Think

History Tells Us: We Will Win

Christie Hendrickson, October 21, 2019

Women’s right to vote. Protection of the labor force in the workplace. Equal rights regardless of race. All these ideas have become American societal standards—but only within the last century.

  • 1920: 99 years ago, the Nineteenth Amendment was adopted, granting voting rights to US citizens regardless of sex

  • 1935: 84 years ago, the labor movement, which had already seen some victories over prior decades, gained the right to organize and bargain collectively without interference of their employers

  • 1964: 55 years ago, the Civil Rights Act passed, outlawing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The Voting Rights Act, prohibiting voting discrimination, followed a year later.

The effects of these landmark victories have led to new norms, new movements, new fights for what’s right.

What’s true today won’t always be tomorrow

The voting rights of women, the right to unionize in the workplace, the rights to racial, religious, and sexual equality—and countless others—feel obvious to us. Of course women should have the same voting rights as men, of course workers should be able to organize, and of course discrimination should be prohibited.

And know what else we at NEAVS think?

Of course animals should be free from human-induced harm. Of course animals should be free from lives within laboratory confines. Of course animals should be free from experimental invasion of their bodies.

You’re the reason change happens

Movements can’t drive great triumphs for society without the immense passion, engagement, and persistence of their supporters.

You are one of those supporters; you are a part of our movement.

You’re the reason we can make better futures for the animals living as forced experiment subjects in labs, or held captive in bleak holding rooms awaiting their time for experimentation, or caged in enormous breeding facilities before purchase and transport to unimaginably worse destinations.

Animals are not ours to use in experiments.

You can make animal experimentation a thing of the past.

The tides are already turning in our favor

  • A 2018 Pew survey illustrates a majority—52%—of Americans already oppose the use of animals in scientific research

  • The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have admitted animal research is not a reliable source of scientific data: upwards of 90% of drugs that are found safe and effective in animal trials fail in human clinical trials—and of the drugs that do make it to market, at least half are withdrawn for their adverse effects on humans

  • The EPA has recently committed to phasing out animal testing by 2035

  • An organization exists to support and promote the creation and utilization of superior alternative research methods that don’t waste animal lives

We’re well on our way to a future where science is free from the vast limitations and cruelty of animal research.

It comes down to you: your compassion, your love of animals, your dedication to advocacy for their fair and humane treatment. You are the reason we’ll be able to create a new norm where animals won’t any longer be used in experiments.

Together, we will do this

History shows that American movements can change the world. Now it’s our turn to make history.

We can grow a movement to save animals in labs.

We can make animal experimentation a practice of the past.

Together, we will end animal experimentation in our lifetime.

You’re already a big part of our movement—here’s your next step to save animals! If you haven’t already, add your first name and email address to the stay connected form to get email updates.