True Life Shouldn’t Be Scarier than Fiction
Halloween doesn’t feel as fun when real-life situations are scarier than our favorite thrillers. Who needs Michael Myers when ICE is stalking and terrorizing civilians? Who fears a zombie horde when the government is turning troops on its own citizens? Rosemary’s Baby pales in comparison to the reality of the U.S. having the highest maternal mortality rate among high-income nations, the horror of ongoing preventable deaths caused by abortion restrictions, and the criminalization of miscarriage. As Trump continues to point fingers about who is to blame for the fractured state of our country, when it comes to the dismantling of public health policy, the call is definitely coming from inside the house. A breakdown of RFK Jr.’s MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) movement is beyond the scope of this article, but suffice it to say, the majority of RFK Jr.’s actions in office have significantly undermined his alleged goal of making Americans healthy. Recent polling shows that both MAHA parents and non-MAHA parents have major concerns about children’s health and safety, with regulations around chemical additives, food dyes, and highly processed foods overwhelmingly supported by both groups. It’s interesting, then, how little outrage (or even awareness) there has been over things like the gutting of food safety regulations, elimination of key research teams for supporting IVF and healthy pregnancies, and RFK Jr.’s backpedaling on pesticide regulations to appease agricultural lobbyists.
Click through below for some talking points about some ways that RFK Jr. has undermined public health policy.
And, while we’re at it… although it feels like a century ago, RFK Jr.’s attacks on Tylenol happened only a month ago! Since taking office, RFK Jr.’s constant framing of autism and other neurodevelopmental diagnoses as boogeymen to be feared and prevented at all costs is insidious and disgusting. Casting aspersions on Tylenol—the only form of pain relief that is proven to be safe for pregnant women—is a calculated attack meant to marginalize neurodivergent individuals and hurt women. Click through below to learn more about autism and who else is harmed by RFK Jr.’s recent pseudoscientific crusade.
It’s not all doom and gloom. Republican senators have started to speak out against RFK Jr. (It’s not much, but it’s better than full-throated approval.) But, with an ever-churning news cycle, dealing with RFK Jr.’s calculated incompetence often falls to the bottom of people’s anti-fascism wish lists.
So what do we do? The answer, again, is found in community. We refuse to give up and go willingly with the grim reaper of the CDC. We support organizations like Grandparents for Vaccines. We learn about autism from the autistic community. We seek out and support alternate sources of health information, like the Governors Public Health Alliance, of which Massachusetts is a member. We express our concerns about the CDC changes to our own doctors and to the healthcare facilities at which we are staff or patients. We continue to write our elected officials to show that this issue is still important to their constituents. We support organized efforts to oust RFK Jr. We take care of ourselves and others as best as we can, especially as we head into cold and flu season. We remember the spirit of No Kings, a joyous celebration of our common humanity and goals, and we use the momentum of this moment to bring about change.
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