If you are committed to achieving reproductive justice, you’re likely used to being disappointed by election results. Reproductive justice demands that we secure for everyone the right to maintain bodily autonomy, to have children, to not have children, and to be able to parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities. So… we are (and have been) a long way off.

But this moment feels different. Voters reelected Donald Trump, the president who is responsible for the conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade. Trump is now heading back to the White House to inflict even more damage, including, perhaps, enforcing the Comstock Act, which could make it illegal to mail abortion pills. With his administration promising to violently separate migrant and mixed-status families, to eliminate the federal agency protecting students’ civil rights, and to make healthcare unaffordable for the most vulnerable populations, reproductive justice feels unattainable at this moment.

This feels particularly painful given that the election came breathtakingly close to going in the opposite direction. Vice President Kamala Harris ran a campaign in which, for the first time in history, reproductive freedom was a major element of a Democratic presidential nominee’s platform, and the people affected by abortion bans were central to the argument for why we needed to protect and expand access to care. The Harris team even had several women speak at campaign stops about their abortion experiences. For activists who have been working on the front lines to defend abortion access, it was undeniably remarkable to see people who have had abortions spotlighted in this way, and to hear our truths told by party leaders and allies in such clear language.

But the truth is, this was never the radical progress it appeared to be. As We Testify founder Renee Bracey Sherman and I have argued in talks all over the country since the release of our book Liberating Abortion in October, real progress means not merely the right to an abortion—it means abortion liberation. This vision goes beyond begging politicians for crumbs and instead invites everyone to do the work of ending abortion stigma—which for too long has been the air we’ve all breathed—and build a world in which people are supported no matter their reproductive decisions, whether that is to have or to not have children. It means a world in which everyone receives all of the support and resources they need—including paid leave, a living wage, and affordable childcare, to start—to create their families and parent their children in a sustainable way.

What would it look like if we showed up with compassion and love instead of judgment and fear when a loved one tells us they are pregnant and are considering their options? How can we step up and support people no matter their decision, knowing that the majority of people who have abortions already are parents? That might look like offering to babysit for loved ones who need a multiday procedure, or spreading the gospel of abortion funds to all who will listen, or sharing your story when the topic comes up in conversation to normalize what is a quite normal procedure. What if, instead of falling into the trap of despair that the right wants us to succumb to, we doubled down on our commitment to ending abortion stigma in every possible way while demanding reproductive justice for all? We were never going to find liberation through an election, whether Harris won or not. But what if I told you that we can liberate abortion no matter who is in power, because the “power” is ours, if we choose to demand it?

In solidarity,

Regina Mahone

Senior Editor

This reflection on the 2024 election results originally appeared in the December 2024 issue, as part of a forum with the headline “Now What?”

How to Use Abortion Pills

How Abortion Pills Work

The Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline

Support for Families of Trans Youth

If/When/How Repro Legal Helpline

Charley, the Abortion Chatbot

Digital Security and Abortion Guide

Find Help Paying for an Abortion

Abortion Access for a Young Person

Abortion Access for Immigrants

Pregnancy Criminalization, Explained

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This holiday is founded on the unforgivable genocide of Native Americans, and my commitment to justice for all people makes it difficult for me to celebrate things I am thankful for. And the harsh reality is that the utter disregard for all Indigenous people in the 1800s fuels the same systems of white supremacy that dehumanize all of us today. Black lives are taken by the police and the prison-industrial complex, any sense of LGBTQ+ peace and tranquility has been obliterated by gun violence and hate, and, ultimately, the small promise of abortion access guaranteed by Roe v. Wade was stripped away by an illegitimate Supreme Court.

Continue reading “We’re Thankful for Our Abortions.”

A Third Woman Died Under Texas’ Abortion Ban. Doctors Are Avoiding D&Cs and Reaching for Riskier Miscarriage Treatments. (ProPublica)

The Texas Ob-Gyn Exodus (The New Yorker)

NYC Abortion Providers Brace for New Florida Influx (The City)

Texas Bill Would Reclassify Abortion Drugs as Controlled Substances (Texas Tribune)

For Activists Who Wanted More From Missouri Abortion Amendment, The Work Is Far From Over (Missouri Independent)

Here’s Why Abortion Largely Won on Election Day—But Not on the Top of the Ticket (Scientific American)

Zionism Has No Place in Our Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice Movements (Prism)

Dr. Oz, Who Thinks All Abortion Is ‘Murder,’ Could Now Have Power Over Abortion Access (Jezebel)

They Shared Their Abortion Stories on the Campaign Trail. They’re Not Done Fighting. (The 19th)

Judge Strikes Down Wyoming Abortion Laws, Including an Explicit Ban on Pills to End Pregnancy (Associated Press)

Health Advocates in Africa Worry Trump Will Reimpose Abortion ‘Gag Rule’ Governing US Aid (Associated Press)

Maryland Is Training More Health Workers to Offer Abortion Care (KFF Health News)

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