if you're against abortion, i have awesome news for you: there are tons of things you can do to help reduce the need for abortions! here are just a few suggestions i've thrown together after 16 years of working with people having abortions. #Roe48

support universal healthcare, a living wage, and food security. overwhelmingly, the most common reason people say they cannot continue a pregnancy is economic instability. if they are going to stay pregnant, they need the means to sustain themselves and their pregnancies.

get serious about climate change solutions. environmental justice is reproductive justice. pregnant people and families need clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and a robust food supply - all of which are in peril with our climate crisis.

SUPPORT BIRTH WORKERS OF COLOR. if you are concerned about the lives of pregnant people and children, ending the crisis of Black maternal mortality should be a sky-high priority for you. increasing the number of MDs, nurses, midwives, and doulas is an absolutely essential step.

while we're on the subject of doulas, support doulas and other support personnel to help ease the physical, psychological, and practical transitions of pregnancy, birth, and parenthood (if applicable) - especially those who work with low/no-income clients, POC, and teens.

donate to medical research that impacts conditions associated with pregnancy - preterm birth, chromosomal differences, developmental anomalies, preeclampsia, etc. many people who want to be pregnant cannot stay that way for medical reasons. help eliminate those reasons!

get involved with criminal justice reform. far, far too many Black mothers bury their children prematurely because of white police violence. if you knew the odds of your child being murdered by the state, how enthusiastic would you be about bringing them into the world?

while we're on the subject of criminal justice, advocate at the top of your lungs for reforms in how we address and prosecute domestic violence and sexual assault cases, to help people who can become/are pregnant safely get away from those abusing them/their children.

support comprehensive sex education, including instruction about consent and access to contraception. knowledge is power. if an adolescent in your life needs contraception, help them get it. prevention is protection.

you will note that none of these suggestions involve screaming at my patients from sidewalks, planting bombs as someone did in front of my clinic nearly 14 years ago, or firing a shotgun, as someone did at a planned parenthood today in knoxville.

none of them involve imposing laws that require doctors to lie to patients, require unnecessary and sometimes unsafe waiting periods, or overruling medical judgment with legislative judgment.

those things don't work. they make children worse off. they kill pregnant people.

i am fervently, passionately, to-my-marrow pro-choice. and i, too, want to reduce the need for abortion. abortion can be expensive, uncomfortable, stressful, and emotionally challenging. i would love for my patients to be spared that whenever possible.

abortion has always and will always be here. there is no eliminating it for good. but there are steps all of us - regardless of our views on the procedure itself - can take to reduce the need for abortion. if you attach a "pro-life" label to yourself, you should take them.

if it's really about "life" for you - if it's really about pregnant people and children and families - there's so much you can do. but for too many people, being "pro-life" is about nothing more than jewels in the conservative or evangelical crown. that's a punitive "pro-life."

so to those folks, i say: put up or shut up. if you care about reducing the need for abortion, help make fewer people poor. help prevent unintended pregnancies. help Black women not die. help people be less sick.

put up or shut up.