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[rottenkilljoy]

Are you angry/scared/worried about potentially losing Roe vs. Wade? Do you want to help?

A lot of people are REALLY WORRIED about the leaked Alito draft, and for good reason. If Roe vs. Wade is overturned, many states will enact trigger laws that revoke the right to safe abortion access. But that doesn’t mean that safe abortions won’t be possible. They’ll just be harder to access.

Fortunately, we aren’t powerless. There are things we can do to help preserve the right to abortion and, if Roe falls, help people get the abortions they need.

Here are some actionable things you can do to help!

Donate to your local abortion fund.

This is a financial commitment, obviously, but these funds are vital to helping people access abortions. There are different types of funds. Practical funds help with transportation, housing, and other practical needs. Clinical funds help with paying for the procedure. Both types of funds are necessary and helpful!

If you’re in a state with protected abortion access, see if there’s a practical fund in your state that you can donate to. These funds make it possible for people for other states to afford travel and lodging in your state. You might also want to consider donating to funds in states or regions that have trigger laws, like the Yellowhammer Abortion Fund, which helps people in Mississippi, Alabama, and the Deep South.

To find an abortion fund in your state, you can google “abortion fund + your state” or open up this google doc that’s a maintained list: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T-aDTsZXnKhMcrDmtcD35aWs00gw5piocDhaFy5LKDY/preview?pru=AAABgKwRCFs*fZxkvUyYtHx7T4KXmRnOLA

There’s also https://abortionfunds.org/, but as of right now (2 May 2022, right after the SCOTUS leak happened), their website is down. Too much traffic!

Volunteer with a hotline.

As of writing this, a lot of abortion fund websites are completely overwhelmed. Lots of people are rightfully upset and looking for some way to help. Many of these funds have hotlines that you can help out directly from your own phone! Google “abortion fund + your state (or your region) + hotline” and see what comes up. These hotlines are going to be SWAMPED soon and many orgs are going to be onboarding volunteers very quickly to help deal with the onslaught.

Donate to grassroots causes. 

I love Planned Parenthood as much as the next gal, but donating to them isn’t actually going to help as much right now as donating to an abortion fund. Smaller, grassroots networks are going to be more effective at allocating resources to the people who need it most. Independent clinics are also going to need substantial help. Independent clinics provide the majority of abortion care in the US, and many are the only clinics operating in hostile states. Check out https://keepourclinics.org/ if you’re interested in donating.

Make a list of resources.

There are a lot of people out there who aren’t going to have the time or energy or emotional bandwidth to deal with this dumpster fire. If you have the capacity to do so, then maintain a file somewhere with the following information:

- any abortion funds that serve your area with their contact info- email and phone and links

- any abortion hotlines in your area

- national care hotlines, ESPECIALLY RAINN because this is going to be really, really hard on survivors

-a list of crisis pregnancy centers in your area, clearly marked with their names, contact info, and primary links. Make sure that these are highlighted in a way that separates them from the actual abortion providers because these centers are highly predatory and manipulate people who are distressed and confused. If somebody has access to that list and know who’s operating in an area, it might help them avoid these places!

Have this file ready to go so that you can share it with people who are overwhelmed!

Help the safe havens.

Losing Roe feels inevitable at this point. It might not be, but the world is terrifying. However, some states are safe havens and will maintain abortion access, regardless of what SCOTUS eventually decides. Practical access funds in these states will need help because they will help people traveling from unsafe states to safe states. Refer to this map: https://reproductiverights.org/maps/what-if-roe-fell/

Look for funds in states that are blue or yellow. This means they have expanded access or protection if Roe falls. But be sure to hover over and look at the summary of the protection– for example, Florida has abortion protection, but they just passed a 15-week ban. That’s basically protection in name only!

If you’re not sure which practical fund you’d like to support, I highly suggest the Midwest Access Coalition. MAC is based in Chicago and helps people from all over the Midwest come to the city for reproductive healthcare. A lot of the Midwest is really hostile to abortion, so MAC can help a lot of people. But there are many, many others!

In the coming days and weeks, there will be more to do. There will be marches, protests, and other organized action. But right now, tonight, these are things you can look into doing.

[rottenkilljoy]

I’m officially becoming apart of the 4% of Black therapists in the U.S.

In studying for (and passing) my licensure exam, finishing up my last hours of internship, and focusing on getting through finals I have had to miss weeks and weeks of work.

I am running low on funds trying to get through big girl job interviews, graduation expenses, and just regular life costs.

If you’ve been apart of this journey I thank you, and if anyone wants to offer any support through this last stretch I would greatly appreciate it.

cash app: $Raevins & venmo: @RaevinW

[rottenkilljoy]

the best thing that we can do right now to fight for abortion rights is donating to your local abortion fund, especially in states with “trigger laws” or laws that will immediately take harsh measures to shut down abortion rights as soon as roe is overturned. If you don’t know your local abortion fund or states with trigger laws, here’s one in Texas, one in Louisiana, one in Georgia, one in West Virginia and one in Mississippi (all states with such “trigger laws”). There’s so many more beyond the handful i just listed here but times like these are the time to donate and support the incredible work that these organizations do for their communities. 

[rottenkilljoy]

Every day it becomes more clear that all we have to fall back on is ourselves and our immediate community. Everybody is gifted and has a beautiful contribution to humanity, there’s no such thing as unskilled labor. Literally humans are meant to be creative and innovative and loving and communal. connected to Earth’s intelligence, spiritual. What comes easily to you? Do you feel confident offering it to your community? If no, why not? What’s standing in your way from getting started? How does your community benefit from your specialized knowledge? What is born from your creativity? Who will be sustained by your contributions? Who will be inspired by your work? Who will learn from you? What impact will your skills have on the next generation? On the next 7 generations? What world do you envision for sustained life on earth? How can you contribute to it’s creation?

[rottenkilljoy]

you don’t need to ask for jane anymore: a guide to coming to chicago for a safe, low-cost abortion

A lot of people in the US are super worried about the Supreme Court axing Roe v. Wade, but what they might not know is that some states have laws in place that will protect the right to reproductive choice and abortion if that happens. One of these states is the state of Illinois. In 2019, a law was passed that protects abortion rights within the state even if the federal right to an abortion falls. This means that if Roe v. Wade is overturned, abortion will still be a protected right in Illinois. Even before Roe, Chicago was a haven for safe abortions- you just called and asked for Jane.

Now, safe abortion access is the law of the land in IL, and there are several groups who can help you. This post is long, but I think it’s worthwhile. Even if you don’t read all the way through it, maybe save it for later. You or someone you know might need it. If you want to stop now, the TL;DR is this:

f you’re a minor and you can’t tell your parents, get a waiver of notification from the IL Judicial Bypass program.

Schedule your appointment.

Contact abortion funds to get financial aid. Your home state might have s fund, and the Chicago Abortion Fund can help.

Secure housing for the procedure through the Midwest Access Coalition or by talking to the intake staff at the clinic of your choice.

I’d like to start by saying that the closer to home you get your abortion, should you need one, the easier it will be for you… probably. It depends on your individual situation AND your safety. If I still lived in Indiana and I needed an abortion, I’d probably leave to get it done, even though there are abortion providers in Indiana, because Indiana is super hostile and there’s lots of clinic protestors- for example, when I was taking my GRE my senior year at Notre Dame, the testing center was in this little strip mall in Mishawaka next to Planned Parenthood. Despite the fact that the PP in Mishawaka does not provide abortions, there were protestors who yelled at me for going in there. I wasn’t even going to PP. I’d like to say that I said something devastatingly cool but I just ran in flustered. Point being: It really, really would have sucked if I was there for healthcare instead of a standardized test for graduate school. And that’s a very tame, mild situation! Real abortion clinic protests are often much more devastating! 

ANYWAYS. The less you have to travel, the easier things tend to be, if it’s safe to get an abortion where you are and if your state will have protected abortions if Roe is overturned. If you’re not sure what might happen in your state in that case, this map has a clear, succinct overview of the legal status of abortion in each state and all US territories. You will want to click through to that link, because this image isn’t interactive.

[ID: a map of the US with states and territories sorted by their legal protections for abortion into four categories: expanded access in the case of Roe v. Wade being overturned, protected, not protected, and hostile. IL is highlighted.]

So let’s say you live in any of those red states. (Yellow and blue are safe- abortion access is protected there.) Let’s say, worst case scenario, Roe gets overturned and you get pregnant and you want to terminate. You will be able to do that in IL, and it’s relatively easy to do that in Chicago for a relatively low cost and with the benefit of a robust support network of people who want to reaffirm your reproductive choices.

First, if you’re a minor and you don’t want to tell your parents because it’s not safe for you to do so, get a judicial waiver of parental notification. The IL ACLU has a judicial bypass hotline. This will come at no cost to you. Do this ASAP, because it takes time to get it set up! You can do this by calling the hotline at 877-442-9727, texting 312-560-6607, or emailing judicialbypass@aclu-il.org.

Next, you need to get an appointment set up. You could get a referral from someone local to you, but this can be tricky- 87% of counties in the US don’t have an abortion provider, and google can lead you to a crisis pregnancy center. They will not help you. If you have a local Planned Parenthood, call them. Even if they don’t provide abortions, they can refer you to someone who can. If you’re coming to Chicago, which this post… kind of assumes you are… you can call any of these groups to talk about your options and what clinics can help you. I recommend starting with FPA or PP; those are two actual clinics. MAC and CAF are funds- they can direct you but they can’t schedule an appointment for you.

Family Planning Associates (FPA): 312-707-8988 or use their online schedule tool, found here: https://www.fpachicago.com/schedule-now/ Chicago Abortion Fund (CAF): Phone: 312-663-0338 (note: the helpline is only staffed MWF from 3:30-6:30 PM CST, or email helpline@chicagoabortionfund.org Midwest Access Coalition (MAC): 847-750-6224 or email support@midwestaccesscoalition.org Planned Parenthood of Illinois (PP): 1-800-230-7526

You might want to shop around and see which clinic costs the least, and is the most practical for you to get to. FPA has a lot of patient resources, as does PP. Don’t be afraid to ask for financial assistance. The people staffing those organizations have extensive networks and deep compassion for their patients- if the clinic can’t help, they might know who can.

Once you’ve made an appointment, now’s the time to start gathering financial aid. Some insurance, including IL Medicaid, covers it. If yours does not, or if the copay is still too much, this is where abortion funds come into play. Many states have their own abortion funds for state residents, so you might have to look around to see who can help you. I’d start with the National Network of Abortion Funds.

You also need to figure out transportation and housing while you’re in the city to get your abortion. This isn’t super necessary if you’re just coming for the pill abortion, but if you’re coming for a d and c or other surgical procedure, you will be staying for a couple of days. THIS is why I’m writing this up, because abortion funds typically only are able to help cover the financial cost of the procedure. It’s expensive to stay somewhere and it can be absolutely terrifying if you’re on your own! Navigating while you’re in pain from the procedure can be an absolute devil of a time, too! However, Chicago has MAC (contact info above), which is a practical access fund, which means that they help pay for transportation to the city (bus tickets and train tickets) and around the city (volunteer drivers or volunteers who take rideshares with clients), food, aftercare medicine (painkillers, etc.), and housing, and there’s also free access to emotional support staff throughout your stay. This is not just open to IL residents; it’s open to anyone coming to the city for an abortion. ALSO if you go through FPA, they have a partnership with the Hampton Inn a block away from their location where their patients get a discount. If you go that route, just talk to FPA about housing and they’ll hook you up. This can be super helpful if you need some evidence that you’re on a “business trip” or something like that- if you are in a position where you need an excuse for your safety, that might work well.

Hopefully you won’t need this post- but if you do, I hope it helps. Feel free to share it around. If you have anti-choice opinions and you feel the need to share, don’t. This isn’t the space for it; you will be blocked and your comments removed. And then remember that criminalizing abortion won’t stop abortion. It’ll just stop safe abortions. Also, increased access to abortion, funnily enough, tends to be the thing that lowers abortion rates, because increased access to abortion comes part and parcel with increased access to birth control and general health and sex education.

[rottenkilljoy]

I don't want to scare people, but if you are able to get pregnant and you live in a red or purple state in the US, you need to start making an emergency contingency plan for a complete ban on abortion in your state now. It is increasingly likely that Roe v. Wade will be nullified this summer when the Supreme Court decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health is announced, allowing states to set their own laws on abortion. If/when this happens, 23 states have the legislature in place to ban abortion and 29 total are hostile/lean hostile towards abortion and are likely to ban or heavily restrict it, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Only 16 are confidently pro-choice.

If you live in a state that is likely to repeal, are able to conceive, and especially if you are sexually active, you need to have a plan for avoiding pregnancy and a plan for if that plan fails, and the time to make it is now, not this summer when everyone around you is panicking.

Birth control access shouldn't be affected by this decision, but look into longer acting and more effective methods, like IUDs (99.995% effectiveness typical and perfect use) and subdermal implants (99.995% typical and perfect) over things like the pill (99+% perfect, 91% typical) or condoms alone (98% perfect, 82% typical) that are less effective and easier to lose access to, and use both a barrier method like a condom and a hormonal method if you can. Planned Parenthood has a list of methods sorted by effectiveness here. Plan B lasts about a year, and is considered effective for 72 hours after sex but drops exponentially in effectiveness as time passes: if you don't reliably have a spare $50 and access to a pharmacy that stocks Plan B or ellaOne, buy a back up Plan B when you're able to to ensure you can take emergency contraceptives as soon as possible for the best results.

Start tracking your cycle now: medication abortions are the only ones that can be self managed and are only possible up to 11 weeks after the start of your last period. Not after conception, after the first day of your last period. The effectiveness of medication abortion drops after 8 weeks pregnant, and some sources will say it's only effective up to week 10. If your next period is late and there's even a miniscule possibility you could be pregnant, take a pregnancy test immediately (the dollar store ones are the same as the expensive pharmacy tests). Don't wait to see if it shows up a couple weeks late or if next month's comes: by the time you reach your first missed period, you're already considered 4 weeks pregnant, and you need as much time as possible to coordinate an out of state abortion or a self managed abortion. Waiting for two missed periods puts you at 8 weeks pregnant, almost at the point where you need to start altering dosages for medication abortion to be effective. Don't cut it that close: it's better to waste a dollar on a test than have to seek out a second trimester abortion.

Have a plan for how you will get an abortion, both within the first 10 weeks and after. For early abortions, you will be able to self manage. Plan C, Aid Access, medicationabortion.com, Women on Web, and Women Help Women can all help you obtain the medications you need or information about how to use them, either by mailing them directly or by connecting you to resources: bookmark these.

For abortions past 10 or 11 weeks, things are more complicated, but they are not hopeless. You need to have a plan, though. Do you know where the nearest abortion clinic in a pro choice state is? Do you know how much that abortion will cost and how you will get that money, both for the clinic costs and the cost of travel, accommodations, and two to four days of lost wages? Do you know if they do in-clinic abortions (the only option after 10 weeks) or just medication abortions? What's the latest they can go? Look into local abortion funds or access support organizations. More will emerge as need increases, but scoping them out now will save valuable time and give you peace of mind. Some of the resources linked in the last paragraph may be able to help connect you as well.

Again, I'm not trying to incite panic here, but things are not looking good when it comes to abortion access in the United States, and you need to be prepared. Time is of the essence when it comes to abortions, even without restrictive bans, and having information and a plan before you lose access and especially before you get pregnant buys you time.

[rottenkilljoy]

[rottenkilljoy]

tape casette recorders are compatible with literally every. single. thing. im out here living in 2095.

[rottenkilljoy]

Excerpt from this story from Treehugger:

A Native American Nation has filed a lawsuit against the state of Minnesota in a tribal court arguing that the construction of the Line 3 pipeline violated the rights of manoomin (wild rice).

Manoomin—the word hails from the Ojibwe and Anishinaabeg languages—itself is a named plaintiff in Manoomin, et.al., v. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, et.al., thanks to a 2018 Rights of Nature law in which the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, part of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, recognized that wild rice has “inherent rights to exist, flourish, regenerate, and evolve.”

The plaintiffs, which also include the White Earth Band and tribal leaders, argue that Minnesota officials violated the “legally enforceable rights” of manoomin when they allowed Enbridge to use 5 billion gallons of freshwater to build and test Line 3, a 1,097-mile duct that transports heavy tar-sands oil from Canada through North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.1

“Manoomin has been a part of our traditional stories, teachings, lifeways and spirituality since the earliest times to the present day. For the Chippewa, manoomin is alive like all living creatures and they are our relations. We Chippewa have a sacred covenant with manoomin and the water (Nibi) and all living creatures, without which we cannot live,” reads the lawsuit.2

White Earth claims that Line 3, which started operations on Oct. 1, will do as much climate damage as building 45 new coal-fired power plants and affect 389 acres of wild rice and 17 water bodies that support wild rice cultivation, as well as sacred sites on treaty lands.3

The lawsuit argues that the water diversion was done illegally because it violates the rights of manoomin and contravenes treaties by which the Chippewa gave away territories to the U.S. government but maintained rights “to hunt, fish, and gather wild rice.”

On the one hand, the lawsuit is the latest chapter in an eight-year battle against an $8.2 billion oil pipeline. On the other, it is part of a struggle for sovereignty that dates back to the 17th century, when European colonizers first started seizing land from Native American tribes.

[rottenkilljoy]

american leftists seem extremely focused on anti imperialism (good) but rarely- if at all- discuss decolonization in their own fucking country, despite acknowledging that it is a settler colonial state.

[rottenkilljoy]

[rottenkilljoy]

“A new phenomenon emerged after George Floyd, that of the anti-racism reading list: compilations of books and authors and media intended to serve as guides for white people wanting to educate themselves about anti-Black racism. Spanning genre and form and era, I understood both the logic and the appeal. There is a belief in some quarters that racism is simply a matter of ignorance, and that everyone can therefore be educated out of it (which I suppose is easier to stomach than the idea that racism might be something more conscious, or deliberate). And so the work of the anti-racism reading list begins, like a counter-missionary attempting to decolonise what was previously colonised. There is of course much to be gained from white people more fully understanding the history and intricacies and complex topography of racism, but I often worry that the exercise of anti-racism reading encourages white people to satify - even exhaust - themselves with swotting up on the semantics of the struggle, without necessarily translating that knowledge into real-world action. It’s relatively easy to be a theoretical anti-racist. Writing for The Atlantic, Saida Grundy observes that consciousness-raising through anti-racist reading often constitutes ‘mere filibustering - white people learning about their privilege and power without ever having to sacrifice either’, that it can actually undermine progress ‘by presenting increased knowledge as the balm for centuries of abuse’, and that ‘literature and dialogue cannot supplant restorative social policies and laws, organisational change, and structural redress’. In presenting these lists as the solution to racism, there is a danger that an academic understanding of racism becomes the end goal, rather than anything more substantive or action-focused.”

— Whites: On Race and Other Falsehoods by Otegha Uwagba

[rottenkilljoy]

people living in the americas, are you a settler? if so, here's a question to think about today, and every day:

do you know whose land you're living on?

if your answer is "no" or "i'm not sure", go here.

you'll find an extensive map that'll answer this question for you, and from there you'll be able to figure out how to help, because just because your history landed you here doesn't mean you can't help us. there's an estimated 30,000 children in makeshift graves that we have yet to fully recover killed in reform schools. our people are dying of diseases caused by horrific living conditions. we're set up for failure from the day we're born by the active genocide against us. countless women and children are missing and murdered to this day. if we can stand to bear this unfathomable horrifying information every day, then you certainly can stand to spread the word and spare some money when you're able. especially if you're living on our land.

it's so, so easy to spread awareness and do what you can to help.

we need it.

[rottenkilljoy]

anyways it’s a great day to donate to abortion funds! :)

[rottenkilljoy]

too many motherfuckers white knighting for landlords talking about how the 2008 crash was about making homes easier to get for the poor and not about predatory home loans and housing developers overvaluing their trashy piece of shit homes.

the reality is that if you can get a safe and reasonable loan for ~300k you will be paying less per month on a house in a mortgage than you will if youre renting.

landlords will buy up these cheap houses, and pay a mortgage of around 1300-1600 a month with the ability to refinance, while charging 2400 a month, with the ability to charge more in the future. It is extremely easy to keep doing if you have the startup capital or good credit and it is fucking people out of having places to live.

Giving more people access to stable home loans with properties properly valued isn’t going to cause the housing market crash of 2008

what is going to cause it is predatory loans and homes being sold for 5 times their actual value which is happening right now and it has nothing to do with accessibility of housing to the poor.

[rottenkilljoy]

hey can any of you lovely people spot me like $15 for a lyft from work to my dogsitting gig? itd be super super super helpful tonight tysm

v*nmo: floralveined

[rottenkilljoy]

hey guys!

I know this is a bit of a long shot, but both my birthday and Christmas are coming up! My birthday is on Nov. 30th and I'll be visiting my family a couple weeks before Christmas. Since you guys have helped so much before I'd really really appreciate a bit of a boost to be comfortable this holiday season - I've just quit my second job due to some really negative effects on my mental health, I haven't gotten my foodstamps since September, and up until recently I was struggling really badly with money. I'll be reblogging this with some links to my Amazon wishlist and a PayPal pool to help me cover some day to sat expenses.

thank you guys so much and happy holiday season!!!