Edit: 6/24/2022
On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court handed down its historic decision in Roe v. Wade. 24 days later, I was born. I was born to a 17 year old father and an 18-year old mother. I've often wondered if I'd been aborted tissue had Roe been decided sooner. My answer to that is, thank God, my mother would have had a choice if Roe had been in place. Here we are in 2022 and my grand-daughters are living in a country where their right to privacy about their reproductive health has been stripped away. There's an old saying: if they are stripping away someone else's rights, eventually they will come after yours. Clarence T. made it clear in his opinion that this is just the beginning.
I won't pretend I have even a college degree, so I'm not scholarly on this debate. Yes, I went to college, but ironically, kids and marriage got in the way of my finishing. I say ironically, because that's just one reason a woman may get an abortion. It's certainly one of the smaller percentages of reasons.
Let's list the other reasons.
medical, rape, incest, viability of fetus outside the womb, mother decides it's not the right time.
It shouldn't matter the reason; it should be a choice decided by a woman, her doctor, and anyone else she decides should help her make that decision, including a higher power she may or may not follow. Not everyone in America is a Christian, and in Jewish tradition, it's seen as a woman's right to make that decision.
Right now they have struck down a woman's right to choose, handing it back to the states, going back to a time when a woman had to get her husband or father's permission to even buy a house with her own money. What will be next? Your gay child can't marry who he loves? Women being refused contraception?
Thank God and the Universe there are states where a woman still has autonomy over her reproductive health.
Original post May 3, 2022
In 1973 two monumental events happened. Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 was decided & I was born. I've heard the stories of back alley abortions & I've been blessed to live in a world, up to this point, where archaic healthcare norms have been, for the most part, eradicated (I say for the most part because, my brown & black sisters, still struggle to receive the level of healthcare I do as a white woman), that's another area of justice that is in need of reform.
Now in 2022 I am watching the conservative right push an agenda that most American's are against. The conservatives have been able to rise to power for a multitude of reasons, ie gerrymandering, restrictive voting laws, our complacent belief that the sanctity of Roe was safe, etc. That again is another place for reform.
It's hard to stay on task fighting for justice over a woman's autonomy over her body when there are so many areas that coincide & put up roadblocks. My mind asks what can I do, other than put my creative forces to work behind this laptop. It is my hope that I can create content that will bring people into my circle who are passionate and ready to fight for justice!
We can't be the generation that allows all the blood sweat and tears of the women before us, go in vain. It's our responsibility to do what we can no matter how small or big, to keep a woman's healthcare between her and her doctor, and not in the hands of politicians, political hacks and conservative pro life extremists. If religion is to be extolled here, scripture says "the body is a temple" it's MY TEMPLE, how are you going to come into my temple and defame it with your archaic dichotomies.
This may just be a rant, but I believe this is a call to action. We must rock the vote like never before. Respecting and honoring the women of suffrage and the victims of the back alley abortions that have seemed like a myth during my lifetime.
“It’s funny- if you ask a Republican in Congress if they believe in climate change, they say, ‘Well, uh, I’m not a scientist.’ That’s what they say. But when it comes to a woman’s right to choose, suddenly they’re a ”doctor.” –BARACK OBAMA
“It is essential to woman’s equality with man that she be the decision maker, that her choice be controlling. If you impose restraints that impede her choice, you are disadvantaging her because of her sex.”
-Ruth Bader Ginsburg
My Body My Choice! Keep your hands off my uterus! Against abortion? Don't have one!
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