Like millions of women - and men - I joined the Women's March on January 21st. It's now on record as the biggest demonstration in US history, and the estimates are that in Denver alone, where I was, we had 200,000 people gathered in Civic Center Park.
The energy was incredible, the signs were funny and snarky, and the passion and diversity of the crowd was on a scale I have not before, and I attended national marches many years before. It was also a friendly, positive and polite audience, finding solidarity in our numbers. There were whole generations of Coloradans marching, from toddlers in strollers to families, to older women with posters reading, "Now you've pissed off Granny." Our campus organizer marched with her mom. Our political director brought her 9 year old niece. I brought my 8 year old daughter. We were there, together, because we know how much is at stake under this administration.
We were heartened to see the Editorial Board for our hometown paper, The Denver Post, endorsing both the march and the fight for reproductive rights it represented. The Post said this:
"The Women's March in Washington, D.C., and the one in Denver are about more than this single issue, but one force driving women to the streets in protest is the simple idea that women's health care should be covered by insurance, readily available, and not subject to the whims of politics."
We couldn't agree more. So after the March, now what?
Most of us feel sad, stressed or slightly panicked by the pace of actions and crisis generated with each tweet or order. I am resolving to get up each day and not let the bad news get the best of me. I am stronger than this, and so are you. Do your best but take care of yourself. Rest, de-stress and don't panic. We are all in this together. That said, there are many, many things you can do. Your voice is needed to sustain the energy and the drive we saw in that sea of pink. A small action each day or as often as you can squeeze in will make a big difference.
You need to call your Senators, Cory Gardner and Michael Bennet, and ask them to oppose anti-choice Trump Administration nominees Jeff Sessions for Attorney General and Tom Price for Health and Human Services Secretary. The most dangerous nominee now before us is Justice Neil Gorsuch . His appointment could impact women's health care and threaten Roe v. Wade long after this administration.
Ilyse Hogue, NARAL's national president, illuminates why this appointment is a long-term threat to Roe v Wade and reproductive health care.
Take action against these appointments by calling your senators. Sen. Gardner's Washington DC office, state offices and phone numbers are listed HERE. Senator Bennet's offices are listed HERE. (Senator Bennet announced on Monday he will oppose Sessions as AG.)
You need to go to our website "The Price is Wrong" and tell us your story about abortion and the cost of contraception so we can send it to Colorado's Members of Congress.
You can join us at the Colorado State Capitol for Women and Families Wednesdays to meet with state legislators about the issues important to you. We'll be there at 9 am every Wednesday through the end of the legislative session in early May.
You can also help us by testifying at the state capitol, not only against the onslaught of bad bills we are already seeing this session, but on what is the most pro-active legislative agenda we have run in recent memory. Including family leave, access to contraception, access to abortion, the unjust taxes women pay for being women (commonly referred to as "the Pink Tax) and equal rights for pregnant women.
You can sign up for our email list to stay informed and take action on the fight to maintain our reproductive rights here in Colorado even as they are under assault in Washington, DC.
You can volunteer with NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado to help us get the word out at events around the state - we even have organizers in Western Colorado and the Arkansas Valley.
You can invite your friends to like our social media channels and to share our posts. You can even start by sharing this one! Or one of the many graphics involving the different actions you can take that will be running all week on our social media channels: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
And of course you can join NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado as a dues paying member and become a part of a 50 year old grassroots organization that advocates for reproductive rights in our state. Yes, I said 50 - NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado began in 1967 as Colorado became the first state to allow safe, legal abortion.
What we saw that day in Denver and across the country was people rising up to resist and to say, There's more of than there are of them, and we will fight for what matters.
Keep that momentum going. Be a part of a movement for yourself, your friends, your family and future generations.