No One Gets Pregnant Alone
No One Gets Pregnant Alone
SB8 was in place for over a month in Texas, banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, even in cases of rape, sexual abuse, and incest. It's temporarily blocked, but the fight is not over.
Photo Credit: William Issac | @william.isc
Yesterday a U.S. District Court judge blocked the enforcement of Texas' abortion law, granting an emergency request from the Justice Department. The law, SB 8, banned almost all abortions in Texas after six weeks of pregnancy, even in cases of rape, sexual abuse, and incest. This is a joyous, temporary victory in what has been a long, uphill battle for families against anti-abortion zealots.
Last week 10,000 people came out to the Women’s March in Houston in the pouring rain. I was proud to be one of them.
Here’s the full video of my speech, and the transcript:
Thank you everyone for being here today. Thank you to the city of Houston, for having me.
It takes courage and effort, after what we’ve all been through, to keep coming out, keep showing up for each other.
In spite of everything your government has thrown at you these past few months, you’re still here, fighting for the most vulnerable people in your communities with everything you’ve got.
The country has its eyes on Texas and they are marching in solidarity with you today.
When I was 14 my family and I were in a car crash that forever changed our lives. We were driving home from the Hindu temple when we were rear-ended and went spinning off the freeway, 40ft down an embankment.
My mother broke her right arm, five ribs, and her sternum. Her heart was squeezed, she had a cardiac contusion. Paramedics had to use the jaws of life to get us out. Soon after my mom learned she was pregnant. At that time not only could my parents not afford another child, but her body could not physically sustain another pregnancy.
My mother would be homebound for months without pay as would my stepdad. It’s out of love for me that they made the difficult decision to do what was right for our family. It’s out of love for my mother and all families that I stand here to fight today.
I remember hearing my parents speak late into the night weighing what the doctors had said. Ultimately, she made the decision to terminate the pregnancy and she asked me to go with her to Planned Parenthood for support.
That morning the long walk from the car to the doors of the clinic seemed interminable.
We were flanked on either side with anti-abortion extremists holding signs and shouting all kinds of cruelties. I was holding my mom’s hand so tightly I could feel her nails digging into my skin. I was terrified and intimidated by their shouts and jeers.
One of them yelled out, “If you really loved your daughter, you wouldn’t take her in there!”
“It’s not me. It’s her!” I blurted out over my shoulder without thinking as if to separate myself from the weight of her decision. My mother bore all of that weight and mental pressure in just trying to do the right thing for herself, her family and our future.
I’ve thought about that moment so many times in the almost 30 years that have passed. I didn’t know how to truly show up for my mom in the way she needed me to then. But I’m showing up now.
Abortion access is not only a “women’s issue”- people of all gender identities can become pregnant. Cis-women need abortions. Trans men need abortions. Non-binary people need abortions. All people need access to abortion services and deserve the right to control their own bodies.
Abortion access is a human rights issue.
When this state decided to ban 85% of abortions it sentenced thousands of people to undergo pregnancy and childbirth against their will. It has horrific consequences on real, actual people’s lives.
Abortion access is also a family issue.
SB8 and the 6-week ban obliterates the ability for people to make decisions with their partners, as only 28%, less than a third, of people know they’re pregnant at that point.
This bill doesn’t even allow abortions in cases of rape or incest.
Have you experienced rape or sexual violence, Gov. Abbott? I hope not. But I have. Multiple times. And I’m sure many people here today have too.
When I was raped at 16, the only saving grace was that I didn’t become pregnant.
When asked if it was "reasonable" to tell a rape victim that they can’t get an abortion, Abbott said, "Well, don't worry about it, because we're going to eliminate rape as a problem."
Really Governor? Because 8 out of 10 rapes are committed by people the victim knows and only 1% of all rapes and attempted rapes result in felony convictions.
I know how sexual violence can make people feel powerless. And this bill is a knife in the heart to those very same people.
It is state-sanctioned violence to force your constituents to carry their rapist’s baby to term.
Deputizing vigilantes to put bounties on the heads of people who help families access abortions is state-sanctioned violence.
It’s just a few steps away from stoning women in the street.
The ultimate goal of these politicians is to control our bodies and our futures. The bill was written and passed by men who have never had a period, will never experience pregnancy or childbirth and who don’t even know how the human body works.
We know the Texas GOP has repeatedly failed you, its citizens.
It failed you when the power grid collapsed because it was “politically unpopular” to winterize it.
It failed you by attacking trans kids with some of the most discriminatory bills in the country.
And it continues to fail you in the 19th month of the pandemic, continuing the surge of COVID by fighting mask mandates tooth and nail.
If it’s “personal freedom” the GOP cares about, how can this state’s government say that applying a paper mask across one’s face is an abomination of personal rights, but forcing half of your state’s population to physically undergo pregnancy and childbirth against their will isn’t an abomination of those same rights?
If it’s “the economy” they care about, how can they support a ban that aims to kneecap 47% of the US workforce, (especially women of color) and mire them in debt, having devastating effects on the GDP for all?
If it’s “family values” they care about, how can they support robbing people’s abilities to plan their own families, when the time is right for them? Instead, they force people to have babies they cannot afford or care for properly.
This is how the poor stay poor and the rich get richer. What’s next? Removing all methods of family planning? Because there are Senators who want that as well.
But we know this bill isn’t about any of these things. It’s about power and subjugation. This is a strategic political attack, part of the violent conservative machine put in place over the past 40 years to gut the protections of Roe v. Wade so that the old, white, male gatekeepers can cling to the fantasy of returning to the 1950’s.
But we refuse to go back to that.
Roe V. Wade was fought right here in Texas and then moved up to the Supreme Court where it passed 7-2. In the majority decision, Justice Blackmun wrote, “We do not agree that, by adopting one theory of life, Texas may override the rights of the pregnant woman that are at stake.”
And that’s as true today as it was half a century ago.
Gov. Abbott’s up for re-election but the Texas Senate GOP is gerrymandering the map for the 2022 election as we speak. 95% of Texas’s population growth over the past decade has been people of color but GOP redistricting is ignoring the census data and whitewashing the districts to maintain power.
So, Friends, what can we do about it? Speak up! Hold your elected officials accountable for the chaos and carnage they are causing.
Call your friends and family and talk to them about abortion rights, donate to abortion funds. Normalize abortion! Say the word. Respect the stories and applaud the courage of those who speak up about their own experiences. And vote!
To Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and the community organizers and abortion funds helping people and families on the ground, we owe you a debt of gratitude.
These funds include:
and
And, before I end, I know there are a lot of men out there who have partners who've had abortions.
This bill should shake you to your core. Because it affects your future too.
The time is now for you to speak up and stand in solidarity with us.
Because no one gets pregnant alone.
Love,
This entry moved me and made me cry because I so align with what you are saying, though I myself have never been raped nor had an abortion. Thank you for posting the speech you gave at the Houston Women's March on here, as I find sometimes that reading impacts me in ways that only listening (I listened to your speech, as well) does not do. I wish more people who have a platform like yours, would speak out as boldly and candidly as you did, on this matter! Thank you, thank you for not remaining silent or ambivalent.
I meant to thank you Padma for your post way back in October. My sister Laurie, who was in the midst of battling cancer back in the 80's became pregnant. She was also an RN on the teen unit at Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis where many of her patients were fighting their own cancers. After consulting with her doctors she decided to terminate her pregnancy. I was home on break from college and my mom and I escorted her to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Indy. I will never forget the line of angry, (almost all white male faces), yelling awful, hurtful things at my sister as we walked what seemed like a mile from the street into the entrance. She was such a kind hearted soul and so brave. I support all people who make the choices that are best for them and their families. They and only they, are the ones who know. My sister eventually lost her battle to cancer. I know she would be ok with me posting this now. Apologies for this long winded comment, but I held this in too long and needed to say this now. Thanks for all you do!