We Are in a Cultural Emergency
Discover more from Rob Brezsny's Astrology Newsletter
We Are in a Cultural Emergency
The right to abortion is a fundamental human right
WE ARE IN A CULTURAL EMERGENCY
The Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is a tragedy of monumental proportions. With all of our ingenuity and diligence and ferocity, we must fight back to keep abortion legal
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MY ABORTION STORY
My ability to become who I aspired to be would have been impossible without legal abortion.
Earlier in my life, a women partner and I had abortions. I am fortunate we weren't forced to bring children into the world that we couldn't properly care for.
Ultimately, my wife and I chose exactly when we wanted to welcome a new human—when I had enough money and emotional maturity to do so.
Legal abortion made it possible for me to be a conscious, loving father for the one child I helped to raise.
My life is successful, and an important factor in that grace has been legal abortion.
PS: Contraception is not 100% effective. That's one of many reasons why we need legal, free, widely available abortion.
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DAY OF INFAMY
June 24, 2022, was a day of infamy for women, for the Supreme Court, and for the U.S. Constitution.
Never in our lifetimes did we think that we would live in a nation where freedoms would decrease instead of increase.
—Tom Nelson
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This is an absolutely disastrous and unconscionable decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. It's an unfathomably grim day for our state and our country. I am heartbroken.
I will never stop fighting to make sure that everyone has the right to make the reproductive healthcare decision that is right for them, and without interference from politicians or members of the Supreme Court who don’t know anything about their life circumstances, values, or responsibilities.
—Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers
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It's absolutely appalling, barbaric, inhuman, and devastating: enforced birth in a country with baby formula shortages and mass school shootings weekly and the highest maternal mortality rate in the industrialized world.
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DEFEND DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Rebecca Solnit wrote all the words in this section:
They would like you to feel defeated, powerless, and alone. So band together, flex your considerable collective powers, and never surrender.
We are the majority, which is why they are frantically pursuing minority rule and taking advantage of it where it is built into our flawed system. They are a shrinking minority and know democracy is their enemy.
Defend democracy. Defend women's rights, queer rights, privacy rights, reproductive rights, voting rights, and the rights of nature. Defend the future against these vengeful undead ghouls trying to drag us into the graves of the past.
Remember that their goal is to overturn our victories, which is to say remember that we have had many victories.
Remember I say, because memory helps map the possibilities of the future. Remember what Hannah Jones wrote: “Our democracy’s founding ideals were false when they were written. Black Americans have fought to make them true." That fight continues.
Defend not just your own rights but those of others, especially if you're among those not directly threatened. Defend the rights of those yet to come, not as microscopic embryos, but as inheritors of this country and this earth for generations to come.
Remember that the right fears us. Remember that they know they must lie and cheat to win. Remember that they know they are doomed in the long run, and speed the day when they are history, a second confederacy whose only statues will be made out of lies and scabs.
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HERE'S WHAT SCIENCE SAYS
The US Supreme Court is wrong to disregard evidence on the harm of banning abortion. Fifty years of research shows that abortion access is crucial for health care and important for equality.
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BANNING ABORTION IS DANGEROUS
Harvard professor Ana Langer says: Restricting women’s access to safe and legal abortion services has important negative health implications.
We’ve seen that these laws do not result in fewer abortions. Instead, they compel women, girls, and people who can become pregnant to risk their lives and health by seeking out unsafe abortion care.
According to the World Health Organization, 23,000 people die from unsafe abortions each year and tens of thousands more experience significant health complications globally.
A recent study estimated that banning abortion in the U.S. would lead to a 21% increase in the number of pregnancy-related deaths overall and a 33% increase among Black women, girls, and people who can become pregnant, simply because staying pregnant is more dangerous than having an abortion.
Increased deaths due to unsafe abortions or attempted abortions would be in addition to these estimates.
If the current trend in the U.S. persists, “back alley” abortions will be the last resource for those with no access to safe and legal services, and the horrific consequences of such abortions will become a major cause of death and severe health complications for some of the most vulnerable women in this country.
The legal status of abortion also defines whether girls will be able to complete their educations and whether women will be able to participate in the workforce, and in public and political life.
Improving social safety net programs for women reduces gender gaps and improves girls’ and women’s health and chances to fulfill their potential, and could help reduce the number of abortions over time.
Women who are better educated, have better access to comprehensive reproductive health care, and are employed and fairly remunerated will be better positioned to avoid a mistimed and unwanted pregnancy, hence the need for termination will become less common.
—Ana Langer, professor of the practice of public health and coordinator of the Women and Health Initiative at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
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Laws restricting access to safe, legal abortions are most likely to affect those living in poverty, people of color, and sexual and gender identity minorities, as well as those who live in rural or medically underserved areas.
Rigorous, long-term psychological research demonstrates clearly that people who are denied abortions are more likely to experience higher levels of anxiety, lower life satisfaction and lower self-esteem compared with those who are able to obtain abortions.
More: https://tinyurl.com/3w4a4vxx
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A MAJORITY OF AMERICANS SUPPORT ABORTION
Gallup polls show Americans’ support for abortion at 80%.
Two-thirds of Americans agree with the original Roe v Wade decision: 63% in a Quinnipiac poll, 72% in a Marquette Law School poll, and 69% in a CNN poll.
More info: https://tinyurl.com/SupremeBarbarism
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ABORTION RESOURCES
Where to get abortion pills online:
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Find a brick and mortar clinic. Don't rely on Google to find a clinic:
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Cyber security info:
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Medical questions during at home miscarriage / abortion:
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Legal questions:
https://reprolegalhelpline.org
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Find an abortion doula:
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Judgment-free all options counseling:
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Emotional support during medication abortion:
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Help with practical support (transprtation, chldcare, etc.)
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Funding for your abortion:
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The day-after pill is available inexpensively on Amazon. This will work for those trying to avoid implantation who are under 160 pounds.
Plan B Generic. My Choice Emergency Contraceptive 1 Tablet
My Way Emergency Contraceptive 1 Tablet. Compare to Plan B One-Step by Busuna
Rugby Levonorgestrel 1.5mg Emergency Contraceptive Tablet (Compare to Plan B One Step)
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Planned Parenthood says: The drug Ella works better than other morning-after pills for people who weigh more than 165 pounds.
But if you weigh 195 pounds or more, Ella may not work as well for you. Here's Planned Parenthood's quiz to help determine what's best for you: https://tinyurl.com/yckupbwb
Persons over 160 pounds need a doctor for “Ella.” which is Rx only.
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Dozens of Providers in Red States Move to Prescribe Abortion Pills. https://tinyurl.com/28fckfx8
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WE SHALL OVERCOME
Over 51 million people live in California, Washington, and Oregon — 15% of all Americans.
The leaders of those three states have created the West Coast Offensive to protect abortion and provide road maps for other states to do the same.
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JEWISH VIEW OF ABORTION
Danya Ruttenberg writes about why her Jewish religion makes her pro-abortion: https://tinyurl.com/f7ecpenp
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NEW SUPREME COURT JUDGES LIED TO GET THEIR JOBS
During confirmation hearings, conservative justices outright lied about their position on Roe v. Wade.
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THE CONSTITUTION IS BEING HELD HOSTAGE
The Constitution Is Whatever the Right Wing Says It Is. The Supreme Court majority’s undead constitutionalism is transforming right-wing media tropes into law.
Read: https://tinyurl.com/3vvrespm
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A WORD ABOUT WOMEN AND THE US CONSTITUTION BY THE AUTHOR OF THE HANDMAID'S TALE
Novelist Margaret Atwood wrote "The Handmaid's Tale."
She says: "The Constitution has nothing to say about women’s reproductive health. But the original document does not mention women at all.
"Women were deliberately excluded from the franchise. Although one of the slogans of the Revolutionary War of 1776 was 'No taxation without representation,' and government by consent of the governed was also held to be a good thing, women were not to be represented or governed by their own consent—only by proxy, through their fathers or husbands.
"Women could neither consent nor withhold consent, because they could not vote. That remained the case until 1920, when the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified, an amendment that many strongly opposed as being against the original Constitution. As it was.
"Women were nonpersons in U.S. law for a lot longer than they have been persons. If we start overthrowing settled law using Justice Samuel Alito’s justifications, why not repeal votes for women?"
More by Margaret Atwood: https://tinyurl.com/5cep6w3x
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MORE THOUGHTS ABOUT ABORTION
A male reader said that he supports abortion, but found it mind-boggling that so many women are "careless," get pregnant, and need an abortion. Here's what I think about that ignorance:
Does he not know about all the women who are bullied and manipulated by men into not practicing safe sex?
I've been married to one woman for years, but before that I encountered numerous women who thanked me profusely for offering to use condoms—because their experience had always been that the men they'd had sex with hated to use condoms and tried to coax them to not use them.
Another important point is that taking birth control pills can wreak havoc on a woman's body and even on her psyche. Some women have a torturous relationship with those drugs as a result.
Plus, with birth control pills, YOU HAVE TO TAKE A PILL EVERY SINGLE DAY. Missing one day could make it possible for you to get pregnant.
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Condoms are mostly effective, but a lot of men don't like them, and resist using them. It's also true that condoms with spermicides, which are the most effective condoms, can be irritating to the vagina and also make women susceptible to infections.
Women who endure the painful procedure of having an IUD implanted may have heaver periods and more intense menstrual cramps. Their periods may be irregular, and they can bleed between periods.
A diaphragm is at most 88% effective. A sponge is at most 88% effective, usually less. A cervical cap is between 71-86% effective. Spermicide is 71% effective. A birth control implant is 99% effective but can cost as much as $1,500.
An internal condom is 79% effective, and costs no more than $3. Outer condoms, worn by men, are just 85% effective—hardly a foolproof way to avoid pregnancy.
A birth control patch is 91% effective and has to be replaced weekly; can cost up to $150.
A birth control shot is 94% effective and cost up to $100 every three months.
A birth control vaginal ring is 91% effective and can cost up to $100 every month.
All the above comments are meant to address those people who wonder—without having done any research or talked to actual women—why abortion is even necessary given the fact that "there are so many birth control methods."
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I appeal to men who might be reading this to be well-educated about why it's so important for women and people with wombs to have the right to decide what happens with their own bodies.
Be well-educated about the various forms of birth control that are available, and about how most of them are imperfect and/or problematic in some way—which is why we need to have abortion to end pregnancies that weren't prevented by birth control.
If you have personally experienced an abortion with a partner, talk about that with your male friends. Also, talk with your male friends about the importance of us being more involved with abortion rights.
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Read about the possible long-term side effects of hormonal birth control for women: https://tinyurl.com/czzrj5nx
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Lance Wilburn writes: To be clear: The irony of so many discussions about abortion is the complete lack of male inclusion. Women do not magically become pregnant. There is a man attached to every abortion.
Why are men not being included in the Texas law's jail time for abortion? Because this isn't about abortion, it's about men controlling women.
It's an easy topic for white men to flex their power over to remind the womenfolk that they will always have to kneel to them.
If it were actually about abortion, we would be discussing early and continuing sex education, free birth control, healthcare for all, making childcare financially feasible, mandatory parental leave, increasing WIC, hard sentencing for rape, fixing the foster care system, and making adoption more accessible.
This is not about abortion. Don't fool yourself.
— Lance Wilburn
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Planned Parenthood is the most helpful and inexpensive source of information about various birth control methods, but that organization is being harassed and defunded. So it's getting harder and harder for women to get access to its information.
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Many women tell me that when they hear me talking about my experiences with abortion, it's the first time they have ever heard a man even talk about abortion, let alone advocate for it and describe his experiences with it. That's appalling to me. Men should be fully engaged in every aspect of these issues.
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A good way to help is by donating to abortion funds, organizations that help people pay for and access abortion care when they don’t have the financial means to afford it on their own.
Abortion funds use donations to help cover the procedure costs, transportation, and a place to stay before, during, and after.
These funds can also be used to cover time off from work, childcare costs, and other financial barriers people who need abortions may experience. https://abortionfunds.org/about/
Planned Parenthood is an excellent organization to help: https://tinyurl.com/FundPlannedParenthood
Causes like Sister Song, Access Reproductive Care-Southeast, National AsianPacific American Women’s Forum, and Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity (URGE), to name a few, are doing the vital work of centering on women of color, who are often the most endangered by abortion bans and restrictions to reproductive rights. Links to these groups here: https://tinyurl.com/phtdsz4n
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INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE
A note on inclusive language when talking about abortion, from Amnesty International:
Transgender and non-binary people get pregnant and have abortions, too, and can sometimes have the hardest time accessing non-discriminatory and gender-appropriate care, including abortion care.
Using gender-exclusive language further marginalizes transgender and non-binary people, which can lead to further rights abuses against such groups.
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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Week beginning June 30
Copyright 2022 by Rob Brezsny
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard believes there's only one way to find a sense of meaning, and that is to fill your life to the bursting point; to be in love with your experience; to celebrate the flow of events wherever it takes you. When you do that, Godard says, you have no need or urge to ask questions like "Why am I here?" or "What is my purpose?" The richness of your story is the ultimate response to every enigma. As I contemplate these ideas, I say: wow! That's an intensely vibrant way to live. Personally, I'm not able to sustain it all the time. But I think most of us would benefit from such an approach for brief periods now and then. And I believe you have just entered one of those phases.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): I asked Leo readers to provide their insights about the topic "How to Be a Leo." Here are responses that line up with your current astrological omens. 1. People should try to understand you're only bossing them around for their benefit. —Harlow Hunt. 2. Be alert for the intense shadows you may cast with your intense brightness. Consider the possibility that even if they seem iffy or dicey, they have value and even blessings to offer. —Cannarius Kansen. 3. Never break your own heart. Never apologize for showering yourself with kindness and adoration. —Amy Clear. 4. At the moment of orgasm, scream out your own name. —Bethany Grace
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): It's your birthright as a Virgo to become a master of capitalizing on difficulties. You have great potential to detect opportunities coalescing in the midst of trouble. You can develop a knack for spotting the order that's hiding in the chaos. Now is a time when you should wield these skills with artistry, my dear—both for your own benefit and for the betterment of everyone whose lives you touch.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): One of my heroes died in 2021: the magnificent Libran author bell hooks (who didn't capitalize her name). She was the most imaginative and independent-minded activist I knew. Till her last day, she articulated one-of-a-kind truths about social justice; she maintained her uncompromising originality. But it wasn't easy. She wrote, "No insurgent intellectual, no dissenting critical voice in this society escapes the pressure to conform. We are all vulnerable. We can all be had, co-opted, bought. There is no special grace that rescues any of us. There is only a constant struggle." I bring this to your attention, Libra, because I suspect the coming weeks will require your strenuous efforts to remain true to your high standards and unique vision of reality.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You now have the power to make yourself even more beautiful than you already are. You are extraordinarily open to beautifying influences, and there will be an abundance of beautifying influences coming your way. I trust you understand I'm not referring to the kinds of beauty that are worshiped by conventional wisdom. Rather, I mean the elegance, allure, charm, and grace that you behold in old trees and gorgeous architecture and enchanting music and people with soulful idiosyncrasies. PS: The coming weeks will also be a favorable time to redefine the meaning of beauty for yourself.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): It's the Season for Expressing Your Love—and for expanding and deepening the ways you express your love. I invite you to speak the following quotes to the right person: 1. "Your head is a living forest full of songbirds." —E. E. Cummings. 2. "Lovers continuously reach each other's boundaries." —Rainer Maria Rilke, 3. "You're my favorite unfolding story." — Ann Patchett. 4. "My lifetime listens to yours." — Muriel Rukeyser.
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WANT TO GET YOUR PERSONAL ASTROLOGICAL CHART READ?
If you want your personal chart done, I recommend a colleague whose approach to reading astrology charts closely matches my own. She's my wife, RO LOUGHRAN. Her website is https://www.roloughran.com .
Ro utilizes a blend of well-trained intuition, emotional warmth, and technical proficiency in horoscope interpretation. She is skilled at exploring the mysteries of your life's purpose and nurturing your connection with your own inner wisdom.
In addition to over 35 years of astrological experience, Ro has been a licensed psychotherapist for 22 years. She integrates psychological insight with astrology's cosmological perspective.
Ro is based in California, but can do phone consultations and otherwise work with you regardless of geographic boundaries.
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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In the coming weeks, make sure you do NOT fit this description articulated by Capricorn novelist Haruki Murakami: "You’re seeking something, but at the same time, you are running away for all you’re worth." If there is any goal about which you feel conflicted like that, dear Capricorn, now is a good time to clear away your confusion. If you are in some sense undercutting yourself, perhaps unconsciously, now is the time to expose your inner saboteur and seek the necessary healing. July will be Self-Unification Month.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): A Tweeter named Luxuryblkwomen articulates one of her ongoing goals: "bridging the gap between me and my ideal self, one day at a time." I'd love it if you would adopt a similar aspiration in the coming months. You're going to be exceptionally skilled at all types of bridge-building, including the kind that connects you to the hero you'll be in the future. I mean, you are already a hero in my eyes, but I know you will ultimately become an even more fulfilled and refined version of your best self. Now is a favorable time to do the holy work of forging stronger links to that star-to-be.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): A blogger named Lissar suggests that the cherry blossom is an apt symbol for you Pisceans. She describes you as "transient, lissome, blooming, lovely, fragile yet memorable and recurring, in tune with nature." Lissar says you "mystify yet charm," and that your "presence is a balm, yet awe-inspiring and moving." Of course, like all of us, you also have your share of less graceful qualities. And that's not a bad thing! We're all here to learn the art of growing into our ripe selves. It's part of the fun of being alive. But I suspect that in the coming weeks, you will be an extra close match for Lissar's description. You are at the peak of your power to delight and beguile us.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): In her poem "Two Skins," Bahamanian writer Lynn Sweeting writes, "There is a moment in every snake’s life when she wears two skins: one you can see, about to be shed, one you cannot see, the skin under the skin, waiting." I suspect you now have metaphorical resemblances to a snake on the verge of molting, Aries. Congratulations on your imminent rebirth! Here's a tip: The snake's old skin doesn't always just fall away; she may need to take aggressive action to tear it open and strip it off, like by rubbing her head against a rock. Be ready to perform a comparable task.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): "Imagine a world 300 years from now," writes Japanese novelist Minae Mizumura, "a world in which not only the best-educated people but also the brightest minds and the deepest souls express themselves only in English. Imagine the world subjected to the tyranny of a singular 'Logos.' What a narrow, pitiful, and horrid world that would be!" Even though I am primarily an English speaker, I agree with her. I don't want a world purged of diversity. Don't want a monolithic culture. Don't want everyone to think and speak the same. I hope you share my passion for multiplicity, Taurus—especially these days. In my astrological opinion, you'll thrive if you immerse yourself in a celebratory riot of variety. I hope you will seek out influences you're not usually exposed to.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Imagine you're not a person, but a medley of four magical ingredients. What would they be? A Gemini baker named Jasmine says, "ripe persimmons, green hills after a rain, a sparkling new Viking Black Glass Oven, and a prize-winning show horse." A Gemini social worker named Amarantha says she would be made of "Florence and the Machine's song 'Sky Full of Song,' a grove of birch trees, a blue cashmere knee-length sweater, and three black cats sleeping in the sun." A Gemini delivery driver named Altoona says, "freshly harvested cannabis buds, a bird-loving wetlands at twilight, Rebecca Solnit's book Hope in the Darkness, and the Haleakalā shield volcano in Maui." And now, Gemini, what about you? Identify your medley of four magical ingredients. The time is right to re-imagine the poetry of YOU.
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Homework: Make amends to a part of yourself you have neglected, insulted, or wounded. Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com
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We Are in a Cultural Emergency
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this, dear Rob.
A lot of men have no understanding of the holding in Dobbs, and, like Alito, they invalidate everything else women have to say on the subject.
The fact remains that men can't get pregnant or give birth. Nor do they suffer from the daily curse of misogyny. And without that lived experience, they can't understand.
I have been in pretty severe depression since the Dobbs decision came down, and I know that millions of women like me feel the same. We're in flat despair for ourselves, our daughters, our sisters and all women. For me, this despair comes despite being on vacation and being on antidepressants. Things were bad enough with the political capture by the right wing, mass shootings and environmental destruction; for millions of women, the national situation now feels utterly catastrophic. This is indeed our 9/11.
The thing most men can't comprehend is that the Dobbs decision, written by misogynists, is literally a "body blow" to women. I'm 67 and came to sexual maturity not long after the Pill freed us from sexual slavery. All my life I've been handled, teased, hurt, dismissed, overlooked and objectified by men. I've had to fight for every position I've held and to get half the respect men do and less pay for the same work. So the Dobbs decision isn't just about the women losing the right to decide how to manage our bodies and their lives; it's about trying to keep from going under in the sucky, mucky, gucky river of misogyny.
thank you for all your hard work and this particular segment..nothing is more important at this time than to get rid of these old men and their archaic thinking..and make more people aware of the danger we are facing if we allow this to happen..I stand beside and behind all my sisters..thank You Rob for all you do.