Attacks on the NEA are Attacks on Abortion Access
Recently, the Trump administration announced a comprehensive revocation of National Endowment of the Arts funding. On May 2nd an email circulated to expectant recipients indicating that their grants had been rescinded, and that NEA funding would now be “prioritized by the President” based on a specious and indiscriminately applied set of criteria.
It is no accident that marginalized and vulnerable communities are the most heavily impacted because this is a deliberate attack on DEI.
Despite claims to the contrary, this is not an effort to end waste, fraud, and abuse. It is an attempt to destroy critical thinking, and subsequently, our collective ability to preserve our rights, protections, and freedoms.
NEA grants make up 0.003% of the total federal budget. To help you conceptualize, that’s 30 cents out of every ten thousand dollars. Not a lot of savings for the national budget, but for the organizations that depend on NEA support, revoking those funds imposes an existential threat.
A is For exists at the intersection of art and advocacy. Our mission is to amplify art and artists working to eradicate the stigma against abortion. Because we understand that story leads to action.
How we think about abortion culturally (art) is how we treat it societally (law).
Before we can rectify the atrocity of the Dobbs decision – and even begin to address the mountain of damage done in its wake – we must recognize abortion as normal.
We must interrogate our biases, and ask ourselves sincerely, “Why would someone want or need an abortion?” Especially if we are a person who thinks, “I could never,” and then whose next thought is, “Therefore it must be so for everyone else as well.”
We already know that one in four people who can get pregnant will need abortion care during their reproductive years irrespective of the law. We know that denying access to abortion increases poverty, and that forced pregnancy is inhumane.
Since Dobbs, abortion bans have caused at least four preventable deaths, and countless suffering. Twice as many people (now one in five) must travel out of state for care. There is increased prosecution for pregnancy loss, and increased threats of prosecution for abortion providers, even in blue states.
And it’s only getting more dire. Crisis Pregnancy Centers are proliferating, while legitimate abortion clinics are closing. Remaining clinics are harder to access. Fewer medical students are learning how to perform abortions. And the continued legislative attacks on abortion access are creating healthcare deserts for maternity patients.
The good news is that where political debate fails to turn the tide, engaging with art succeeds.
Art in all its forms deepens our relationship with the world around us. It helps us to be known and understood. It invites us to empathize, and to recognize our own belonging.
It can quite literally be the difference between understanding why someone might need an abortion, and condemning them for seeking one.
If we are deprived of opportunities to empathize with someone whose experience differs from our own, we will not resist that person’s oppression. We will (erroneously) see ourselves as separate and unaffected. And we can only resist a state that seeks to control us insofar as we are able to stand together.
Most insidiously, without access to art – especially live, dialectical art like theatre – we are all the more vulnerable to the influence of stigma, and therefore all the more likely to accept the criminalization of those who have been stigmatized.
And that is exactly why A is For is committed to amplifying stigma-busting art and artists. Our all it takes is ONE-ACT play contest and festival engages both playwrights and audiences who are passionate about abortion and reproductive justice. Over the past four years, we have received more than 1,100 submissions, and presented nine of them as staged readings to great success.
On June 26, this year’s festival will be held at Playwrights Horizons, one of the hundreds of theaters that had its NEA grant rescinded. All proceeds will go to our Beneficiaries Program, supporting abortion clinics, funds, and other direct service providers.
For the foreseeable future, it is likely that efforts to silence us will continue. But we will not be silenced.
Artististic engagement allows us to step into another person’s perception of life – however alien, intimidating, or seemingly offensive – in safety, and with curiosity and openness. Art expands our consciousness. It engenders empathy, compassion, and awe. Dare I say, it encourages diversity, equity, and inclusion.
It helps us build and maintain a society that works for all people.
Imagine that.