LEAVE MY BODY ALONE

Roe v Wade has been overturned.

There is a war against women, against people with uteruses- against our freedom and against our bodies. The war is real and all women are in danger.

You see, Roe V. Wade was a landmark decision by the US supreme court in 1976, it entrenched in the US constitution that a woman has the right to an abortion if she chooses to. It overruled federal and states laws that were against abortion.

Yesterday this ruling was overturned, giving individual states in the United States back the power to set up laws that criminalize abortion. Some states went ahead to do just that, essentially denying a pregnant person the right to get a safe abortion while criminalizing those who go ahead with the procedure.

Women should not be denied safe abortions. I emphasize safe abortions because abortions are a necessity and whether or not it is legal, they would still happen. Chances that quack doctors would set up illegal abortion clinics are higher when the state enacts laws that criminalize abortions.

Rich women would have the resources to go to another city to get a safe abortion, but a poor woman might not have the resources to do that. This law disproportionately affects poor and marginalized women as they would most likely be the ones to go see a quack doctor and then die of resulting complications. This ruling puts the lives of poor, black, disabled, and marginalized women at risk.

Statistics show that black women in the United States have the highest number of deaths during childbirth. Forcing women to stay pregnant is equivalent to signing the death sentence of many black women.

Pregnant women are also more likely to be killed by their partners. Men have been known to coerce and even force women to have sex, when this leads to pregnancy the men deny and abandon these women. Some men even require the women to get abortions. Forcing a woman to keep a pregnancy endangers a woman life.

There are so many reasons why abortion is vital; complications may arise during a pregnancy that may require an abortion of the fetus, this ruling essentially tells women that the life of the fetus is more precious than their own lives.

Economically, banning abortions does not make sense. the prices of things are rising at an alarming rate and salaries are not rising to match the rate. The standard of living for families keeps dropping as prices of food and basic amenities keeps rising. A baby is another mouth to feed. Babies are expensive. In the age of neoliberalism where funding for most social programs have been cut, families are left to fight and fend for themselves and struggle in a bad inflation-ridden economy. Forcing a family to see a pregnancy to term and to birth a baby when they can barely afford to live is unfair.

Decriminalize abortion.

Contraceptives are essential but they cannot replace abortions. Contraceptives are not always 100% effective; women cannot rely only on contraceptives.

Also consider cases where the woman is raped, should she carry that pregnancy to term and live with the constant reminder? Where is her choice? Where Is her autonomy?

Let us not forget teenagers. Realistically, teenagers are going to have sex with each other and we cannot scare them into not having sex. All we can do is educate them and make sure resources are provided for them. This ruling makes it that if a teenager has sex and gets pregnant, she must keep that pregnancy to term and birth a baby. This does not make sense. A baby should not be a punishment for sex.

Pro-lifers argue that if a woman doesn’t want to keep her baby, she has the option of putting the baby up for adoption. This is a very dishonest argument, knowing how mis-managed and crowded the foster system is. (Or is the plan for the kids to be put in foster systems, grow up on the streets living rough and dangerous lives and when they are old enough, to be thrown in prison and be used as cheap labour for corporations?)

There are so many reasons why abortion is essential. Above all the number one and most important reason is because it is a woman’s right. A person should be able to make the choice to keep their pregnancy to term or not without interference from the state. There shouldn’t have to be a medical reason or a traumatic reason for a person to get an abortion, a person that wants to get an abortion should be able to get one.

It is my body, and it is my choice.

I am upset and terrified at this ruling. As a woman, where are my rights? Do I not own my own body? What are we teaching the younger generation? The younger women? That they do not matter? It is scary.

By forcing women to have babies, you are opening the world to a generation of unloved and unwanted kids, the implication of this is dire. Can they not see this?

If this ruling was a step to bring a Christian morality to the world, it is a wrong way to do it. The disadvantage of this ruling far outweighs the benefits.

I do not live in the US so I am not directly affected by this ruling, but I am still affected by it. Whatever laws the US makes has a way of trickling down and affecting the rest of us in other countries. Unfortunately, the United States is considered a superpower and other countries set up laws to follow suit. African countries especially are still heavily influenced by the US and religious fanatics in various countries would use this as fuel to further restrict the rights of women. (Maybe that is the plan; to further restrict the rights of women especially African women, fill the world up with black babies and then comes slavery part 2)

Women have rights to their bodies.

Our bodies are not tools that the governments can make decisions on. The supreme court needs to stay out of our genitalia, that relationship is between each person and their doctor.

Safe abortions is a human right and anybody with a uterus deserves to have access to safe abortions.