1/2
I don't know if I told this story here or not. I was 17. And had just moved into my older sisters house to attend university. She was a radical feminist, and running consciousness raising groups out of her living room. In '67. One day she thought I was out, and a bunch of women came over. They were all talking in hushed voices. Telling each other the story's of their rapes. The horror, the fear, and eventually their horrendous illegal abortions. I was shocked into silence. Frozen in place.
2/2
When my sister found me. She introduced me to all, and now I had faces, and names. To this day I remember each. Not one of those women was untouched by rape. All had suffered beyond my comprehension. This then led to my radicalization. My involvement in direct action. Through these brave women, I began to get involved in an underground organization that helped secure abortions. At great danger, and unbelievable trauma.
I know well the world before roe.
And Fuck That Shit.
What really grinds my gears, what absolutely pisses me off to no end, is that one doesn't even HAVE to have a story like yours, or be "radicalized", to understand why we think this way. All it takes is basic Empathy for another person, a bare minimum amount of Humanity... and yet, the very idea is itself, "Radical"...because Humanity isn't apparently innate within "Humans".
😢😢😢😓😓😓
I feel the same way re: people who argue against Minimum Wage and Single Payer healthcare, SNAP/WIC, etc. Those are PEOPLE, HUMAN BEINGS that supposedly are not worth anything. Who "don't matter" with regard to survival, who are somehow "less than Human", all because they don't generate revenue enough for the Bureaucrats in power.