Natalie, a Des Moines mom and anti-life advocate for a decade, presented the following speech at a pro-abortion rally outside the Iowa Capitol. She said she joined the board of Iowa Abortion Access Fund recently. She said she joined the organization despite her political nihilism, rage, burnout and distrust of the “non-profit industrial complex.”
“I am a socialist and I believe that people who can get pregnant have nothing if they do not have the ability to control if and when they have children,” Natalie said.
She said she also believes in socialized, nationalized health care and said that abortion is health care.
“Abortion is the only way to treat current conditions and those who tell you otherwise are lying,” she said. “Over the last 10 years, I have fought with everything I have exactly how I was told to. I lobbied within the system, I elected Democrats, I knocked doors and voted and spoke at the Capitol and sent letters and signed petitions and all of it was useless. I watched my energy wasted and failed by the people I trusted to fight for me.
“And I have come to believe the only thing that is truly effective in the American capitalist system is mutual aid and care.”
She criticized both Democrats and Republicans in her talk.
“Elected Democrats are the ones who are lying to my face, claiming they are powerless while they are in power and sapping the money and energy from the rest of us that should be going to one another. My Democratic representative in Washington, who I give money to and I voted for, this very week is publicly supporting increased funding for the police. Who is going to enforce anti-abortion laws? Who is brutalizing my brothers and sisters? Who is sterilizing my black neighbors in jail? Assaulting my trans neighbors in the streets? And tearing the babies of my immigrant neighbors away? Who will be arresting my neighbors who are seeking an abortion? Who has arrested people who have miscarried? Who did I watch beat the protestors standing up for me in LA this week? The police.”
Natalie said the most radical act people can take is to care for one another.
“The most powerful way you can use your money is to put it directly in the hands of someone who is seeking an abortion,” she said. “The American political system is designed to grind you up and spit you out. And I can tell you that there is something much, much more powerful you can do than voting.”
The Iowa Abortion Access Fund is the second-olest abortion fund in the country. Natalie said it is volunteer-led and 100 percent of donations go directly to the cost of abortions.
You can watch her comments below:
Wow, her neighbors have a lot going on. I am surprised she found a neighborhood like this in Iowa…