The Wombs of Texas: Abortion Rights Activism in the Age of Trump

Protests, crowded town halls and congressional offices flooded with phone calls have become a frequent part of political and public life since Donald Trump’s inauguration. But women’s issues took center stage perhaps faster than any other topic, with the Women’s March on Washington becoming one of the most attended marches in American history on Trump’s first day in office. Satellite protests all over the county mirrored its success.
Hillary Clinton, the first woman nominated by a major party for president, had lost the election to a man who had bragged about sexual assault on a hot mic. Millions around the country took to the streets with signs like “The Future is Female,” “A Woman’s Place is in the Revolution” and “Pussy grabs back” to share their outrage and frustrations.
In Austin, police estimated that 50,000 went to the Capitol that day. Busses were so crowded they stopped picking up passengers. With a headliner like former state senator Wendy Davis, who became famous after filibustering anti-abortion bill H.B. 2 for 11 hours in 2013, the Women’s March on Austin had a clear pro-abortion rights message.
But it wasn’t just the Women’s March. According to Heather Busby, NARAL Pro-Choice Texas head director, there has been a flood of activism around reproductive healthcare.
“Since the election, people are really waking up,” she said. “I’ve been travelling around this state — I’m completely exhausted from traveling around the state — the last two months and meeting with folks in their communities, and I’ve seen people really fired up and really paying attention.”
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Monica Roberson, a gynecologist in Houston, says she has always been a supporter of abortion access and Planned Parenthood, but she wasn’t involved in activism. With the election, she began paying more attention to the politics around her and wanted to do something about the Texas Legislature’s attempts to make abortion harder to access.
“I can’t be quiet any longer,” Roberson said at the Planned Parenthood Lobby Day rally on April 5. “I started to say, ‘If not me, who? And If not now, when?’”
Roberson is just one of the many people who have seen the election as a call to action. For example, Stephanie Koithan organized her first abortion rights protest in early January, though she had attended rallies and protests before.
“Now that we have four years of a Trump presidency, I think I’m not alone if feeling a sense of alarm and also feeling an obligation to do something,” she said. “I think a lot of people are trying to not just give up and feel disheartened. We can sit back and complain, be depressed that this is our reality, or we can get involved and do something about it.”
Like many others, Koithan saw the struggle for abortion access happening not at the federal level but at the state one. Donald Trump’s election served mostly as a wake-up call to begin paying attention to what was going on in state legislatures.

“It’s the state legislature that we have to worry about, more so than the federal,” said Paula Starnes, a San Antonio-resident who attended the April 5 Planned Parenthood Lobby Day rally. “We have to worry about people like Governor Abbott and [Lieutenant Governor] Dan Patrick.”
This increase in activism is not solely about rally attendance, though that has been a large part of it. People have also begun contacting their legislators more frequently and trying to get more involved with their communities.
Awo Eni, who works for Annie’s List, an organization that encourages women to get involved in politics, says that more people have expressed interest in Annie’s List, which she attributes “100 percent” to the election.
“Donations since the election are at record highs for us,” Eni said. “More people are signing up for our email list, more people are following us on social media. A lot more women are attending trainings, and that, I believe, is a direct result of the election.”
Perhaps the best example of this increase in local engagement is the group Indivisible, which began with the publication of an online guide to local activism on Dec. 14, just a few weeks after the election. The guide, which was written by former congressional aides, encourages citizens disappointed by the election to call their legislators and show up to town hall meetings. Indivisible says they draw their inspiration from the local activism tactics used by the Tea Party.

NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, the main abortion rights activist organization in Texas, encourages Texans to get more involved on abortion rights by sending out information on fundraisers, rallies and bills at the Texas Legislature. They keep their subscribers informed on what bills the Texas Legislature will address. They encourage people to show up for the second reading of a bill, which is when the public has the opportunity to testify. Normally, the Texas Capitol does not decide on what bills will be read far in advance. Often, this information is not released until the very same day of the reading. Still, many people find a way to show up at the last minute.
The NARAL Pro-Choice staff has noticed an enormous increase in interest since the election as well, and the rhetoric in their emails reflects this.
“We can always count on you to show up and speak out for reproductive freedom in Texas — and these days it can feel like the attacks never stop,” said a recent NARAL Pro-Choice email. “Especially right now, it’s important for us to find time to celebrate each other, the resilience of our movement, and remember that we’re all in this together.”
