In Grief, In Community: Post-Election Reflections

Last night, voters across America turned out to elect the next President of the United States, vote on every House seat and 34 Senate seats, and on ballot initiatives impacting people's rights to access abortion care in 10 states.

President & CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health and ob/gyn in Washington DC, Dr. Jamila Perritt, responds:

"To say that we are devastated by another Trump presidency is a gross understatement. Over the course of this campaign cycle, we heard loud and clear that the next Trump Administration aims to further punish our communities by engaging in disinformation and misinformation campaigns about sexual and reproductive health care, criminalizing patients and providers of abortion and gender affirming care, and encouraging and enabling racist, xenophobic violence across the country. We are mourning what this means for our safety, our health, and our wellbeing.

We are mourning what this means for our safety, our health, and our wellbeing.

"Abortion bans are causing devastating harm - ProPublica has reported the tragic, preventable deaths of four people impacted by abortion bans in Georgia and Texas. We know that this is just the tip of the iceberg. As long as abortion bans and restrictions remain in place, pregnant people will continue to die. Abortion is critical to the health and wellbeing of our families and communities, and we must work to immediately reverse the laws that are causing these horrific, senseless, and preventable deaths. President Trump campaigned on not signing a national abortion ban and we demand that he keep his word. We also call on him to recognize the terrible harms that have followed from the Supreme Court's Dobbsdecision and work to remedy them.

"Voters decided on more than just the Presidency last night, but also on new members of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Senate will have a Republican majority while the House remains too close to call. The shift in the Senate will create additional challenges for introducing and passing federal legislation that reflects the needs of our communities. We will not stop advocating for policy solutions that center the needs of pregnant people, people who need access to birth control, abortion care, and gender affirming care.

"And on the state level, we saw what we've seen in every election since the Dobbsdecision: that access to abortion is an issue that is of upmost priority to voters. In 10 states across the country, ballot initiatives aiming to increase access to abortion care on the state level were voted on and the vast majority passed. Under the current legal landscape for abortion access, these wins were critical first steps. We look forward to partnering with providers in these states as they navigate what it looks like in the weeks and months ahead to meaningfully restore abortion access, for some states like Missouri, the first state to pass a total ban after Dobbsand a state that has been lacking meaningful abortion access for about eight years.

"In Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and New York, we are celebrating what this means for people to be able to make decisions about their own reproductive health needs. We also know that in a number of states, these ballot initiatives used legal language that will be challenging to navigate and is built on continued stigmatization of people who need later abortion care. We will work alongside advocates in these states to keep pushing for consequential change to ensure that no matter who needs abortion, they can get that care when they need it in their communities.

"We are simultaneously grieving that states like Florida, South Dakota, and Nebraska did not successfully pass their abortion protections in the state, an enormous loss for all of our communities, and especially people across the South and Midwest, in need of more options for care.

"This election has served to reify and reinforce long upheld systems designed and developed to give and hoard power by a select few, only made possible by the oppression and harm of many. This legacy is sewn in the fabric of this country's history. But, while we grieve the outcome of this recent federal election, we are emboldened because we know we are not giving up. And importantly, we know that we are not alone.

Our freedom, liberation, and dreams of a better future are bound to one another

"We are many in community, together, dedicated to devising wholistic solutions for showing up and caring for each other, despite these dangerous and deadly times. We will lean into existing, generations' long community care models because we have to and because we know that it has served us. We will fund and support each other's care through mutual aid models, including abortion funds, because they are what we can rely on. We are grounded in our shared vision for a future, a future we may not see for ourselves but are committed to working towards - a future rooted in safety, joy, pleasure, and abundance. A Trump Administration cannot and will not strip this vision and hope from our community of physician advocates and the communities we are all a part of and are building, choosing, and growing our own families in. This is our hope for people in the United States as well as those around the globe. Our freedom, liberation, and dreams of a better future are bound to one another, unless and until we can see this as true, we will continue to elect officials and leaders who primary desire it is to divide."

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