Dear MoveOn member,

 Dear MoveOn member,

Donald Trump takes credit for and often brags about overturning Roe v. Wade. He said with glee last year, "I was able to kill Roe v. Wade."¹ He even publicly thanked the justices who ended the legal right to abortion across the country.²

And yesterday, the Trump-packed Supreme Court appeared poised to go even further, allowing hospitals in states with abortion bans to deny an emergency abortion to a pregnant person in a medical crisis.³

Meanwhile, deadly and extreme abortion bans are on the rise in states across America. In Arizona, Republican officials just resurrected an absolute abortion ban from 1864—during the the Civil War—and 56 years before women had the right to vote. It hasn't been enforced in 160 years. But now, thanks to Trump's role in ending federal protections for abortion rights, it could be, starting on June 8.⁴

Trump did this to America. And the best way to fight back against this outrage is through the 2024 election. Many voters already recognize this. In fact, 1 in 8 voters of all ages say that abortion is the most important issue to them.⁵ These voters are "disproportionately made up of Black voters, Democratic voters, women voters, and the youngest voting bloc—voters ages 18 to 29."⁶

But there's a big problem: So far, young people are less committed to voting this time around than they were before the 2020 election.⁷ And the decline is pronounced among Black voters and women—the same voters who prioritize recent attacks on reproductive rights when deciding which candidates to vote for.⁸

Given that the election is expected to be close and come down to small numbers of voters in key battleground states, if MoveOn volunteers can influence even a small percentage of voters who weren't planning to turn out, their votes could be decisive.

We know that our highly effective get-out-the-vote strategies work. An analysis showed that, in 2022, one strategy—called "vote tripling"—helped to turn out 50,000 people in key states and districts who otherwise might not have voted.

But young voters need more outreach this year than they needed in 2020 or 2022. We also need to sign up new, young voters, including those who are just out of high school, to help convince others their age to head to the polls.

To raise awareness about the importance of volunteering and reaching out to swing-state voters about abortion rights, we're preparing to launch a tour bus—modeled off of our very successful Banned Bookmobile last year—that will go to key congressional districts and states, sign up new election volunteers, and give them the tools to contact young voters, voters of color, and others who will decide this election.

We need to raise $130,000 to launch our pilot program and hit the road. Will you start a $5 monthly donation to help fund our bus to sign up election volunteers and to power our efforts to defeat MAGA from now until Election Day? 

Yes, I'll chip in monthly.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

Mobile efforts like these have a track record of making a splash—and raising awareness.

Last year, our Banned Bookmobile, full of books that the far right banned, toured key cities and towns to raise the visibility of book bans, hand out banned books for free, and bring people together to stop censorship.

Now, MoveOn is giving our Banned Bookmobile concept a facelift—this time, primarily focusing on signing up new election volunteers, while also spreading the message about the importance of voting in the 2024 election at a time when so many Americans have already lost the ability to control their own bodies and, therefore, their own lives.

We need your help to raise $130,000 to launch our pilot program. With your help, we'll go on the road—handing out T-shirts, water bottles, stickers, and other merchandise, signing up new election volunteers en masse, and educating people about the stakes for reproductive freedom in this election.

Will you start a $5 monthly donation to help fund our bus to raise awareness, sign up new election volunteers, and ensure we elect champions of reproductive freedom up and down the ballot?

Yes, I'll chip in monthly.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

We can contact enough young voters to win the election only if we start early—and sign up more volunteers, particularly young people. That's why your help today is so crucial.

Thanks for all you do.

–Mohammad, Alexis, David, Evelyn, and the rest of the team

P.S. Your donation will help test this program, so we can roll it out at scale later this summer. We need to raise $130,000 now to help ...

• cover rental charges for our tour bus,
• buy gas,
• print the postcards that volunteers will write at the van to send to swing-state voters,
• help buy stickers, magnets, pens, and other things to hand out to volunteers and other visitors,
• help wrap the vehicle in an abortion-rights-focused design so people know what we're about when we pull up,
• and more.

Starting early will help us sign up more volunteers, work out the kinks, and get ready to turbocharge our election volunteer and get-out-the vote programs in the summer. We need your help to get going with our pilot now. Are you in?

Will you start a $5 monthly donation to help fund our bus to raise awareness and sign up new election volunteers?

Yes, I'll chip in monthly.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

Sources:

1. "Trump: 'I was able to kill Roe v. Wade,'" NBC News, May 17, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/189721?t=8&akid=381750%2E38938583%2EV-KZKs

2. "Donald Trump Hails His Supreme Court Picks Behind Abortion Ruling," Newsweek, June 27, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/189722?t=10&akid=381750%2E38938583%2EV-KZKs

3. "5 Takeaways From the Supreme Court Arguments on Idaho's Abortion Ban," The New York Times, April 24, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/189723?t=12&akid=381750%2E38938583%2EV-KZKs

4. "Arizona Abortion Ban Will Be Enforced Starting June 8," KFF Health News, April 22, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/189724?t=14&akid=381750%2E38938583%2EV-KZKs

5. "KFF Health Tracking Poll March 2024: Abortion in the 2024 Election and Beyond," KFF, March 7, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/189725?t=16&akid=381750%2E38938583%2EV-KZKs

6. Ibid.

7. "Harvard Youth Poll," Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, Fall 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/189726?t=18&akid=381750%2E38938583%2EV-KZKs

8. Ibid.

Want to support MoveOn's work? The MAGA movement's book bans have forced teachers and librarians across the country to remove books from their shelves and censor what young people can learn. MoveOn is fighting back, including by filling a "Banned Bookmobile" with books that the far right has banned and driving it to key cities and towns to raise the visibility of book bans, hand out banned books for free, and bring people together to stop censorship. To keep up the fight against book bans and the MAGA politicians who support them, we need your help.

Will you start a monthly gift to power and sustain MoveOn's critical work? 

Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

---

PAID FOR BY MOVEON POLITICAL ACTION, https://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. MoveOn Political Action - PO Box 96142, Washington, D.C. 20090-6142.

This email was sent to Tiumothy on April 25, 2024. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. MoveOn's privacy policy was recently updated. To read our new privacy policy, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

Why I Resigned From the DC Abortion Fund BY ALLISON TOMBROS KORMAN

o n Nov. 17, 2023 I resigned from my dream job at the DC Abortion Fund (DCAF). In the four months since my resignation, the organization seemed to have grown emboldened not just to demand fealty to a progressive litmus test over the war in Gaza, but to use DCAF’s resources, time, and reputation to push out individuals who do not share their perspective, most recently and explicitly signing on to a campaign to call the Jewish musician Matisyahu—known for his peace anthem “One Day”—a “white Zionist” racist. While I wish I could be surprised by this, I’m not. This is the same pattern I experienced at the DC Abortion Fund that led to my resignation.

For the previous 18 months, I had proudly served as the most senior executive at DCAF, a grassroots organization whose core mission is to provide abortion funding in the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area. This dream position brought together my 20-plus-year career in sexual and reproductive health and my lifelong personal commitment to social justice. My daughters proudly acted as our “interns,” handing out swag at community events and telling anyone who would ask about their mom’s work, even when it meant enduring verbal and physical harassment from anti-abortion activists. In less than a year at DCAF, I was promoted.

After the tragic events in Israel on Oct. 7, everything changed for the Jewish community and for me. While it was well-known that I was the only Jewish staff member—I staffed all events and fundraisers hosted by the Jewish community—not one person from the staff or board reached out to me in the wake of the rape, murder, and kidnapping of 1,200 Israeli men, women, and children. Their silence mirrored the devastating silence many Jews experienced after Oct. 7.

On Oct. 9, with no mention of the terrible events from two days prior, DCAF’s communications team posted an Indigenous People’s Day Instagram post calling for “land back” and a “Free Palestine.” Jewish members of the DCAF community—volunteers, fundraisers, and me, an employee—alerted the communications team that this was, or was perceived to be, deeply insensitive. The post was removed.

The staff letter noted, ‘we cannot ignore the mass violations to human rights and sexual and reproductive health outcomes that we’re seeing out of Gaza.’ Remarkably, the letter neglected any mention of health outcomes for the Israeli survivors of rape or assault, or for the hostages.

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On Oct. 26, the communications team proposed a series of Instagram slides for my review. The “Gaza Carousel,” as the draft was titled, felt deeply one-sided for a reproductive health organization that had not publicly acknowledged the rapes and other atrocities of Oct. 7. Instead, the post focused on the so-called “U.S.-funded genocide” in Gaza and only mentioned the hostages in a single bullet on the final slide. As the former executive director of a national sexual violence prevention program, I could not fathom how if choosing to speak about the war, my colleagues could willfully ignore the devastating violations of reproductive justice that happened to Israelis on Oct. 7. I brought my concerns about the draft to my supervisor, the chair of the Board of Directors. I explained how specific accusations against Jews and Israel on social media were offensive and were used to justify violence against Jews on campus, in local businesses, and across the world. I maintained in that meeting—and until the end of my tenure there—that DCAF did not have the expertise in Middle East policy to weigh in on the war. DCAF had never before issued a statement on international events or foreign policy and I felt we should use the fund’s limited capacity to remain focused on the core mission of providing abortion funding. The board chair agreed that the post should not go up. It didn’t, but my decision to go directly to the chair set in motion a division within the staff that would devolve until my departure.

To rebuild staff unity and in keeping with our organizational values around open communication, the board chair arranged a meeting for me and the comms team to discuss our feelings about what had transpired. I sincerely apologized for any breach of trust caused by bringing my concerns to the chair. No apology was given by the comms team, or prompted by the chair, for sending me a draft I found hurtful and offensive. I made the point that if a similar situation had occurred with another minority group, it would be perfectly reasonable for them to consult a supervisor, but I was told that this was “different.” I was told that “everyone knows when something is racist,” but that the language used in this post was up for debate, as if I, the only Jewish voice on staff, should not be qualified to decide for myself what was or could be deemed offensive to a Jewish person.

As the war ramped up, it was clear that this issue was not going away. Not only was I struggling to process Oct. 7 with friends, family, and my community, I was also navigating the conflict every day at work. As the only Jewish voice in the organization, I was repeatedly put in the position to speak for all Jewish people—an impossible task—or to defend my perspective and why it did not align with that of Jewish Voices for Peace, a group that purports to represent Jews but rejects the basic premise of a Jewish homeland, or similar entities. At the same time, if I advocated for DCAF staying out of this discussion, I was told I was silencing the organization and its staff. I shared my heartbreak about the violence against both Israelis and Palestinians and how, though complex, these feelings could coexist. In return, it was explained to me, often by people with no direct connection to the land or its people, that I needed to understand “context.”

At the same time, other abortion funds and reproductive health organizations began issuing statements about what was happening in Gaza. These statements contained much of the same offensive nomenclature as DCAF’s draft and some, like ARC-Southeast’s letter, went further, calling Zionism—the belief that Israel simply has a right to exist—“a contradiction to Reproductive Justice.” Every member of the DCAF staff except me signed on to a letter to the board advising them that they would be participating in a walkout in support of Palestine. The letter noted, “We are using our collective power as DCAF workers to show up for Gazans and call for an immediate ceasefire, as well as liberation for Palestinians ... we cannot ignore the mass violations to human rights and sexual and reproductive health outcomes that we’re seeing out of Gaza.” Remarkably, the letter neglected any mention of health outcomes for the Israeli survivors of rape or assault, or for the hostages.

In an effort to work collaboratively and keep focused on our primary objectives, we agreed that establishing social media procedures was a critical next step. On Nov. 14, I and the communications team sat down to decide what, if anything, DCAF would be posting about the war and to ensure there were not more situations like that which occurred around the “Gaza Carousel.” I recognized that my colleagues felt strongly that DCAF should weigh in on this discussion, and in an effort to compromise, I agreed to a process that would allow DCAF to uplift existing content from trusted partners in the field, but not create original content, as this would be beyond our expertise. We agreed to abstain from using nomenclature that could be distracting or divisive to our community, such as the “Free Palestine” hashtag or calling Israel’s actions “genocide.” We developed a system to review and discuss potentially controversial content related to the war before posting, starting with a small group of reviewers, including me, and escalating to a vote by a mix of board and staff.

The following morning, I circulated the notes from that meeting to DCAF leadership and members of the Board. At 3 p.m. that day, I was alerted by a Jewish DCAF volunteer that the DCAF Instagram feed featured graphics from The Washington Post about deaths in Gaza with commentary overlaid, specifically that “collective punishment is the tool of fascists” and that what was happening in Gaza was “a prime and top-of-mind example of said collective punishment.” I immediately flagged this for the communications team and asked if perhaps the content was posted inadvertently since it violated the norms we had established in the meeting the previous day. Surely, equating the actions of the entire State of Israel with fascism was a perspective that needed to be discussed as potentially controversial. They assured me the post was intentional (they later stealthily removed it).

Immediately, DCAF received angry messages from Jewish members of their community. The messages criticized DCAF for being so one-sided on the issue. They were furious that DCAF, who claimed to deeply value reproductive justice, had remained silent on the rapes of Israeli women. They stated that as Jews, they felt abandoned by and isolated from the organization.

By Nov. 17, I could barely get out of bed. The last five weeks had wrung me out, physically, emotionally, and mentally. I had been iced out by my colleagues for my unwillingness to get on board with their specific perspective. They canceled meetings with me and when they had to be in meetings with me, they kept their cameras off. I had been told that I was wrong to feel that specific language was harmful or offensive, even when I could feel its burn. I felt that I was being forced, at best, to bury my identity at work and at worst, to apologize for or decry it. I had become something of a walking zombie at home, thinking about what was happening at work constantly, trying to see a way through this. My children, with whom we elected to be honest about what I was facing each day at work, had stopped asking if I was OK and instead just carefully hugged me and told me they were sorry.

That morning, after weeks of agonizing over the matter, I realized I could not go back. I called my board chair and left a voicemail in which I tendered my resignation. My board chair texted back to say she understood if I “no longer [thought] DCAF [was] a fit.” I was devastated, but I felt this was my only option. While I remain fully committed to ensuring everyone has abortion access no matter where they live or who they are, I could not stay in an organization that refused to acknowledge my humanity or that of my people.

As painful as it was to leave my dream job, I hoped that my leaving would be a wake-up call for DCAF. I hoped they would realize just how bad things must have been for a Jewish person at their organization to resign from their position. They didn’t. DCAF chose Repro Shabbat, an annual celebration that honors the Jewish value of reproductive freedom, to center “Palestinian liberation” and included only a passing and perfunctory mention of the Israeli civilian hostages, and no mention of the Hamas-inflicted sexual violence on Oct. 7. In mid-March, DCAF signed on to the campaign protesting Matisyahu. These actions confirmed my previous pleas had gone unheard and that I made the right decision to leave.

This experience broke my heart. I’ve spoken with many Jews who are also broken-hearted as they feel pushed out of progressive spaces, specifically abortion funds and other reproductive health organizations. We feel betrayed by and disappointed in our movement for failing to live the values it purports to embody. The erasure of our history as a people that has struggled to survive and the erasure of our current lived experiences is nothing short of devastating. Jews are not asking progressive movements, causes, or individuals to condone or celebrate Israel’s response to Oct. 7. We are not asking for them to identify solely with our suffering. We are asking that if they insist on wading into this conflict, they do so in a way that recognizes our humanity.

Allison Tombros Korman is the former Senior Operations and Strategy Director at the DC Abortion Fund (April 2022-December 2023) and the Inaugural Executive Director of Culture of Respect (2014-2015), a national initiative to end campus sexual violence.

To+both,

 

To+both, We've got a major problem, and I'm afraid people just don't understand how bad it's gotten. Biden has unleashed the Deep State, not just to promote abortion, but to CRUSH LIFE. Sign Our Petition Now Biden's FBI and DOJ are seething with contempt. Biden himself declared YOU the enemy. He's sending SWAT teams with guns drawn to raid peaceful pro-lifers in front of their kids. His attorney general showed his disdain for pro-life clinics that are being bombed. They don't care. They only care about abortion. But I'm afraid that after the victory over Roe, many are complacent or asleep. At the ACLJ, we're taking action with our eyes wide open. We know that if we don't act, we could lose everything. More unborn babies will be killed. Our rights will be eviscerated. TODAY, we are filing our biggest brief since the Dobbs decision, at the Supreme Court of Florida, to defend a law that could save thousands of babies. But to have the resources we need to defeat Biden's relentless attacks on the unborn, we need your support. To+both, I know things are tight right now, but without YOU, we could lose. We've fought side-by-side together for far too long to let that happen. We've just launched our April Matching Challenge, but we're already falling behind. TODAY, every gift will be DOUBLED: $5 becomes $10; $20 becomes $40. Have Your Gift Doubled Today Before Our Looming Deadlines. We are fully engaged like never before in the courts, state legislatures, and on Capitol Hill – filing lawsuits, submitting legal briefs, and providing critical testimony. Take action with us. Sign Our Petition: Defend Babies. Defeat Biden's Attacks on Life. Jay Sekulow ACLJ Chief Counsel

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Planned Parenthood receives record gov't funding despite drop in health services

 

Planned Parenthood receives record gov't funding despite drop in health services Curated for you byCP Editors Good afternoon! It's Tuesday, September 20, and today's headlines include details on Planned Parenthood's increase in government funding despite it providing services to fewer clients, California Gov. Gavin Newsom's new billboard campaign that endorses abortion availability in the state by citing a Bible verse that includes the words of Jesus, and an interview with Dr. Michael Brown. Planned Parenthood's 2020-2021 report has revealed that it received more than $633 million in "Government Health Services Reimbursements & Grants" for the year ending June 30, 2021, which accounts for more than one-third of its total revenue. The abortion giant provided services to 2.16 million clients, down from the 2.4 million it served during the same period the year before. While the organization, which is the nation's largest abortion provider, revealed an 8% increase in the total number of abortions performed, services and testing for sexually transmitted infections decreased by more than one million, while cancer screenings were down by nearly 200,000, and contraceptive services decreased from more than 2.5 million to less than 2.2 million during the same period. Adoption referrals also decreased from 2,667 to 1,940. Planned Parenthood acknowledged the reduction in services in the report, stating it was "proud to provide abortion." It further blamed the COVID-19 pandemic for a reduction in services but asserted that "[a]bortion is essential health care that cannot wait for the end of a pandemic or the whims of politicians." Live Action News' Carole Novielli weighed in on the report, noting that Planned Parenthood has seen a 30% decrease in the number of clients it has served when compared to 2009-2010. Novielli also noted that Planned Parenthood conducted 6.4 million abortions from 2000 to 2020 but provided prenatal care services to a little over 303,000 pregnant women. "To put it in perspective, Planned Parenthood has committed about the same number of abortions every year that it offered in prenatal care services over two decades combined," Novielli wrote. Continue reading. P.S. Did you hear? CP has launched Freedom Post, a free, twice-weekly newsletter highlighting breaking news and headlines on key issues ranging from freedom to religious liberty. Sign-up today to get FreedomPostdelivered to your inbox every Monday and Thursday. Check out these headlines from our latest issue of Freedom Post: $1M California website informs minors, out-of-state women how to get abortions University suspends all clubs after court orders approval of LGBT group Disney employees arrested in child sex sting operation

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Michael Brown talks Christians and politics Dr. Michael Brown believes that Christians should be involved in politics, but he is concerned about political obsession. In a recent interview with The Christian Post, the author of the recently released book, The Political Seduction of the Church: How Millions of American Christians Have Confused Politics with the Gospel, shared his concerns about Christians merging the Gospel with the elections "as if a political party was the key to advancing God's Kingdom on the earth." Noting the importance of the upcoming 2024 presidential election, Brown explained that "healthy" Christian nationalism is an approach where people say, "I love Jesus, and I love my country," while "unhealthy" nationalism is that which equates America's destiny with the Kingdom of God, and the "very dangerous" version comes when modern-day Christians say, "We're we're going to have to take up arms against the government in the name of Jesus." Read more. Also of Interest... Being a patriotic American doesn't make you a 'Christian nationalist': Dr. Richard Land weighs in on the debate I have voted Republican for many years, but I don't put my trust in a political party Women disrupt Bishop Lamor Whitehead's Sunday service Brooklyn Bishop Lamor Whitehead was detained by police on Sunday after he forcefully removed a woman who disrupted his sermon and allegedly threatened his family two months after he was robbed at gunpoint. Two women engaged in a heated exchange with Whitehead during the sermon. Whitehead began praying for the women in tongues before yanking 47-year-old Tarsha Howard by her neck and forcing her out of the church. The other woman fled. Whitehead was briefly detained while police sorted out what happened but was later released without any charge. Howard was charged with trespassing and disrupting a religious service. Read more. Televangelist defends $1,500 prayer course Televangelist and self-proclaimed prophetess Juanita Bynum is defending her $1499.99 four-week intensive prayer course, calling the online criticism she has faced an "insult." Some have compared her course to a prayer meeting, with Chicago-based internet preacher and U.S. Army veteran Marcus Rogers telling his nearly 1 million Facebook followers the price tag was "outrageous." Bynum, who describes herself as a "pioneer" in high-level prayer, addressed naysayers during a Facebook Live Broadcast on Thursday, saying, "I’m not going to insult myself to even discuss the price. It’s an insult to who I am after being in ministry for over 50 years." Read more.