sign the Ms. Petition for Safe, Legal and Accessible Abortion and Birth Control.

Make a contribution so Ms. can promote the petition and provide funds to fight abortion bans and support targeted abortion providers.

Dear Friends,

We have had abortions.

That was the headline of a petition in the 1972 debut issue of Ms. magazine in which 53 well-known U.S. women declared that they had undergone abortions -- despite state laws rendering the procedure illegal.

It's time for a new petition for honesty and freedom.

Even then, to many it seemed absurd that the government could deny a woman sovereignty over her own body. It is even more absurd in 2006 that an abortion ban has passed into law in South Dakota, though it has been stayed because an initiative to remove the ban has been placed on the state's November ballot.

At the time of the original Ms. petition, illegal abortions were causing untold suffering and countless deaths of young women in the United States. Today, in the developing nations each year, approximately 70,000 women and girls die from botched and unsafe abortions and another 500,000 maternal deaths occur...most of this suffering and loss could be prevented. U.S. international family planning policies contribute to this death toll.

Today we are starting a new petition and are inviting you to join Ms. in a campaign for honesty and freedom. You can read the full petition here.

We recognize that, still, not every woman will be able to sign today - 33 years after Roe - even though abortion is a very common, necessary and important procedure for millions of women in the U.S. But if a multitude of women would step forward publicly - and more and more would continue to join them - we would change the public debate.

Just as in 1972, Ms. will send the signed petitions to the White House, members of Congress and state legislators. We will also place the petition online.

And we ask you to make a contribution so Ms. can promote the petition and provide needed funds to fight abortion bans and support targeted abortion providers, such as the sole remaining women's clinic in Mississippi.

It is time to speak out again - in even larger numbers - and to make politicians face their neighbors, influential movers and shakers, and yes, their family members. We cannot, we must not - for U.S. women and the women of the world - lose the right to safe and accessible abortion or access to birth control.

Your name and your voice will make a difference.

For Women's Lives,
Eleanor Smeal
Publisher
Ms. Magazine

Comments

[weirdodragoncat.livejournal.com]

Never had one (and hopefully won't ever need to) but signed anyway. This basic right is just to important to let a few extremists dictate over.