Dear Readers,

We recognize and are heartbroken by the monumental consequences of the Supreme Court’s radical decision to eradicate the federal protection of abortion rights.

It is profoundly undemocratic on every level: in its grotesque distortion of the proper role of the Court, in its unjustified incursion on personal freedoms, and in its blatant advancement of minority rule.

No state should have the right to force birth. It is subjugation. It is inhumane. It is extremism. Such outrageous incursions into the private healthcare decisions of families and individuals will only compound existing inequities in our country. We are clear-eyed about the grievous harm and life-changing repercussions many are already facing as a result. 

By reversing the federal protection of the right to safe and legal abortion, the Court has stripped half the population of this country of their bodily autonomy—and a country in which half the population does not have bodily autonomy is simply not a democracy.

We at ZYZZYVA recognize abortion access as essential healthcare. We recognize the stripping away of this right as the discriminatory and extremist violation of human dignity that it is.

But there is no time for despair. We have too much work to do, and the stakes are too high. We believe in the majority’s collective resilience before such injustice, and we’re dedicated to doing our part to create a space for equity, critical thinking, resistance, beauty, and joy. 

Yours in solidarity,

Laura, Oscar, and the ZYZZYVA team