“The movement has existed for decades and will continue to exist,” Kelly says. “There’s no need to reinvent the wheel.” Many reproductive rights advocates have been preparing for increased abortion restrictions for years, which means they know better than anyone who needs the most support, how to best help those people, and all the legal and safety concerns involved in organizing and advocating for abortion rights.
“The way that we do our work, and the things that we are thinking about, are always being filtered through and in consideration of what the people most impacted are telling us they need,” Jacobson says. This is a guiding principle that’s essential for any form of social justice activism, regardless of your level of involvement.
…and don’t try to steal the mic from them.
The wrong way to get involved in abortion rights activism, per Jacobson: grabbing the (literal or metaphorical) megaphone. “Men should be partners, not saviors,” he says. In other words, prioritize listening over trying to be the loudest voice in the room.
Even if you do decide to become a leader in the movement, there are still ways to center the voices of people who can become pregnant. For instance, Jacobson explains that Men4Choice is structured so that he serves as co-executive director with activist Mrinalini Chakraborty, an immigrant woman of color from India. This partnership is important because Black women and other women of color have disproportionately high rates of abortion and are among the marginalized groups most likely to be hurt by restricted access and the overturning of Roe.
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Talk about abortion and reproductive rights with your friends.
Another thing cis men can do is simply talk to other men about abortion rights. “Guys having conversations with their friends is the entry point for their involvement in this movement,” Jacobson says. It can also be helpful to emphasize to men that this isn’t just a “women’s issue,” he adds. A person’s freedom to make their own decisions about their body, their health care, and their life is something that impacts everyone.
Kelly says that men sharing their own experiences related to abortion can also be powerful. People openly telling their abortion stories is one of the bedrocks of Shout Your Abortion, she says, but those stories tend to come from people who received an abortion. At a recent dinner party, Kelly heard a man share how he had once been with a partner who had an abortion and how it had allowed him to become a father later on, on his own terms and when he was ready. “That is a story we need to hear times one million,” she says, in order to move more cis men to actively support abortion access.
Men also benefit from abortion, but without having to reckon with the cost, lost time, emotional burden, or physical consequences of receiving one. “Men are the silent beneficiaries” of access to abortion care, says Kelly. Emphasizing this when talking with other men, including by telling personal stories of abortion, can help make it clear that, again, this isn’t just a “women’s issue,” she says.
Source: SELF
