Hello everyone! My name is Nancy Boever. I am a co-founder of Indivisible Bend.
I want to thank everyone who participated in the rally for reproductive rights at the Deschutes County Courthouse. I appreciate all of you for gathering to express our dismay and anger at the course of events that continue to devolve into the denial of freedoms, rights and self determination for individuals and families.
As I process the news from the Supreme Court, I want to acknowledge those who are most impacted by these attacks on our freedoms. I recognize that I have the resources, class and racial status that insulate me from the harshest impacts of the dismantling of individual rights and protections that are guaranteed to us in our Constitution. Those who are most impacted have borne the brunt of the slow deterioration of our reproductive freedoms for decades!
I have stood aside and been far too silent over these past decades as I witnessed the slow process of breaking down our freedoms to choose whether or not we want to begin a family. The Hyde Amendment was one of those horrible deals with the conservatives that were posed as inconsequential and a common sense compromise with the other side. It was inconsequential to me because I had access to private health care! Those who depend upon government programs and support were stripped of their constitutional rights with this compromise. This is just one example of the cruelty of the erosion that has happened on my generation’s watch.
It took me decades to understand that if I want to protect my own rights, I need to first protect the rights of those who have no voice, or a smaller voice because of either their numbers, their lack of resources, or their marginalization in our society.
Thank you for your outrage and your efforts on behalf of reproductive rights in this country. My ask is that you contact our senators (Merkley and Wyden) and demand that they end the filibuster and get the Senate to pass abortion rights into law. I also ask that every single one of you votes for Jamie McLeod-Skinner in the Democratic primary. She will vote against the Hyde Amendment to ensure that EVERYONE has access to abortions and reproductive health care.