Songs for Saturday: Underground Rail Reprise

[mdlbear]

CONTENT WARNING: pro-choice activism, protest music, politics. If you think this might be triggery, please click here, skip to the end and move on. If you're offended by anything in here, you're probably not in my target audience.

a little space

It's time to reprise catsittingstill's song "Underground Rail". Back in 2012 when I wrote the previous S4S post about it, and founded the underground_rail community here, it really looked as though it wouldn't actually be needed, at least not for its original purpose (there's still this thing called "abuse"). Right. That was back before the country I live in was taken over by the Trump and his gang of billionaires, jackbooted thugs, Russian agents, religious nut-jobs, and sociopaths. Before things like Alabama and Oklahoma. Ireland is worse, but maybe not for long.

This song is more relevant now than it was when Lookingglass Folk performed it in our 2012 concert. I wish to hell it wasn't.

[ogg] [mp3]

I thought about putting a bit of a history lesson under a cut. I'm old enough to remember the time before Roe v Wade. Apparently there are "coat-hanger deniers" (my phrase; feel free) out there who claim it wasn't as bad as people say. It was worse. But I'm too tired and too angry, and I don't have enough spoons for the amount of vitriol it would take to do it right. Later.

I'm not going to cut-tag the notes, either. They're a mixed bag.

Notes & links:

  @ What to Know About Self-Managed Abortion Care | Literary Hub (ysabetwordsmith)
  @ “Please, I Am Out of Options” - PopConnect
  @ The Return of the Coat Hanger Abortion
  @ Along the Old Underground Railroad, One Photo at a Time | Literary Hub (ysabetwordsmith)
    THROUGH
    DARKNESS TO LIGHT: Photographs Along the Underground Railroad [2002 - 2016] — Jeanine
    Michna-Bales | JMBales Photography    Project Photographs
  @ mdlbear | Songs for Saturday: Underground Rail
  @ mdlbear | Songs for Sunday, too: Lookingglass Folk at Conflikt 5
  @ Songs of the Underground Railroad - Wikipedia
  @ underground_rail
     note that //undergroundrail.livejournal.com has been purged - that's okay
    -> set up undergroundrail.org;
       starting an s4s post, will signal boost on the community 

a little space



end of post.

Comments

[madfilkentist]

In the "it was worse" department, I wonder how many people remember that William Baird was prosecuted in the 1960s for distributing information about contraceptives. In Massachusetts. At the time, you couldn't legally get contraceptives in the state if you weren't married.

People seem unaware, though, that some other countries — specifically Germany, and perhaps other European countries I'm less familiar with — have severe restrictions on abortion. (Likewise in countries like Saudi Arabia, but that shouldn't be a surprise.) Americans' eyes often stop at the border.

While the Russians certainly tried to influence the 2016 election, I think their effect is often greatly exaggerated. Listing them in that rogues' gallery gives them too much credit.

[ljwrites]

The news out of the U.S. saddened me deeply, and right on the heels of the Korean Constitutional Court's favorable ruling on abortion rights, too :( I like the song, with the poignant image of the volunteers and allies being ties on the railroad.

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

One would think they'd notice how hospitals used to have entire wards devoted to cleaning up the mess from back-alley or self-induced abortions. I mean, that's a matter of public record.

And where are hospitals in the South, which is poor, going to find the funds to add those extra beds now? Probably nowhere, which would lead to a lot of women dying in waiting rooms. That'd be embarrassing.

Spoons and vitriol

[markc1957]

Well, there's your problem, Steve. Don't spoons dissolve in vitriol? :)

Re: Spoons and vitriol

[mdlbear]

Damn -- should have used the wooden ones. Couldn't afford the platinum set.

Underground rail

[patoadam]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/abortion-bans-have-some-women-preparing-for-the-worst-it-involves-auntie-networks/2019/05/24/4af2dcce-7d77-11e9-a5b3-34f3edf1351e_story.html