Stop the clock for a second. Remember this date- April 29, 2026- and this date - May 1, 2026.
You just lived through history on these two dates.
Sometimes stop the clock moments happen in shocking view right in front of your eyes like the sickening fall of the Twin Towers on 9/11.
But others, like what happened twice last week, could take days or months to fully sink in. But I am sounding the alarm.
On April 29, the Supreme Court’s Reactionary 6 justices took off their half masks and went full frontal MAGA in a decision in a case called Louisiana V Callais.
They used their majority Callais decision to deliberately shred the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and roll back all the work of Martin Luther King Jr and the civil rights movement.
Civil rights leaders and millions of Black Americans fought for decades to get Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act ensuring that Blacks and other minorities could both register to vote and have their votes actually count - not be ignored.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 finally swept away all the racist Jim Crow laws laws which enforced segregation and prevented Blacks from voting.
This Act passed by Congress and signed by President Lyndon B Johnson finally allowed America to be a real democracy.
And you know what else made America a democracy - equal rights for women.
THIS SUPREME COURT TOOK WOMEN’S RIGHTS AWAY - ENDED ROE
This same Supreme Court already ended those equal rights on June 24, 2022.
That’s when they overturned Roe V Wade, ending the constitutional right to an abortion which meant that women no longer had control over their own bodies.
Then last week on May 1st, 2026 the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals - considered the most radically right wing in the country - issued an instantaneous nation-wide ban on the abortion pill, mifepristone, being mailed to women after they had a telemedicine appointment.
In an instant they took away the right of pregnant women, including in states with abortion bans - to be able to end their pregnancies at home with safe abortion pills.
Thousands may now be trapped, unable to travel hundreds of miles to get to a physical clinic in a state where abortion is legal.
For now pregnant women who need abortion pills will have to get in person appointments - sometimes two appointments - in order to pick up the medication.
The 5th Circuit of Appeals effectively just imposed a quasi national ban on abortion pills by halting their delivery by mail.
I bet you didn’t see that one coming.
TRUMP GOT HIMSELF AN ABORTION PILL BAN
Considering that in 2023, 63% of abortions in the US were done with abortion pills, this is a new huge attack on a woman’s right to an abortion.
UPDATE: Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito just issued a one week stay on the 5th Circuit of Appeals injunction on the mailing of the abortion pill, mifepristione. We now won’t know until May 11 or later whether full access by mail will be restored. In the meantime, pregnant women all over the country will be able to receive abortion pills by mail after a telehealth appointment. For information on how to obtain medication abortion pills go to Plan C.
But now, let’s get back to being real. Both the Supreme Court and the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals are vaporizing our rights in service of Donald Trump.
By gutting the Voting Rights Act of 1965 Republicans can now racially gerrymander their way into a bunch more Republican seats in Congress in this November’s midterms. At least, that’s their plan.
This Supreme Court is to trying to save Trump’s low - 37% - voter approval ass in the Novmeber elections.
Then the 5th Circuit of Appeals is going a long way towards giving Trump’s big money anti abortion donors exactly what they want - a ban on abortion pills.
They’re been furious that RFK Jr put his bogus ‘review’ on the safety of mifepristone on hold until after the midterms.
So Trump was one lucky dictator wannabee this week: he got voter suppression and a ban on mailed abortion pills.
And maybe you don’t think that losing voting and losing repro rights affects you.
I guarantee that they do and the losses are linked.
If courts can take the right to have our votes counted, from some people, then they can take that right away from other groups that could include you.
If they can take away the rights of some women to have control over their own bodies, they can take that right away from others. They’ve already also taken rights away from trans people , simply for being trans.
No one in America is truly safe when our courts won’;t protect our constitutional rights.
But we can fight back.
Here’s two ways.
Vote in overwhelming numbers for every Democratic candidate from town supervisor to your state lawmakers to judges to your Congressional and Senate members in the midterm elections. You have to vote for all of them.
Republicans have committed themselves to using every tactic they can come up with to suppress voters who are likely to choose Democrats. You have to show up at the polls.
You have to vote them out.
Republicans have also committed themselves to banning abortion.
If you can you can, volunteer for a Democratic candidate you believe in. Help them win.
If you live in one of the Republican - controlled states racing to disappear Black, Hispanic or Democratic majority districts - like Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee and Florida - call your state and Congressional reps and tell them to stop!
Donate to abortion funds. They will be desperately needed to help pregnant women now travel to states where abortion is legal in order to pick up abortion pills or get surgical abortions. You can donate to the National Network of Abortion funds here.
Trump may have taken a sledgehammer to your rights last week.
Let’s stop him in his tracks this November.
Here’s a great event supporting NYAAF ( New York Abortion Access Funds) that you can turn out for if you live in the New York Rivertowns area - Apps for Access, Monday May 11, 4-8pm. It’s unlimited wine and cheese. Yum - at Bloomy’s Cheese & Provisions in Dobbs Ferry. Click here for tickets.
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