Lessons from Pink Out Day
Today, I joined hundreds of passionate women and men dressed in pink, huddled together in the freezing cold, at the steps of the Capitol Building in Sacramento, to support Planned Parenthood. Pink Out Day, as it was called, brought together state legislators, community activists, clinic workers and celebrity supporters such as Lena Dunham.
There was one very sobering theme from the day:
It’s 2017 and we are fighting this fight — again. Fighting for affordable and safe reproductive care for women. Fighting for access to birth control and life-saving tests and screens. Fighting for our rights to make our own healthcare decisions. And I can’t help but think: How is this a partisan issue and will it ever be laid to rest?
The reality is this — it may be 2017, but men still write the laws. And as long as they write the laws, we will be fighting this fight.
After the rally today, I watched the State Assembly and Senate present HR 5 and SR 9 — two resolutions that will start the process of protecting Planned Parenthood from the GOP attack. I watched as Hannah-Beth Jackson, Autumn Burke, Christina Garcia and Holly Mitchell — the four female legislators who authored and advocated for the resolutions, explain to a room full of men why women need to be able to choose a healthcare provider for reproductive care; why driving two hours to the nearest community health center isn’t good enough; why “sometimes women just want a woman” to do her pelvic exam. And it hit me. They don’t get it and they never will. Until we have equal representation of women lawmakers, we will continue fighting for our basic rights.
The real shame is, because of this new administration, we are spending our valuable time fighting for rights that were gained by the strong women leaders before us. Rather than building on their great work and focusing our energy on more complex issues like climate change or innovation, we are back to fighting the old fight.
One thing was clear from today though — California is ready to fight. Both resolutions passed today and although women are underrepresented in our government, here in California we are fortunate to have strong male support who understand that this is what feminism looks like:
