I’m a Texan on the front lines fighting for reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights. In my time volunteering as a clinic escort and fielding requests on abortion fund helplines, I’ve seen the dire consequences when this reproductive health care is legislated away. However, these attacks on our rights are not a reason for me to give up. I continue to fight, drawing strength from the work done before us.

I am fueled by the Black, brown, and Indigenous people who developed a strong foundation for our reproductive movement to continue, like Sister Song and NNAF. I am inspired by the work of activists – many of whom were Jewish women – who took risks to provide abortions through the clandestine Jane Collective in the 1960s.

Our Jewish values call on us to continue this work and to build community in the struggle for reproductive justice. These efforts are fueled by the understanding that reproductive rights are inextricably linked to LGBTQ+ rights – and that the opposition to either grows from the same root. That’s why Keshet is partnering with the National Council of Jewish Women’s Jews for Abortion Access campaign to spread the news about this year’s Repro Shabbat. I’m proud to host a Repro Shabbat Teach-In at Finn’s Place (see details about Repro Shabbat events below).

We all deserve the right to healthcare and to make decisions about our own bodies. And so we need everyone in the fight, all across the United States. This Repro Shabbat and beyond, let us recommit to the struggle for reproductive rights. For our freedoms and our fights are certainly bound up together.