Today, President Trump pardoned anti-abortion extremists who were convicted of violating the FACE Act. There is no question that these individuals who have harmed patients and providers of abortion care by blocking access are being used as examples to bolster the dangerous platform of the Trump Administration. We condemn violence, harassment, and threats towards patients and providers as unacceptable.
At the same time, we are an organization learning from the communities we serve and our movement allies such as the Movement for Black Lives that challenge us to examine the conflation of punishment and accountability, and to examine the ways we, even in our desire to protect ourselves and patients, perpetuate the maintenance and support of unjust systems. The Movement for Black Lives Policy Platform boldly states “We seek solutions to violence within our communities that do not lie in the violence of a state and institutions created to destroy us, but in self-governance and mutual commitment and responsibility to each other’s safety and wellbeing… We reject false solutions which place profit over people, and rely on surveillance, policing, punishment, and exile to address every form of harm, need, and conflict.”
As an organization, we recognize that carceral systems like the criminal legal system cause tremendous harm to the very people we serve. We believe that it is critical to call for accountability for bad actors while not also engaging in messaging and narratives that directly or indirectly legitimize or praise the criminal legal system as a solution to harm.
Please consider the following tips as you engage in conversation about the intersection of criminalization, violence, and access to abortion:
Do condemn abuse and violence against providers and people seeking care.
- People are worthy of safe health care, safe workplaces, and safe communities.
- No one deserves to feel unsafe, threatened, surveilled, or harmed when accessing basic health care or providing that care.
Don’t reinforce the carceral system.
- Avoid stigmatizing or villainizing language around people who have been criminalized including using “felon” as a condescending term.
- Avoid centering the desire to punish, imprison, or cause harm to the actors of anti-abortion violence.
- Pivot to an affirmative vision of what we want for our patients: access to full spectrum of compassionate, culturally competent, evidence-based health care