Josseli Barnica is dead. Neveah Crain is dead. Neither one should be.
But both are gone all the same, because both were denied critical abortive care that would have saved their lives. And not that it matters, but both of them wanted the pregnancies that resulted in their deaths. Barnica, a mother and Honduran immigrant, dreamed of a sibling for her daughter; Crain, a deeply religious teen, was opposed to abortion.
Yet here we are – because in 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark legislation that had protected access to safe abortions for decades prior. Because Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett were present to be part of a conservative majority that could act on the chance to revoke what had once been a right.
Because they were put there by Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump.
Blood On His Hands
I’ll say it plainly: I’m voting for Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, on Election Day.
This decision isn’t just about going on the defensive. I’m voting for Harris and Walz because they’re experienced, and impressive, and on numerous occasions they’ve gotten it right on behalf of the people they represent. Plus, having more women in elected office – beyond inspiring future generations of women leaders – results in tangible, positive differences for Americans. Representation, indeed, matters. If she wins, I’ll cheer about this at the top of my lungs.
That said, as I’ve noted before, I am not entirely pleased with Harris as a candidate. I remain alarmed by the militaristic tones permeating her campaign speeches. And, her handling of questions around American funding of Israel’s army and the plight of Palestinian people has felt needlessly dismissive at best, and alarmingly hawkish at worst. But… I do trust her to hear my concern, and that of others who also reject this direction. As actor Harrison Ford (of all people) noted in his recent endorsement: “Kamala Harris will protect your right to disagree with her.” Call me naive if you like, but I believe this.
I’m also voting for Harris, though, because the alternative – another Trump presidency – is wholly unacceptable.
For starters: If your concern is peace in the Middle East, Trump will not deliver this to you. To him, the entire situation is a joke – a wildly offensive one at that. But moreover, we know what could, what would happen if Trump winds up back in the Oval Office, because we’ve lived it before – and continue to experience ripple effects now. Asylum-seeking families torn apart and shoved into cages; spikes in hate crimes against numerous marginalized groups, sparked by Trump’s own callousness and vitriol – though none of that, of course, is aimed at the literal neo-Nazis he deemed to be “very fine people;” lifetime appointments for hundreds conservative judges who are working to ensure our long, slow slide backwards; the hiring of known white supremacists to top cabinet and staff positions in the White House; numerous, galling abuses of power.
And death. Mass death. Needless death. By the hundreds of thousands.
Josseli Barnica and Neveah Crain make up the heartbreaking tip of an iceberg almost too big to consider. But consider it, we must. Overturning Roe v. Wade has created a crisis of death not just among people needing abortive care, but also those needing general gynecological and obstetric care, as well as infants themselves. But it’s not just that – it’s also Trump’s gross mishandling of the Covid pandemic in its first months, which resulted in thousands of avoidable deaths; his cuts to public healthcare programs that killed tens of thousands more; his refusal to enforce environmental and food-safety regulations which, too, came with a hefty death toll.
So much for Trump – and the Republican party that backs him – being “pro-life.”
If elected president again, Trump has already promised more of the same, largely by way of enacting Project 2025, the suite of policies drawn up by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation that would, if deployed, erode what social fabric still remains in his wake to hold us up. Another Trump term would bring about the removal of more vital safety nets; more sycophants granted power they don’t deserve and cannot manage; more fear of speaking out or voting; more oppressive control and fewer rights; and yes, even more pointless death.
If your priority is preserving the sanctity and quality of life, there is only one candidate in this race who offers you a viable path toward that. If you pave Trump’s road to the White House instead, the cost will likely be too great for us to bear.
What it Boils Down To
I have always believed that we inherit a responsibility to care for one another when we’re born. I am raising my son to believe the same.
On Election Day, I will take him with me to vote. Afterwards, I will remind him of why I voted – and why I voted for Harris: To honor that responsibility, in ways I wish we would and could have for Josseli Barnica, and Neveah Crain, and the tens upon tens of thousands of other Americans who no longer breathe, or vote, because of Trump and the destruction and hatred he rains down.
Harris is our best hope for a leader who might hear us when we cry out for improvement and protection – for fellow Americans, and for people abroad. She’s our best hope for building a world where everyone has that voice. She’s the best hope for the future. She’s the best hope for many of us to even have a future.
Go vote. ⬛️
