On Monday, March 2, there was a speak-out protest in honor of She Decides Day at Ohio State University.
At this rally, over 20 #Fight4HER, Buckeyes For Harm Reduction, Ohio State University Democrats, PERIOD, and Take Back the Night. activists spoke about what their #NewNormal would look would look like in terms of climate change, reproductive justice, global health, institutionalized racism, criminal justice reform, gender equality.
The #NewNormal is a world where everyone can decide about their bodies, their lives, their futures. Without question. 2020 will be a significant year for human rights and gender equality. It marks 5 years since the inception of the Sustainable Development Goals, 25 years since the Beijing Platform for Action and the 20th anniversary of UN Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.
There is more energy than ever before to come together and create a #NewNormal - a world where WeDecide, when and with whom, to have sex, to fall in love, to marry, to have children. Where we are free from violence, from pressure, from harm, judgement or fear. We have the right. To information, to health care, to choose. We are free. To feel pleasure. To use contraception. To access abortion safely. To decide. Free from pressure. Free from harm. Free from judgement and fear. Because when others decide for us, we face violence, oppression. We face risks to our health, to our dignity, to our dreams, to our lives. When we do not decide, we cannot create the lives we deserve, the family we want, a prosperous future to call our own.
We are uniting. Standing together with us so we can make the decisions only we should make. Political leadership and social momentum are coming together like never before. But we can go further, and we can do more. From today, we fight against the fear. We right the wrongs. We mobilize political and financial support. We work to make laws and policies just. We stand up for what is right. Together, we create a world that is better, stronger, safer. But only if. And only when. We Decide.
