Statements from chapter members in favor and against 2024-09-GR1: Endorse the MD Reproductive Freedom Amendment will be posted in this thread.
IN FAVOR by Jane N.
One hundred percent in favor. There is no reason to not support this amendment.
IN FAVOR by Ken B.
I do not think I need to convince anyone here that we should protect reproductive rights, nor do I think that there is a significant chance of the Maryland Reproductive Freedom Amendment being defeated at the polls in November. Despite this, it would still be extremely advantageous for us to endorse this amendment. In order to make the changes that we want to see in this country and the world, DSA has no choice but to become a mass movement. We need, at the very least, millions of dues payers and tens of millions of sympathetic activists and voters. Participating in this campaign, and others like it, is the only way to achieve this goal.
This is a popular campaign about a critical issue. I’ve had countless conversations with coworkers, local college students, strangers at the farmers market, etc, and everyone I’ve spoken to seems excited at the prospect of canvassing for this campaign. Working class people throughout the region want to take a stand for reproductive rights at a time when they are under threat nationwide, and if we do not mobilize them to do so then they will either mobilize through some other path–most likely going down the route of liberal or progressive politics that does not meaningfully challenge the capitalist system–or remain dormant and unaware of their own power.
As we mobilize people for this campaign, we show them what our organization stands for and show them that Democratic Socialists are at the forefront of fighting for issues that they care about. We make connections with community leaders and existing organizers and pull them into our infrastructure in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties, and build strong relationships and networks that can be used for future electoral, labor, and tenant organizing campaigns. With this increased capacity, we will be able to reach further and strike higher, building our power in local politics, the Maryland legislature, and perhaps one day in the United States Congress.
Comrades, I am excited for this campaign and what it could mean for our chapter. A better world is possible, and I know we can win it, but only if we build capacity through mass campaigns like this and do the politics of millions. I know I’ll be out knocking doors for this amendment, and I hope to see you there too.
IN FAVOR by Joe R.
Abortion access is critical to the fight against the far right and for working class liberation. Recognizing that control of our own bodies is a fundamental human right and rooted in the socialist belief that an injury to one is an injury to all, National DSA launched the Trans Rights & Bodily Autonomy (TRBA) Campaign Commission in February of this year. At the kickoff call, Rep. Zooey Zephyr, a DSA member and the first transgender person elected to the Montana House of Representatives, highlighted how “the anti-trans legislation for the majority of the [state legislative] session and the way the Republicans were able to get it across the line was to amend it to include anti-abortion provisions. So they recognize that these fights are the same.” This past Saturday, September 14, members of our chapter’s Reproductive Justice Working Group, TRBA campaign, and Social Feminist section joined nearly two thousand people in the Gender Liberation March. Throughout the day, speaker after speaker highlighted how bodily autonomy links all working class people who are marginalized on the basis of gender and sexuality.
Moreover, as the resolution states, this would be an opportunity to train more electoral organizers (and to build on the success of recent Uncommitted MD canvassing). There is immense potential for recruitment. In the past year, I attended two events organized by the chapter’s Reproductive Justice Working Group, including a fundraiser and the subsequent care kit packing event. Dozens of people attended the fundraiser at As You Are, which was also well-received by and generated positive conversations about DSA with others present. More impressively, the care kit packing event had 120+ RSVPs and upwards of 100, including significant numbers of paper members attending one of their first events, new members, and even non-members, came to help pack 500 kits in 45 minutes. There is clearly organic energy around reproductive justice, especially among women, queer and trans folks, and young people. Our chapter should be pursuing campaigns that allow us to engage with and bring in these populations and to provide a socialist perspective on reproductive justice in a predominantly liberal organizing space. In the year that I’ve been active in the chapter, attending Repro Justice and SocFem events, and organizing with the TRBA campaign for the past nine months, we are regularly met with pleasant surprise that DSA has more women and queer and trans members than people expect (even if there could certainly be more), and even more so that socialists are organizing around issues they care about so much.
Finally, although this referendum is likely to pass without DSA’s endorsement, our chapter should nevertheless be a visible proponent of its passage and help demonstrate massive working class support for reproductive justice. The DMV will almost certainly continue to see an increase in the number of out-of-state abortion seekers with limited options in their home states. Passing the Maryland Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment would further enshrine and protect the constitutional right to make decisions to prevent, continue, or end one’s pregnancy. Additionally, it would set the stage for local and state elected officials to make further investments in abortion access and reproductive care, from state-funded child care, doulas and midwives, and incentives for students and healthcare professionals to learn how to perform abortions, to Medicaid coverage, shield laws, and inclusive sex education.
IN FAVOR by Adele B.
As seen in the Gender Liberation March this weekend, there is great hunger to organize around the tenets of bodily autonomy. Not only is this movement massive, it is, at its core, intersectional - and thus, is something that DSA should be at the forefront of.
Our electoral organizing is one of our most powerful assets as an organization. Using our already robust elements of our campaign towards the reproductive justice movement can and will help DSA continue to expand its reach into the Metro DC area. While this campaign is winnable, we want it to win overwhelmingly. The ballot initiatives in New York, Florida, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, Montana, and South Dakota stand on the national stage to show not only the county, but the world, that abortion access is overwhelmingly popular, and must be codified into our state constitutions, if not federally.
While this campaign, we hope, is likely to win - we must not forget that comrades in Virginia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania all face restrictive abortion policies, not including bans after 24 weeks, bans on reproductive health coverage with medicare, 24-hour wait policies, and more. Further, our comrades in West Virginia, Kentucky, and South Carolina face six week abortion bans (tantamount to a total ban), along with outright abortion bans, mandatory two visits, medically unnecessary ultrasounds, and more. We must continue the fight to ensure that abortion remains accessible and legal, and we can accomplish this by endorsing Resolution 2024-09-GR1: Endorse the MD Reproductive Freedom Amendment.
Thank you for reading. To take immediate action, I urge you to donate to the DC Abortion Fund here.
IN FAVOR by Cindy D.
DSA participation in the coalition and campaign work for this referendum is important for multiple reasons: The opposition is trying to confuse people by claiming in some of their publicity that a “no” vote will protect women’s health, support families, and promote justice. We can help make sure that voters who support healthcare for all are not mislead. In a highly contested presidential election year such as this, some voters don’t pay much attention to a down ballot referendum and may skip it; the local campaign can bring it to their attention. Although pundits expect this referendum to win in Maryland, we want it to win overwhelmingly and to use the opportunity to keep reproductive justice front and center in the election this year.
Officially endorsing the referendum can make DSA’s commitment to reproductive justice, bodily autonomy and socialist feminist issues more broadly, more visible within DSA as well as to people who might be attracted to DSA if gender and feminist issues are more visible. It will also support the work of the chapter’s Reproductive Justice working group by giving DSA more visibility within local coalitions on reproductive rights.
Our goal for reproductive justice is much broader than this amendment. Demonstrating overwhelming popular support for the amendment can lay the groundwork for more meaningful change to make both abortion and having children fully accessible for all. DSA endorsement will strengthen our ties with local groups that share our broader vision. We can accomplish this by endorsing Resolution 2024-09-GR1: Endorse the MD Reproductive Freedom Amendment.
Thank you for reading. To take immediate action, also consider donating to the DC Abortion Fund here.
IN FAVOR by Miranda E.
Removing barriers to abortion access is a crucial component of bodily autonomy, one of the core tenets of reproductive justice. Abortion bans disproportionately impact working-class people, and as a socialist organization, we must be involved in the fight for bodily autonomy.
The Reproductive Freedom Amendment on the ballot in Maryland in November aims to protect reproductive freedom, including access to abortion, safeguarding these rights in the state constitution.
States across the country have banned abortion and attacked other reproductive services. This amendment adds an extra layer of protection to the state’s existing abortion laws, ensuring Marylanders’ freedoms remain in their hands despite political changes.
By adopting this Resolution to Endorse the 2024 Maryland Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment, our chapter would join a coalition of advocacy organizations and individuals across the state to coordinate GOTV efforts.
Our working group has been steadily building our network of reproductive rights organizations and abortion funds to partner with, including DC Abortion Fund, and getting out into the community as a group that advocates for bodily autonomy rights within a socialist framework.
Joining these efforts to advocate for and mobilize around this ballot amendment would be a great opportunity for coalition building with other organizations fighting for reproductive services and bodily autonomy like Reproductive Justice Maryland.
Adopting this resolution would enable our chapter to lend support to this critical cause by mobilizing and growing our chapter’s deep bench of canvassing organizers and volunteers.
The upcoming election is one in which abortion rights are on the ballot in several states across the country. The Maryland amendment is part of a larger movement against the pervasive national threat to reproductive rights and bodily autonomy, and Metro DC DSA should absolutely be part of this fight.
IN FAVOR by Lyra M.
Bodily Autonomy is a core socialist concern. It is a fundamental human right and underpins much of the organizing we do. The attacks on reproductive autonomy are part and parcel to the attacks on LGBTQ+ comrades, especially the rights of self determination and right to affirming care. As seen in the Gender Liberation March this weekend, there is great hunger to organize around the tenets of bodily autonomy. Not only is this movement massive, it is, at its core, intersectional - and thus, is something that DSA should be at the forefront of.
Our electoral organizing is one of our most powerful assets as an organization. Using our already robust elements of our campaign towards the reproductive justice movement can and will help DSA continue to expand its reach into the Metro DC area. While this campaign is winnable, we want it to win overwhelmingly. The ballot initiatives in New York, Florida, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, Montana, and South Dakota stand on the national stage to show not only the county, but the world, that abortion access is overwhelmingly popular, and must be codified into our state constitutions, if not federally.
While this campaign, we hope, is likely to win - we must not forget that comrades in Virginia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania all face restrictive abortion policies, not including bans after 24 weeks, bans on reproductive health coverage with medicare, 24-hour wait policies, and more. Further, our comrades in West Virginia, Kentucky, and South Carolina face six week abortion bans (tantamount to a total ban), along with outright abortion bans, mandatory two visits, medically unnecessary ultrasounds, and more. Just recently, the death of Amber Nicole Thurman in Georgia was a result of delayed care due to these bans. She is one of the innumerable victims of those who seek to control and limit the autonomy of BIPOC people as part of an agenda of white supremacy and right wing authoritarianism.
We must continue the fight to ensure that abortion remains accessible and legal, and we can accomplish this by endorsing Resolution 2024-09-GR1: Endorse the MD Reproductive Freedom Amendment.
Thank you for reading. To take immediate action, I urge you to donate to the DC Abortion Fund here.
IN FAVOR by Julia P.
I’ll start with the obvious: reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy are under imminent threat across the United States, and we have a moral duty to defend these essential rights. As a large chapter with a well-organized electoral program and a substantial volunteer base who can knock tens of thousands of doors a cycle, we have the power to provide massive support for the Reproductive Freedom Amendment, and while the amendment is popular and likely to pass anyway, that show of force means something not just locally but nationally. In this critical historical moment, we need the whole country to see just how hard the collective citizenry is willing to fight for our rights.
This will also be a singular opportunity to bring in and mobilize new members and supporters. The DMV region is full of people who passionately support reproductive justice and want to organize around the issue but don’t know where to begin. If we as socialists are their entry point to political action and we’re able to effectively demonstrate our ability to mobilize in large numbers around robust campaigns that deliver results, we can pull them into our movement and grow even stronger through their support. This is how we build a mass movement that has real potential to create the kind of broad political change the world desperately needs.
Please vote yes on this resolution, and don’t stop there! Come out, knock doors, show support for reproductive justice, and help us build the movement for a better future!
IN FAVOR by Emily N.
I encourage you to vote IN FAVOR of Resolution 2024-09-GR1: Endorse the MD Reproductive Freedom Amendment. Bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom are central to the socialist movement, and it is essential that we, as a chapter, affirm our commitment to ensuring that people have the right to make decisions about their bodies and lives.
While the amendment is expected to pass, canvassing for this measure in our region will be invaluable in recruiting and developing new leaders in our Maryland branches. This effort will build on the momentum gained during our chapter’s canvassing for the Uncommitted campaign earlier this year.
Additionally, it presents an opportunity for our Reproductive Justice Working Group to attract more leaders to our chapter, particularly those interested in issues of bodily autonomy. This, in turn, could strengthen our efforts to enshrine the right to self-determination across our various chapter campaigns, including our local TRBA efforts in Virginia.
Our struggles are interconnected, and the right to self-determination is fundamental to all the fights we undertake. Let’s unite to demonstrate the overwhelming demand for abortion rights, reproductive freedom, and bodily autonomy.