Our Policy and Movement Builder, Camille, wanted to share with you all the speech they wrote for the Raleigh Bans Off Our Bodies Rally held on June 8th, 2022, plus broader context and musings around the rally and where we go from here.

“I am here on behalf of CAF feeling grateful to be in the community in times like these. I want to start by quoting Fredrick Douglass, who said power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has, it never will. We are here first because we can be heard in every county demanding our autonomy be protected. We are here because whether it’s for the EACH act, the Momnibus acts, the WHPA, for House Bill 1119 or for Senate Bill 888, no person out here cares how it’s legislated; we’re outside, run us our rights.

And when you run us our rights, run it from legislators and representatives who more than believe in rights as written but in our individual expertise of our bodies. Legislators and representatives who fiercely show that in action and in their votes every year, not just this precious election year. Run us our rights from a governing body that won’t stop at liberating abortion and reproductive Justice from systems of oppression but wrap around and liberate folks within the margins of the margins as one of siblings says in every system of oppression. 

I always close out by resting in the power of the people, which is so easy to do with a crowd like this. With or without the state, abortions will happen. That’s not even the part people hate to hear. With or without the state people are gonna have abortions that are safe, people are gonna manage their own abortions with the best information they have, people are going to get free by any means necessary and they will not concede.”

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This was what came up for me the night before the rally. I felt a mixture of rage and peace; knowing it is our duty to fight for our freedom (it is our duty to win), and knowing when to rest in power is a virtue. 

The Bans Off Our Bodies rally happened Jun 8, 2022, a day we called Advocacy Day. The sun in my experience loves to shine with the fire of our hearts in actions, and burned with unrelenting solidarity.  Organizations and activists gathered together in hope, as folks spoke to their local representatives about the possibility of codifying Roe in North Carolina. Codifying Roe would mean signing into law legislation that would make Roe the foundation we build from in North Carolina. 

Roe, our legal floor for abortion, is not the conversation we deserve to be having in 2022. It felt difficult to poise ourselves to celebrate breadcrumbs, when the opposition to justice and liberty are so much stronger and widespread. North Carolina, after all, is one election away from mirroring the attacks on abortion we’ve seen in South Carolina, Texas and Oklahoma. 

Meeting so many fellow activists on the ground was how I reflected on what wins look like. I want to share the wisdoms of the ground that have renewed my spirit: 

• This is the beginning of a conversation that has to happen.

• This is the fruit of labor, this is a milestone in the continuous work we do. Every state that gets moved forward was pulled and pushed forward from every corner by the people.

• We might be going backwards, but we are going back to kiss our ancestors and bring our rights back with us into the present. Going backwards means for every progressive step made for us by our ancestors, we can go back and amend what was left out.

• The work is never finished. If Roe were always our floor, I’m dreaming of climbing up that building.

Thank you to everyone who came out to Advocacy Day, and we cannot wait to see you all again.