). They could also seek to claim that commonplace occurrences — physical accidents, falls — were intended to be abortive, and any level of conduct could be colored as intentionally pregnancy-ending. Thus, the freedom and safety of vulnerable people hangs in the balance.
We don’t have to accept this. As resources rightly pour in for health care providers, we can push for additional resources to go to the people who will be the first line of defense for those the system seeks to punish: People whose pregnancies have ended and, unfortunately, people unwillingly carrying pregnancies to term. Better funding for public defense, which is dramatically under-resourced at present, is just a first step.
Lawyers will be needed earlier, as we cannot allow people to be jailed and harmed while waiting for counsel. Many cities and states offer a person a lawyer the first time they appear in front of a judge – the moment when their liberty or whether they will be jailed while they await trial is decided – but many places, including huge swaths of the Midwest, South, and even Delaware and California, do not.
There will also be cases we can’t win, such as the possibility of legislation that criminalizes those caught with abortion pills in. In such instances, we must use our collective might to exert public pressure. If the state is going to harm people, we need to make our outrage as public and painful for the state as possible, working with participatory defense groups and community organizers to ensure every single case subjects the entire court system to community ire.
As I write this, it feels almost callous to think of anything but stopping the Supreme Court from overturningand pressuring Congress to codify a woman’s right to choose into law. But as a public defender, I have learned to chart plans B, C, and D — no matter how painful it might be to think of a world in which they are necessary. At this critical juncture, we need to support our health care providers and community organizations fighting to protect reproductive health.
I agree that only pregnant people should be targeted. That leaves women off the hook.
Insanity. 😡
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