We Oppose The Stop Patriarchy ‘Freedom Ride’ In Texas

We are a united group of activists and organizations working for reproductive justice in Texas and allies standing in solidarity with those who work in Texas, and we urge you: DO NOT SUPPORT STOP PATRIARCHY.

Stop Patriarchy is a New York-based group that intends to stage an “Abortion Rights Freedom Ride” leading “confrontational” protests in four Texas cities beginning July 30, 2014, ostensibly in opposition to state lawmakers’ attacks on access to abortion and reproductive healthcare.

We believe there are better, homegrown, and more effective ways to help Texans in the long-term, and we encourage those who wish to help to support local efforts to increase access to legal abortion care rather than fund this brief bus tour.

This is important because Stop Patriarchy is diverting both financial contributions and energy away from groups which have been doing important work in Texas for years or decades. Stop Patriarchy is not collaborating with any reputable Texas-based organizations, and in fact, many organizations working toward reproductive justice in Texas and across the country have actively and openly rejected Stop Patriarchy’s presence because of the group’s history of using disruption and intimidation to promote their own agenda above all others.

Fundamentally, Stop Patriarchy’s “Abortion Freedom Ride” lacks transparency: we don’t know where the money they’ve raised is going or how they intend to use it to benefit the people of Texas over the long haul, and they have not established any concrete goals or actions that will help Texans access the full spectrum of reproductive health care services they need.

Stop Patriarchy has not reached out to Texas activists and organizations in a spirit of collaboration; instead, they simply informed Texans and Texas groups of their intention to conduct a “freedom ride,” and many times asked for financial contributions. When Texans responded with questions and concerns, Stop Patriarchy refused to respond or engage in good-faith discussions with activists on the ground. Instead, Stop Patriarchy has asked people at Warped Tour to hold up signs supporting their Texas “ride.”

Aside from the lack of transparency and questionable tactics, Stop Patriarchy is racist, Islamophobic, anti-sex worker and anti-pornography. The group is directly connected to the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, a cult of personality led by Bob Avakian with a long history of transphobic and homophobic views.

 

We ask those who want to support the cause of reproductive justice in Texas to contribute their time and their money to local, goal-oriented groups that have trustworthy track records providing resources and services to Texans, rather than donating to a one-off bus tour, with no clear goals or outcomes, conducted by a handful of out-of-state protestors.

If you’d like more information about Stop Patriarchy’s views (including links to their own words) or on the important work being done by the reproductive justice groups already on the ground in Texas, we invite you to read our Letter of Concern.

We invite you to join us in opposing Stop Patriarchy’s Texas “Freedom Ride.”

Signed,

A. Lynn – Austin, Texas

A.L. Mirasol – Austin, Texas

Aaron Welch – Austin, Texas

Abigail Dalgleish Hazlett – Dallas, Texas

Aimee Arrambide – Austin, Texas

Aimee Tullos – Denton, Texas

Alison Parker – Petaluma, California

Amanda Williams – Houston, Texas

Amelia Long

Amy Cavender, M.Ed. – Austin, Texas

Amy Elizabeth McCarthy – Dallas, Texas

Amy Olguin Pownall

Andrea C. Greer – Houston, Texas

Andrea Grimes – Austin, Texas

Anna Rubin – Austin, Texas

Annanda Barclay – Chicago, Illinois via Austin, Texas

Annette Torres

Arvan Reese

Ash Hall

Ashanta Smith – Springfield, Massachusetts

Audrey Warner – Dallas, Texas

Avital N. Nathman – Northampton, Massachusetts

Becca Arjona – McAllen, Texas

Benjamin Z. – Maryland

Blake Rocap

Braettie Ledezma – Austin, Texas

Brook S. – Austin, Texas

Callie Snyder – Austin, Texas

Candace Carpenter

Candice Russell

Caroline Grace Stefko – Helotes, Texas

Carrie Tilton-Jones – Austin, Texas

Chanel Dubofsky – Brooklyn, New York

Christina Jones – Austin, Texas

Christina O’Connell – Chicago, Illinois

Christine Bible – Irving, Texas

Christine Giordano

Christine Salek – Des Moines, Iowa

Christopher Lucas

Cindy Noland – Austin, Texas

Clinic Access Support Network – Houston, Texas

Dana Sayre

Denise Flores – San Antonio, Texas

Deva Cats-Baril – Vermont

Drew Stanley – Austin, Texas

Dria Miller – Corpus Christi, Texas

Ed Espinoza – Austin, Texas

Eesha Pandit – Houston, Texas

Elisabeth Fernandez – proud UTSA alum in Washington, D.C.

Elizabeth Pancotti

Elizabeth Restat – Austin, Texas

Ellen Sweets – Austin, Texas

Erin Reimer – Austin, Texas

Erin Susan Jennings – San Antonio, Texas

Farah Diaz-Tello – New York, New York via Austin, Texas

Feminist Justice League – Iowa branch

Fund Texas Women

Genevieve Cato

Genevieve Van Cleve – Texas Women Vote Project

Georgette K. – Chicago, Illinois

Ginger Hintz – Oakland, California

Heather Busby – Austin, Texas

Heather Norum – Monterey County, California

Heidi Gerbracht – Austin Texas

Holly Morgan

Jane Fitts – Louisville, Kentucky

J.C. Miller – Kokomo, Indiana

Jack Darling

Jacob Jones Martinez – Dallas, Texas

Jamila Hammami – Brooklyn, New York via Denton, Texas

Jan Olsen

Jane Manchon – Houston, Texas

Jay Kasturi – Austin, Texas

Jen Sorensen – Austin, Texas

Jennifer Carlson – Austin, Texas

Jennifer Hixon – San Antonio, Texas

Jessica Luther – Austin, Texas

Jesse I. Mabus – Austin, Texas

Jonathon Strowd – Jackson, Mississippi

Judy Kay Craft – Houston, Texas

Julie Gillis – Austin, Texas

Justice Putnam – Berkeley, California

Kaci Danger

Karen B. – Bloomfield, New Jersey

Kate Forbes – Madison, Wisconsin

Katherine Craft – Austin, Texas

Katherine Miller – Austin, Texas

Katherine Robertus Vilain – Overland Park, Kansas

Kathryn Gonzalez

Katie Jackson

Katie Klabusich – Brooklyn, New York

Katrina Voll-Taylor – Vancouver, Washington

Katy Waters-Cofer – Austin, Texas

Kayla Roberts – Jackson, Mississippi

Kelsea McLain – Carrboro, North Carolina

Kit O’Connell – Austin, Texas

KP Palmer

Kristian Caballero – Austin, Texas

Lauren Casey – New York, New York

Lauren Rankin – New Jersey

Laurie Bertram Roberts – Jackson, Mississippi

Leah C. Barr

Lindsay Brown – Shreveport, Louisiana

Lenzi Sheible

Lesley Nicole Ramsey

Lilith Fund For Reproductive Equity

Lindsay Eyth

Lindsay Rodriguez – San Antonio, Texas

Lisa Sanger Blinn – Houston, Texas

Liz Elsen

Maggie Rosenbloom – Washington, D.C.

Malkia Hutchinson – Houston, Texas

Marissa Garrett – Austin, Texas

Marti McCall – Dallas, Texas

Mary Drummer – Houston, Texas

Mary Ann Barclay

Mary Beth Blakey – Los Angeles, California

Maryann Philbrook – Austin, Texas

Meg Whyte – New York, New York

Merritt Tierce – Denton, Texas

Merritt Martin – Dallas, Texas

Michael Nam – Palisades Park, New Jersey

Nan Little Kirkpatrick

Nancy Cardenas – Austin, Texas

Neesha Davé – Austin, Texas

Nicole McAfee – Austin, Texas

Oklahomans For Reproductive Justice

Penny White

Poonam Dreyfus-Pai – Oakland, California

Rachel Collins – Austin, Texas

Rachel Kapila – Austin, Texas

Ray Nash – Westminster, Maryland

Robin Marty – Minneapolis, Minnesota

Roanna Flowers

Rev. Jim Rigby

Rev. Katrina Shawgo – Round Rock, Texas

Ricky Roo

Robert Rummel-Hudson

Rocío Villalobos – Austin, Texas

Sadie Smythe

Sage Walton

Sam Vuchenich – Los Angeles, California

Sarah Dickerson – Austin, Texas

Sarah Roberts – Jackson, Mississippi

Sarah Tuttle – Austin, Texas

Scarlett Angell – Austin, Texas

Scott Madison – Austin, Texas

Shelby Alexander – El Paso/Austin, Texas

Shelley Oram – New Mexico

Shira Feinberg – Arlington, Texas

South Texans For Reproductive Justice – Rio Grande Valley, Texas

Stacey Burns, Texas expatriate in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Susana Monteverde – Houston, Texas

Suzanne F. Boswell – New York, New York

Sydney Casey – Austin, Texas

Tawny Tidwell

Tannis Fuller – Charlottesville, Virginia

Teddy Wilson – College Station, Texas

Texas Equal Access Fund

Tony Macias – Austin, Texas

Virginia Pickel – San Marcos, Texas

Yatzel Sabat – Austin, Texas

Zofi Elena Chupik – Ft. Worth, Texas