Funding Unlocked: Election Edition
It’s October of a Presidential election year, and one thing we can safely say is that DC is awash in “the discourse.” For many of us, this is the first election in our lifetime where candidates everywhere are finally having to answer questions about their abortion policies.
Despite what you might be hearing, voting is only one tactic in the movement to expand and protect abortion access, but it’s one that has real consequences. So let’s take a minute to deep dive into the season with 🔐Abortion Funding Unlocked: Election Edition.
This is a longer email so we can cover issues that matter AND we’re providing you with talking points and actions that will be useful to you this month.
Are we trying to “restore Roe?” The Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade had unquestionably dire consequences for abortion access, from rapidly shuttering abortion clinics and almost instantaneously enacted abortion bans in restricted states to capacity overwhelm in states receiving traveling abortion seekers. “Restore Roe” has been a rallying point or shorthand for fighting back against the onslaught of attacks on our bodily autonomy.
"Local abortion funds were founded as a direct result of the shortcomings of Roe v Wade, which, though it ensured a basic right to some abortion care, enshrined a limited framework that proved vulnerable to conservative assaults long before Dobbs." - Abortion Funds Op-Ed in the Nation
But Roe was never enough. With bans on federal funding, a vastly unequal legislative landscape, and many (but not all!) legislators more unwilling to challenge the inequity as this status quo became normalized, the people who DCAF centers have always been seen as collateral damage in the details — because of their race, gender, disabilities, where they are in their pregnancy, or financial means.
Say This: The fight for abortion access isn’t just about restoring Roe v. Wade. Roe was important but incomplete. It left a lot of people behind. We need laws that protect everyone’s right to abortion permanently, without compromises.
Why do politicians’ answers feel like they’re…missing something?
Are they actually saying the word “abortion”? ”Choice.” “Roe.” “Women’s healthcare.” “Not going back.” And though we support “reproductive rights,” unless they’re talking about a full spectrum of protections for all pregnancy experiences, we know a euphemism for “abortion” when we hear it.
While politicians often talk about abortion to energize crowds or fundraise, many avoid saying the actual word. This hesitation fuels stigma and makes it harder to rebuild a just system. We need leaders who strongly support abortion access, not those who dodge the issue or worry about offending people.
And it’s not just politicians! When you talk about your values, make sure you’re saying the word abortion and let people know that you’re unashamed. If we’re all doing this, it helps normalize abortion in conversation, and that makes it easier for everyone to voice their demands, rally their communities, and hold their elected officials accountable. If you haven’t said abortion often, or publicly, it might feel weird at first, but we promise it quickly gets easier for everyone. That goes double for the politicians asking us to believe they will be supporting abortion access for all of us! Our futures are too important to be fearful.
“When they talk about, ‘Oh we’re going to have a compromise,’ we know what that means: They will ban abortion. They’re going to keep shifting their language going up to the election so we won’t look at what they’ve done already.”
- Alisha Dingus, DCAF Development Director in this POLITICO article
"Third Trimester and “Post-Birth” Abortions
This election cycle has been cursed with harmful rhetoric around later abortion care. We all had to endure hearing the phrase (cue eye roll) “post-birth abortion” during an actual presidential debate. And we have had to watch as, ON BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLE, the media and politicians are quick to use stories from people who have needed abortions later in pregnancy to make headlines. Guess what? People get abortions after 20 weeks for many reasons and none of them should matter to you. (We’re posting about this on Instagram next week.)
Politicians tout stories of abortions after 20-weeks to rage bait & win elections and what gets lost is the dignity that care seekers, at any gestational age, deserve. An individual’s personal and medical decision is NOT political fodder and not material for headlines. Conflating third-trimester abortions with infanticide plays into the broader strategy of pushing the abortion debate to the extremes when what we need are nuanced, fact-based discussions. We kind of wonder if politicians are making wild claims to, um, distract from their own personal or policy shortcomings and disappointing legislative records…
“Leave it up to the states” harms us all. No matter where you live, it’s important to push back when we hear lawmakers say we should let state elections decide our fundamental human rights. There are 41 states with abortion bans in the U.S. People who reside in states governed by oppressive lawmakers don’t deserve oppressive laws. None of us deserve that. Period.
Plus, this victim-blaming, simplistic line erases the reality that the states that are harshest towards abortion access are the same states that have abhorrent historic (and current!) laws and practices. These laws were carefully designed to disenfranchise the same voters most likely to be affected by the resulting abortion landscape: people of color, disabled people, people living with low incomes, and people living in rural areas that don’t have reliable access to voting OR healthcare.
Through racist and strategic gerrymandering, reducing polling sites, disinformation campaigns, voting registration restrictions and deadlines, attacks on civic education, and straight-up voter intimidation on election days, a minority of conservative lawmakers have created supermajorities that don’t represent the needs or values of their constituents. To put it plainly, there are interconnected, dangerous reasons that the same Supreme Court who overturned Roe v. Wade also attacks significant and historic Civil Rights-era voter protections.
Say This: “Leave it up to the states” harms us all because states with the harshest abortion laws often have histories of voter suppression targeting marginalized communities like people of color, low-income individuals, and rural residents. Letting state elections decide fundamental rights ignores this reality and reinforces systemic inequalities, especially when oppressive lawmakers rig the system to stay in power.
Oh yeah, and because DC isn’t yet a state…
DC Statehood matters to DCAF and people seeking abortions: DC Statehood is critical for DCAF and abortion access. Without statehood, Congress can interfere with DC's budget and laws, making our access to abortion vulnerable to political whims. Lawmakers from conservative districts often use DC to push their racist and controlling policies for political gain, harming real people in the process.
DCAF is a proud member of the Hands Off DC coalition, defending our right to self-governance. When DC funds abortion, it not only supports local residents but also allows DCAF to help the growing number of people traveling here for care, driven by restrictions in their home states. Abortion access anywhere affects abortion access everywhere, and DC plays a crucial role in this fight.
Say This: The members of Congress working to overturn DC laws do not care about our safety. They don’t live in our neighborhoods, and they have never attended community meetings here. Conservatives in Congress are out to stoke fear of Black cities and Black leadership, because fear is the only tool they have.
Luckily, the DCAF community Shows. Up.
🔐Unlock Abortion Funding: Your Next Action
This election season, remember to rest, hydrate, talk to your people, and find a multitude of ways to support the values that move you, including funding abortion. We’re grateful for your support that allows us to be right here with abortion seekers who’ll need DCAF, no matter the election results.
🔑Say Abortion: When you’re in conversation about your political decisions, use the word abortion. Simple as that!
🔑Bring a Friend: Now that you’ve become a monthly donor (we hope), invite a friend to essentially double your support.
🔑Join HandsOffDC.com: Learn more and take action at hands-off-dc.com so our lives and bodies aren’t at the whims of Representatives we didn’t vote for.
An evolving, strategic, justice-forward movement learns lessons from the past to be accountable to the future.
We’re really not in the mood to compromise or beg for “incremental progress…” It always comes at the expense of those already oppressed, forgotten, and silences all too often. Placing our trust in politicians to make compromises has failed us every time. It only pushes us further from true abortion access, eroding our autonomy instead of expanding it. That’s why we reject this failed strategy and remain committed to fighting for full rights and justice.
We do not have the time, energy, or patience to fight this same losing fight again. When the people who have the most barriers to abortion access are centered in our work, everyone benefits.
Let’s make sure we’re demanding everything we deserve, including answers about why they are willing to make compromises that we won’t accept.
Next month, we’ll navigate the complex post-election landscape together…