Women make heartbreaking, scary, agonizing, beautiful decisions about pregnancy every single day. Some women ultimately choose to carry their child and give birth, even in difficult circumstances. Some, women, heartbreakingly wish they hadn't. And many women make the difficult decision to terminate a pregnancy. But until you face that decision, YOU DON'T FACE THAT DECISION.
And that is what the Supreme Court decided in the landmark 1973 decision Roe v. Wade, when it was decided that the U.S. Constitution guarantees a fundamental right to privacy, which provides the right of a woman to make a decision for herself whether or not to seek an abortion.
Here we are in 2019, and we're in the midst of an outright war against women. The extreme right has finally acknowledged that it's not about the fetus, or the child, at all. It's about controlling and oppressing women. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was right: the white patriarchy's view is indeed that a woman is less than human. And make no mistake. The white patriarchy will be the one benefitting from the control of women, particularly of women of color.
You know by now that there are several new state laws that have been signed into law this year. All of these have the aim of going to the Supreme Court to challenge the Roe v. Wade decision. Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, Arkansas, Utah, and Ohio have all passed laws this year, as well as Alabama with the most restrictive law, an outright ban. Twenty-five white men decided what the women in Alabama can do with their bodies. And the list of states is growing. The proposed Texas abortion bill would allow the death penalty for women who seek an abortion. Ah, the sanctity of life!
The dystopian future is now. This is a war on women.
We know that this is a war on women because punishments for women who seek abortion and the physicians who help them are harsh, but the punishments for the male impregnators – even rapists – are less, or nil.
We know that this is a war on women because people otherwise have autonomy over their body in life and in death. A person must give consent for a blood donation, for a medication injection, and for organs to be harvested after death.
We know that this is a war on women because most of the new abortion bans are "heartbeat" laws, which prohibit abortions once a heartbeat can be detected, which is at about six weeks gestation, earlier than most women are aware they are pregnant. (Nevermind that a six-week fetal "heartbeat" is a gross misnomer. It's not at all a heart, and it's far from a "beat." It's a group of cells that are organizing themselves to be able to produce an electrical current to a future human heart. Technology advances have allowed ultrasound to be able to detect this electrical flutter at a very early stage -- before the woman even has symptoms of pregnancy). The well-being of the women is secondary.
We know that this is a war on women because the United Nations has decreed that forced pregnancy is a crime against humanity.
We know that this is a war on women because the very states that are banning abortion have poor protections for children born in poverty and their mothers.
We know that this is a war on women because states are impeding access to birth control and reproductive care but men can get boner medication willy-nilly.
We know that this is a war on women because the government is allowing employers to dictate the choices women have regarding birth control.
We know that this is a war on women because rapists like these men are barely punished:
- A Michigan man who raped a 12-year-old (among other children) has been given joint custody of the child born of the rape.
- A preacher who repeatedly raped his 14-year-old daughter was given a light sentence because he is a Christian preacher.
We know that it is a war on women because at least one of the laws (Georgia) provides for punishment for women who have miscarriages.
We know that it is a war on women because of rhetoric like this: Florida House Speaker José Oliva called pregnant women 'host bodies' 5 times in interview on anti-abortion bill
and this:
We know that it is a war on women because in Ohio, an 11-year-old girl must bear the child of her rapist.
We know that it is a war on women because these laws don't have exceptions for rape or incest.
We know that it is a war on women because the government willingly separates mothers from their children and keeps the babies in cages.
We know that it is a war on women because in the Alabama law, “The egg in the lab doesn’t apply. It’s not in a woman. She’s not pregnant.”
We know that it is a war on women because "sanctity of life" stops when punishment via the death penalty begins.
We know that it is a war on women because "sanctity of life" stops when the right to use firearms to kill schoolchildren begins.
We know that it is a war on women when the conservative desire for small government and freedom from government regulation flies out the window when it's a woman's body.
It's no coincidence that these oppressive laws are coming from primarily Southern states. The anti-abortion movement arose as way to oppress black people. The right glommed on to the religious angle of abortion because it wasn't politically correct to outright admit they were the racist caucus, but make no mistake, the origins are all about further oppressing the oppressed, not about preserving life. The religious right, abortion, and segregation are so enmeshed that there is no one without the others. Politico and The Rolling Stone outline this issue very well.
There have been memes and earnest outpourings from well-meaning women like the below, offering to be "Auntie" to out-of-state women wanting abortion, a sort of underground railroad of supporters.
But that only solves part of the problem. Even before these laws, several states have just one abortion clinic left. And wealthy women will always have the means to travel for a legal abortion, or to pay for a safe illegal abortion. As we know, banning abortion does not eliminate abortion. It eliminates safe abortion. The women who will succumb to devastation with an unsafe abortion are the poor, the low-income, the women of color.
You know a woman who has had an abortion.
According to statistics from the Guttmacher Institute, nearly one in four women will have had an induced abortion by age 45. The majority of women seeking abortions are young and poor. More than half of abortions are for women in their 20s. Seventy-five percent of women who have abortions are poor or low-income. The demographics cross race, religion, region.
The reason you may not know that you know a woman who has had an abortion is because it is none of your damn business. Only the pregnant woman can weigh her circumstances and decide if she desires to carry a child. It is a woman's sacred decision, one that she may or may not share with anyone. ANYONE. It's not your business, it's not the neighbor's business, it's not even the father's business, unless she chooses it to be.
It is absolutely, positively NOT the government's business.
Soldiers, you must fight this war. What you can do:
Support our sisters.
Speak up for the right to an abortion, accompany a woman to Planned Parenthood, be a voice. Don't ask questions or give an opinion to a woman. Be there for her.
Call your state representatives and call for the preservation of the right to privacy and the right to an abortion. Some states are already moving toward decreeing abortion as a fundamental right. The governor of Pennsylvania has said he will veto any abortion bill that comes to him. Vermont and Illinois are bolstering abortion rights. Kansas has made it a constitutional right within the state.
Boycott the states who have restrictive abortion laws. Encourage businesses to boycott.
Look to other countries for guidance and inspiration, like Ireland and Poland.
Donate to Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, the Guttmacher Institute, NARAL, the National Abortion Federation, or another pro-woman charity. (Please, as always, check with Charity Navigator or another watchdog before sending your money to any charity). Donate your time to those organizations, if you can't afford dollars.
March in the streets. Connect with your local progressive group, such as your chapter of Indivisible. Watch for marches. Here in Santa Barbara, there is a demonstration on Tuesday, May 21 at noon at the County Courthouse.
Stop calling it "Pro-Life." Call it what it is: "Forced Pregnancy."
VOTE in 2020. Vote for women, vote for people of color, vote for women of color. Talk to other women, mobilize women to vote in your area. Help causes that get out the vote in red states, and in areas with people that the government are trying to disenfranchise.
#RESIST
And now for some comic relief:
George Carlin from 22 years ago. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
And Brent Terhune this week:
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