Defend Abortion Rights! - Poster of the Week
- politicalgraphics
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Repeal All Abortion Laws
Women's National Abortion Action Coalition
Offset, 1971
San Francisco, CA
CSPG’s Poster of the Week promotes a 1971 reproductive rights rally–two years before Roe v Wade legalized abortion nationwide. In addition to demanding the repeal of all laws restricting abortion, the poster explicitly condemns forced sterilization and laws restricting access to contraception. In 1974, the Southern Poverty Law Center revealed that at least 100,000-150,000 people were sterilized each year in federally funded programs. At least 25-50% of Native American women were sterilized in 1970-1976 alone. Forced sterilization remains legal and still happens today, particularly to people with disabilities and within the criminal justice system, including ICE detention centers. Unfortunately, increasingly restrictive contraception laws are also dragging reproductive rights back 50 years.
It has been nearly four years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, enabling many states to ban and severely criminalize abortions. This week, the Supreme Court reviewed a case against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that would determine whether the abortion pill mifepristone can be prescribed via telehealth and mailed to patients. Nearly two-thirds of patients seeking abortions in 2023 did so via medications, and more abortions were performed following the overturning of Roe due to telehealth accessibility. Mifepristone has been extensively studied and is considered very safe, safer than penicillin and Viagra. It is also safer than procedural abortions, and much safer than child birth.
Telehealth options help people in rural counties far from hospitals. They help people experiencing domestic violence who need discreet and easy access to health care. They help people who are working multiple jobs and can’t afford to take extensive time away from work to try and find a doctor in their area. To remove telehealth accessibility and mailable prescriptions from reproductive health care could be a death sentence for many.
The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that mifepristone could continue to be prescribed via telehealth and sent by mail. This victory is a relief for many seeking access to the medication and for their providers, but the fight for access to safe abortions is not over. This decision merely blocks the Fifth Circuit's attempt to limit health care access; the litigation continues and may return to the Supreme Court.
We must continue to fight against unjust reproductive laws!
Ban forced sterilization!
Abortion must be safe, legal, and accessible!
This poster is part of CSPG's newest exhibition: Graphic Resistance: Seven Decades of California Posters for Peace & Justice, opening next Saturday, May 23. See below for more information.
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