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Introducing the Abortion Assistance Blog’s new business cards! Please distribute these, online or in person, wherever you feel is appropriate.
Credit to middletone. Thanks, Milli!
Business cards! So profesh.
The Abortion Assistance Blog now has over 500 followers and 160 different offers to help others access safe, legal abortion. Thank you so much to everyone who has submitted offers, reblogged, and spread the word about this resource. This couldn’t be done without you!
It’s been quite a few months since I tallied the offers, so here we go!
- California still leads with 11 offers for transportation to and/or from an appointment
- Texas is now tied with Michigan, both with 7 people offering places to sleep for overnight travelers, or for those who need a place to rest after their abortion
- Michigan now has 8 offers for child care during the appointment!
The outpouring of support for complete strangers has been amazing to watch, but we’re not done yet! These areas are still waiting for at least one offer:
United States
- Alaska
- Delaware
- Kansas
- Nevada
- South Dakota
- Vermont
Canada
- New Brunswick
- Newfoundland & Labrador
- Northwest Territories
- Nunavut
- Prince Edward Island
- Yukon
Even if your area isn’t on the list, it still may only have one offer for help. If you or someone you know can provide transportation, lodging, child care, moral support, or financial assistance for birth control, abortion, transportation, or lodging, please contact the Abortion Assistance Blog.
I got this email from the Women’s Medical Fund today:Today we learned of a vulnerable woman who needs financial assistance that far exceeds the support that WMF routinely provides.Deena* is a 28-year-old mother of two who suffers from a major chronic illness. During prenatal care, an ultrasound found that she is carrying a fetus with a rare and dangerous anomaly.In the midst of dealing with the news of this pregnancy, Deena faced yet another traumatic setback — the tragic death of a sibling.It has taken several weeks, but with the help of staff from three different agencies involved in her care, Deena has an appointment for her abortion. Due to health concerns, she must have her procedure in a hospital. The cost is $3,110.Deena supports her young family with her monthly Social Security benefit of $800. They live in a rented room for which she pays $500 per month. Deena uses Medicare for her health care coverage, but is prohibited by law from using it to pay for her abortion. She can contribute $10 toward the cost of her procedure.Can you help us provide Deena with $3,100 so that she can have her procedure? If WMF supports her with existing funds, we would have to turn away dozens of other women or girls with more routine needs. Instead, we are turning to you today to request an emergency contribution to restore Deena’s right to choose.I kicked in $25. Please, please signal boost and consider making a donation.
She’s fully funded! The internet can be a wonderful place, sometimes.
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Meet the Hyde Hackers, who helped raise over $22,000 for The CAIR Project in the National Abortion Access Bowl-a-thon!
Glenn, Sara, Jerry and Melanie
WOW! That’s amazing!
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The Sylvia Rivera Food Pantry Helping New Yorkers Suffering From Food Insecurity
The Sylvia Rivera Food Pantry meets the nutritional needs of a diverse group of low-income, working poor and HIV+ individuals and families in an environment of respect and confidentiality. Last year, The Sylvia Rivera Food Pantry served over 170,000 pounds of food and offered thousands of referrals to culturally-competent community partners.
Their client-choice model allows guests to select their own groceries, thus eliminating food waste and putting choice back in the hands of those receiving food. Snack bags of nutritious food are available to all, four days a week. A specialized pantry program for those living with HIV/AIDS offers high-protein, easy to prepare groceries that complement anti-retroviral therapy. On Thursday mornings, the Sylvia Rivera Food Pantry is open to all, providing assistance in English, Spanish and Mandarin.
The Sylvia Rivera Food Pantry has turned grocery distribution into an ongoing opportunity for nutrition education and benefits outreach. They provide information in multiple languages to clients for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and guide them toward moving beyond the food pantry. The partnership has also resulted in dozens of clients filing their New York State Earned Income Tax Credit. In addition, a partnership with the Chelsea CSA enables them to provide fresh, organic produce for our customers each week.
Schedule:
Client-Choice Pantry Distribution (open to all):
Thursday 9 a.m. –10 a.m.Snack Bag Distribution (open to all):
Tuesday – Friday, 2 p.m. – 3 p.m.PLWHA Pantry (M11Q required):
Tuesday – Friday, 2 p.m. – 3 p.m.Community Dinner (open to all):
Final Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m.446 West 36th Street, Ground Floor
For more information contact Christopher Collazo, The Sylvia Rivera Food Pantry Director.
(via so-treu)
Whether you drove to the clinic, were a shoulder to lean on, assisted financially, or any little thing that helped make someone’s abortion process easier.
Thank you.
(via rhrealitycheck)
The Abortion Assistance Blog has received amazing support over the past three months. Since July, 125 individual people in the US and Canada have offered some form of support to those seeking a safe, legal abortion, whether it be a ride to the clinic, a couch for recovering after the procedure, or a shoulder to lean on. This is a fantastic start, and we are far from finished.
Here are the updated scores!
- California is in the lead, now with 11 offers for rides to and/or from the clinic!
- Texas and California are tied for lodging, with 5 offers each for a place to sleep for those traveling overnight, or just a couch to rest on after the appointment
- California now has 6 offers for babysitting during the appointment
Go California!
We still have 9 states and 8 Canadian provinces/territories left to cover, so keep telling your friends and family about this resource! Here are the areas waiting for at least one offer:
United States
- Alaska
- Delaware
- Hawaii
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Nevada
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Vermont
Canada
- New Brunswick
- Newfoundland & Labrador
- Northwest Territories
- Nunavut
- Prince Edward Island
- Yukon
Even if your area isn’t on the list, it still may only have one offer for help! If you or someone you know can provide transportation, lodging, child care, a listening ear, or funding for appointments, birth control, or transportation, please contact the Abortion Assistance Blog.
Big thanks to everyone who’s sent in offers so far!
Elizabeth Warren, MA Senate Candidate
Perfection.
(via stfusexists)The Obama campaign released an embeddable voter registration form that you can insert into any of your websites, including tumblr.
I don’t think you guys understand, President Obama is letting you get registered to vote from tumblr.
This must be what life was like for The Jetsons.
Yeah, this is pretty rad.
BAM
(via stoneagechronicles)
I’ve been waiting for one of these rants to appear on my dash to rip it to shreds because i didn’t have the energy to create my own post without an example of why i am creating it. this shit had me mad reading it. and it’s nice to see the op is a coward and has deleted their words despite feeling they are in a position to dictate to us what we should or shouldn’t do.
i’m going to start by saying posts like these are anti-Black as fuck, ableist, classist and a lot of other things. this post was universal, it didn’t specify who they were speaking to. and as someone who is part of the circle that has been deemed ANGRY BLACK WOMAN, i feel this post is speaking to people directly like myself. so i will address it as such.
i talk about my identity and who i am all the time, but one aspect i don’t talk about much is being a convicted felon, something i refuse to be ashamed of because the crimes i’ve been convicted of have nothing to do with sexual, physical or emotional violence. and as a Black queer genderfluid person who deals with depression/anxiety/ptsd and is also a convicted felon, tumblr has been a godsend. it has made me feel like i am doing something when the reality is, it is unsafe for me to do so in many cases. to act as if the burden of activism and education is on the most oppressed people speaking their anger of that oppression on the internet is just absolutely absurd. of course, i believe that white people will never do the work for us, we must do it for ourselves. but in the digital age, without access to the internet and without outlets like this, i think the shape of activism would take a way different form.
i’ve done some forms of advocating. anti-war protests (was interviewed on tv for that and was in trouble for it too), protesting for cori reform, calling senators, writing letters. before i came on tumblr, my avenue for my voice was political sites, writing comments, signing petitions and even getting published in the nation once. i’ve always been the person who speaks out when i hear racism, ableism, sexism, etc. in instances where i have felt safe. i have backed up and held down many people who would not feel comfortable doing so without support. which i consider to be activism, advocating for those who are oppressed by others or letting others know why what they’ve done is wrong.
but you know what? my life has changed since then. since becoming a felon, the idea of activism is scary as fuck for me. on the one hand, i want to be involved in protests, but on the other, i don’t need anything else on my record. i have gone into massive debt to get an education and a masters degree now with the hopes that i will be able to get a job despite my record because i “educated and civilized myself.” but truth be told, i have been fired for nothing other than my record when i was already working someplace and was told numerous times was the best person they’ve had in awhile. so i also have to deal with the reality that i will never be hired in a position at my level too. this does happen in a world where a white man with a criminal record has a higher possibility of getting hired than a Black man with none. activism requires putting my body and my safety and my record on the line. a record that the worse it gets, the less opportunity i have. the more tied to poverty i am. the less access to being an american citizen i have. i lose the ability to vote in numerous states as well.
saying that the people on tumblr, who especially in my corner are Black, queer, poor/working class/lower middle class and nongender conforming need to get offline and place themselves into activism circles and “do something” not just show anger online is anti-Black. at a time where a Black person is murdered every 36 hours by police, why should we be expected to do all the heavy lifting to change the world? as usual. it’s on us. and the funny thing, is we do it. cause i know plenty of activists who are Black, latin@ and indigenous who DO activist work and that puts them in compromising positions. i have friends who have had their homes raided by the fbi for their work. and others who are undocumented and risk deportation for their activism. some who have their phones tapped. and people like myself who are being monitored constantly by surveillance online. these are activists in offline spaces and those who just advocate for themselves online.
but why the fuck are you telling people who need an outlet to express themselves to go outside and put themselves in those kinds of risks? i mean, people do it, we do it, people of color put our lives on the lines all day every day to improve the circumstances of all of the U.S. (it is all poc movements that have gotten us all of civil rights gains and most of legislation that helps us in some way or form). but to sit here and tell those who don’t have the money, don’t have the mental capacity, don’t have the support, who don’t have the ability to get there, that their voice on the internet is worthless because they aren’t “outside doing something” is rude and bullshit as fuck. you need to shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down.
furthermore, those who say writing and posting rage posts and other information on tumblr is not activism can eat a dick. it is. as mentioned by other bloggers, tumblr activism has gotten mouths fed, rent paid, medication bought, movies started, queer networking possible, trans* safety networks funded, prizes won for orgs that need money to stay afloat. this is activism and monetary at that, all done online. petitions are signed and circulated and some even actually work. tumblr bombing polls and calls to action on websites with fucked up material gets those things taken off, brought to the media or just taken to task. people find friends, lovers and support systems. those who might kill themselves find people do care if they live or die. those who can’t leave the house or do too much due to mental/physical handicaps are given outlets to a world they are often excluded from. i have received countless messages from people happy to know someone related to them, that they weren’t crazy because they experienced this too, that they learned so much from the information provided, that they were able to get friends help someplace offline through resources posted, etc.
YOU do not get to tell anyone what activism is when we live in a time where activism takes many forms. you certainly don’t get to tell the people I LOVE ON TUMBLR that shit. my circle of tumblr has plenty of rage posts. angry as fuck. but they get stuff done too. they create solidarity. they reveal gaslighting and white psychological terrorism. they teach each other new concepts or give a depressed person a smile. my BLACK QUEER NONGENDER-CONFORMING CIRCLE OF TUMBLR ARE THE BIGGEST ACTIVISTS I KNOW. constantly fighting for themselves and even people who don’t love them. anti-Blackness on here is so fucking real, you’d be surprised we can even wake up and post again, never mind advocate for ourselves and others. but we do each day.
you don’t know everyone’s lives. you do not know their circumstances, you don’t know what people are able to do and not do. right now my trans* Black sisters are being murdered at enormous rates, my cis and trans* Black sisters are being incarcerated at record high numbers, my people are dying one by one at 36 hour intervals, over 1 million Black men are in jail, hundreds of thousands of those people have had their voting rights stripped due to felonies. my latin@ brothers and sisters are crossing borders for safety and food, only to be met with murder and violence upon arrival. they are facing deportation while all they do is raise their families and pay taxes for people who don’t give two fucks about them. their are kids on plantations picking vegetables from fucking sun up to sun down instead of going to school. my indigenous brothers and sisters are dealing with outsider rape at a rate of 1 out of 3 women, they are dealing with prices like $65 for chicken on a reservation, corporations trying to drive through and cut down their sacred lands. with all that shit, i don’t blame a single fucking one of these people, my brothers and sisters and whatever other gender or nongender they identify with to be scared, angry, terrified. all of those things are happening solely for being Black, queer, trans*, woc or undocumented or have the appearance of the other. all of those.
and still with all that we still advocate and have activism and fight. do you know about fred hampton? do you know about leonard peltier? do you know our political prisoners? people die and go to jail for life for this shit. this is not an easy task. this is not a task to undergo alone. we need support. and if those who are too afraid to fight the world in “approved activist circles” so fucking be it. we are surviving. we can’t all be activists when we are worried if we will make it to next year or how to keep a roof over our heads or where the next meal will come from. you can’t fault people for that. and you can’t fault people who are too damn tired from fighting every fucking day who just wanna get on the computer and SCREAM THEIR FUCKING LUNGS OUT BECAUSE NO ONE IN THE WORLD LISTENS TO THEM.
fuck you and your self-righteousness. you don’t get to dictate what activism is. you don’t get to act like you haven’t had any privileges to be able to do the things you do. that you aren’t concerned with the same things some of us “angry ragers of tumblr” are about. and you don’t get to fucking demonize us for that.
"my boo thang strugglingtobeheard on anti-blackness, tumblr activism and why the “go out and really do something” rhetoric of mehreenkasana and those who stan for it is all types of fucked up (via navigatethestream)
All of this, basically. The eighth paragraph is why I love Tumblr as a activist blogging medium.
(via thepersonalispolitic)
I want to state up front that I am all for calling people out and spreading awareness about the disgusting things anti-choicers do to intimidate people they disagree with. It is extremely important to showcase all facets of their movement - I mean all facets, from providing support to pregnant people who want to carry out their pregnancy, to bombing abortion clinics. I want people to have a good understanding of what they support, and what they support comes with a side of terrorism.
HOWEVER
I’m extremely disappointed every time I see a post such as this take off, while posts about positive ways we can contribute to the pro-choice movement and to reproductive rights in general stay in the single or double digits. There is such a strong pro-choice community on Tumblr, and we can do so much good. I know we can, because 110 people have contacted the Abortion Assistance Blog, offering to give strangers rides to the clinic, a place to recover or sleep for the night, babysitting during the appointment, funds, and moral support.
110 different people from 43 states and 6 Canadian provinces in just a month and a half. How amazing and beautiful is that? This is what the pro-choice community can accomplish. We share our stories on each other’s blogs, we support each other through hard times, and we send our love to anyone who needs it, no matter what decision they make.
By all means, don’t let anti-choicers get away with harassing and terrorizing innocent people. Show people just what they’re capable of. But show people what we’re capable of, too.
I am so amazed at the number of people who have submitted offers to help with transportation, lodging, child care, funding, and moral support to people seeking abortions. The pro-choice community is a beautiful thing.
Another week has gone by, so here’s the update:
- California still leads, now with 7 offers for rides to/from the clinic
- Texas still has the most offers for lodging, with 5 people offering somewhere to stay for people traveling overnight, or for those who need a place to rest after the procedure
- Michigan has come out in front with 4 people willing to babysit! Go Michigan!
We’re covering more ground every day. We now have offers in from 43 states and 6 Canadian provinces! Here are the areas still waiting for at least one offer of help:
United States
- Alaska
- Delaware
- Hawaii
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Nevada
- Vermont
Canada
- New Brunswick
- Newfoundland & Labrador
- Northwest Territories
- Nunavut
- Nova Scotia
- Prince Edward Island
- Yukon
Even if your area isn’t on the list, it may have only one offer so far! If you or someone you know can provide transportation, lodging, child care, moral support, or funding for someone’s abortion or travel costs, please contact the Abortion Assistance Blog through the Ask or Submit boxes, email, or Twitter.
The golden ratio (1.618) is all over nature. It is found in flowers, shells, and pinecones, in the ratio between the bottom of the Christian cross and the top, between the first and second knuckles of the human hand, and even in music. Try it now! Go find a piece of pop or classical music, and around the golden mean, you’ll probably find that the song reaches a climax, whether by key change, instrumental solo, different chorus, or some change in the usual pattern of the music (a good example is Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind”).
ANYWAY
It’s in the uterus, too. Dr. Jasper Verguts, a Dutch gynecologist, measured 5,000 uteri and discovered that, at it’s most fertile point between the ages of 16 and 20, an approximation of the golden ratio is found in the ratio of length to width of the uterus.
And I just think that is neat.
Exhale, a pro-choice post-abortion support talkline, has passed the first hurdle in spreading their message nationwide. Now, they need your help. Exhale must raise $10,000 by September 10 for their commercial to be broadcast. You can help make a positive change in reproductive justice by donating to Exhale, or by reblogging for others have that chance.
Take a break from being on the defense in the battle for reproductive justice, and help Exhale build toward peace.
