On Jan. 21, 2017, a pink knit hat with ears became the global symbol of solidarity among women in this country. Looking out on a sea of pink hats was a visual reminder of the ability of women to take collective action for human rights.

Knitting pussy hats on the peninsula was a cottage industry. We were excited to protest the policy threats to women’s reproductive rights and the vulgar rhetoric of the incoming Donald Trump administration. Over 4 million around the world marched with us that day in 600 cities including Astoria.

Today, the erosion of women’s rights is more center stage than ever. To quote U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, “they are coming for us from all directions.”

Our own Sen. Patty Murry recently hosted a forum in the U.S. Senate on the impact overturning Roe v. Wade has had on women in America. Horror stories unfolded from: a 10-year old girl forced to carry a baby to term, a woman required to give birth to a deformed fetus after 9 months of pain and grief, and miscarriages in parking lots outside of emergency rooms. Meanwhile, doctors are fleeing women’s reproductive health specialties in red states.

Why is this happening? Donald Trump promised “overturning the right to an abortion will happen automatically if I am elected president and get to appoint judges to the Supreme Court.” He won. And we are living with the consequences of a 6-3 conservative Republican activist court — one of Trump’s proudest accomplishments (with a special nod to Sen. Mitch McConnell’s power to sideswipe nominations from two Democrats.)

Now even the right of doctor’s to prescribe Mythopristine, the abortion pill, is being decided by the Supreme Court. (Nearly 50% of abortions are currently using Mythopristine.) Justice Clarence Thomas even suggests that other forms of contraception including birth control pills might be considered a form of everyday abortion. Ladies, they are messing with your life and the life of your daughters.

Let’s get something straight. We are pro choice. We are not pro abortion. No one wants an abortion. According to a report by the United Nations, nearly half the pregnancies in the world are unintended. That’s a lot of extra mouths to feed. And when half the world lives in poverty, maybe we need more reproductive healthcare options. We all need a little mercy here.

Abortion is on the ballot in 24 states in the fall. Voting outcomes in Kansas and Michigan prove that Americans stand with us. Everyone knows the decision to give birth to a child and nurture and support that child for life belongs to women first. And who is going to pay for raising the 65,000 rape-caused pregnancies in the 14 states with abortion bans in effect since Roe v. Wade was overturned? Taxpayers?

Mothers, sisters, daughters: wherever you are in America, Donald Trump and Republicans are coming for you. McConnell, minority leader in the Senate, has said if the Senate turns Republican [Democrats now hold a majority of one vote], and the House stays Republican, Congress will vote on a national ban on abortion.

Meanwhile Republican state legislatures throughout the country continue to tighten restrictions on any reproductive healthcare options left available for women. Sometimes it seems that the goal of Republican lawmakers is to see which state law can pass the cruelest laws to women in reproductive distress.

And courts in small federal jurisdictions can and will add their own particular cruel rulings to impact us. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals voted that women in Idaho and Texas who are in a life threatening circumstance because of a pregnancy do not have to be treated by emergency rooms. In any other emergency, healthcare is mandated.

Politics is a team sport. Elected republicans vote as a block. Everyone is terrified of Donald Trump so not one of them will step outside the lines and vote pro choice. And what is the goal? To punish women who dare to be equal, who raise their voice?

Democrats will not let anyone look away from the devastation that Republicans have already caused by unifying against women’s reproductive freedom. Democrats will not stop pushing to restore the federal right to abortion. Let’s get one thing clear — the vast majority of Americans support the right to abortion. We know that women should be making decisions about their pregnancy — not politicians — not judges.

We must change our perspective here, ladies. No woman can call herself free if she does not control her own body. Read that again. Women do not have a duty to be incubators. It’s time for women ‘to take the knee’ in a silent prayer for Americans to restore this basic human right.

But women do have a choice. We have the right to vote these politicians out of office. We can rally together. We can organize. We can help get our sons and daughters, friends and neighbors registered to vote. (Go to Vote.org.) We can vote as a block. We must say no to Republicans. All Republicans. We need to vote for Democrats at all levels. They are the only team who is working to fight for women’s rights. When we vote Democratic this fall, we vote to protect what remains of women’s rights and cut back some of the damage being done. We vote to restore the freedom of women in America.

A famous quote from a suffragette in the 1920s:

“Remember the dignity of your womanhood. Do not appeal, do not beg, do not grovel. Take courage, join hands, stand besides us, fight with us.”

Women’s rights are human rights. We must stand together or we will fall individually. Put on your metaphoric pussy hat and let’s drive out the vulgar cruelty that has exposed itself to us at last. This genie is not going back into the bottle.

We walk. We talk. We teach.

GWEN BRAKE

Ocean Park