When women's rights are threatened, I tend to lose my shit. With yesterday's major attack on
Roe V. Wade and women's right to safe health care, I was livid. Instead of letting loose in an emotional diatribe, which is also a valid form of expression in times like these, I decided to stick to some facts. I currently have a platform on which I can stand and shout my thoughts, and so I did so at last night's Legislature meeting.
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Across the history of human time, women
have used abortion to maintain their personal choice of if and when to become a
mother. Midwives, herbalists, and elder women knew the practices and procedures
to safely end pregnancy and were called upon to support women in their
decisions.
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It was not until the mid-1800s that
governments began outlawing women’s right to have abortions in the United
States. White, male doctors formed the American Medical Association in 1847 and
decided that they should be the arbiters of the abortion practice. Women,
particularly Black women, who worked as midwives threatened the white male
power structure and were attacked and discredited accordingly. Black healers
and midwives, in particular, were painted as unprofessional at best, barbaric
at worst. By the 1880s, all states had restrictions on abortion and the
practice became stigmatized.
·
In 1970, New York was the first U.S. state
to legalize abortion.
·
In 1973, the Supreme Court considered the
Roe v. Wade case. It decided that the constitution protects a person’s right to
privacy and thus to terminate their pregnancy. The government has no right to
limit abortion practices.
·
Regardless of legality, women have
abortions. Women who cannot find safe medical care often turn to dangerous home
remedies which I won’t outline now. But they involve violent self-harm and many,
if not most of these actions result in serious medical emergencies.
·
In 2017, approximately 22,000 women and
girls died from unsafe abortions. And while historically, and in modern times,
white, wealthy women could sometimes quietly find willing doctors or travel to
another state for a safe abortion, this option did not, and generally does not
exist for Black, indigenous, and poor women.
· Unsafe abortions and death occur more
often in places that do not have safe, legal abortion options.
·
Also in 2017, there were approximately
1,081 violent acts against abortion providers in the US, by people who claim
they are “Pro-life.”
· Many states have and are now enacting laws
that deny access to abortion even in the case of rape or incest. So, a 12 year
old child could be raped by her father, become pregnant and be forced to carry
that fetus for nine months and then raise that baby with no resources, support,
or health care. Some of these same lawmakers say that it is too
uncomfortable, too restrictive, and completely unconstitutional to force a
child to wear a mask over their face and nose during the pandemic while at
school for 6 hours.
·
Today, approximately 1 in 4 women will
have an abortion at some point during her childbearing years. I have had an
abortion. Many women I know have had an abortion. If you don’t believe in
abortion, then by all means, don’t have one. But this is NOT an uncommon
medical procedure
·
Whether and when to become pregnant and if
to abort that pregnancy always was and always will be a decision that should be
made by the woman facing this issue. It is a right of privacy. It is health
care. It is a personal choice.
This is a tiny list of the history and reality of abortion and women's rights, and there are a lot of resources for further reading. Below are links to more information and some of the websites and articles I read in my research.
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