We want to emphasize that post Dobbs decision, abortion access is being largely carried by a network of overburdened, relatively low-profile, grassroots organizations.
Traditionally, the call to action for abortion supporters has been either financial or political. And while the movement for abortion access does need funding and policy solutions, we also need all hands on deck. We started AMP because we want people like you to understand how to leverage your time, energy, bravery, resources, and skills to help build a new landscape of abortion access.
Part of the reason so many supporters don’t know how to participate directly is that for decades, the movement was dominated by large national organizations, most visibly, Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America. These organizations have essentially held a monopoly on public attention and pocketbooks, and they’ve been largely able to define the movement’s political goals because of their access to seats of power.
Unfortunately and unsurprisingly, these organizations had some major blindspots, which have been passed along to the public. This has created a dual problem: the abortion supporting public has a very limited understanding of the realities on the ground, because the issue has been dominated by major national organizations that have failed to prioritize addressing inequity in abortion access—which is the foundation of the problem.
We believe that in order to contribute effectively to any movement work, it’s important to know some basic history: who’s who, what has worked and what hasn’t, and how movement history should inform the way we show up and organize today. Below is a reading list that we think can help you get up to speed.
Reproductive Justice, or “RJ,” is a human rights framework that was developed in 1994 by twelve Black feminist scholars in response to the limitations of the white-led pro-choice movement. Where the pro-choice movement was focused solely on abortion and generally accepted concessions like the Hyde Amendment and viability bans (which most impact marginalized people) RJ is sweeping and visionary in scope: the right to have children, not have children, and raise children in safe communities.
The following resources can help you understand RJ fundamentals:
Radical Reproductive Justice edited by Loretta J. Ross, Lynn Roberts, Erika Derkas, Whitney Peoples, and Pamela Bridgewater Toure
What is Reproductive Justice? (video)
Reproductive Justice Timeline
Killing the Black Body by Dorothy Roberts
Without Apology: The Abortion Struggle Now by Jenny Brown covers the history and shortcomings of the reproductive health and rights movement, from messaging to strategy, and how we can build a movement that truly fights for everyone.
The United States has a LOT to learn from feminist and pro-abortion movements all over the world. Naomi Braine’s Abortion Beyond the Law: Building a Global Feminist Movement for Self-Managed Abortion follows feminists across Latin America, Africa, and Europe who are working to make self-managed abortion available to all, and the transnational movement they have built along the way.
Shout Your Abortion is a collection of abortion stories, photos, essays, and creative work about abortion, collected by the organization of the same name. Part art book and part activist primer, the SYA book is intended to challenge readers’ internalized stigma and inspire people to build community around abortion experiences and advocacy.
In the next few months, we'll be launching a new tool to match you with exactly your kind of action: whether it's sharing information on pills by mail, or volunteering locally or online for clinic access and support, or something else, we'll attempt to cover the bases. For now you can securely share your email here, and we'll drop you a note when it's time. We promise it will be right on time.
This website and campaign was built by friends at Shout Your Abortion, Plan C, and I Need An A.
By signing up for the Abortion Mobilization Project, you'll receive a string of emails helping onboard you to the abortion access movement and open opportunities. If you're too pumped to wait, you can check out the content of those emails here.
