It seems as though every single time I think our society is about to progress, we end up going in the complete opposite direction.
It's two steps forward one step back, only that the steps forward are one foot after the other like you're on a tightrope and the step backward is a leap.
A huge leap that ends up taking us farther away from the end goal, the end goal that keeps our communities safe, healthy and happy.
Abortion laws are growing tighter and tighter, taking away women's reproductive rights with every new piece of legislation that gets past our offices. The new Heartbeat Bill that's expecting to get passed in May isn't going to stop abortions.
It's not, because you know what? People are just going to revert back to old tactics: clothing hangers, hot baths, falling down stairs, taking medications, alcohol, the list could go on, and it will because people are going to have abortions whether the law says you can or not.
Six weeks is not enough time for someone to figure out that they're pregnant let alone go and seek medical services. Most women find out they're pregnant between four and seven weeks. How are women supposed to not only find out they're pregnant but also get the opportunity to get an abortion in that short time frame?
Oh, that's the point. They're not.
The point of the Heartbeat Bill is to prevent women from seeking out abortions, to force women into unwanted pregnancies that some can't afford, that some never asked for, that some weren't ready for.
It doesn't matter the reason for abortion. Every woman should have the right to get an abortion no matter what happened. It is her body. It is HER choice what she does.
You're going to force the girl who was sexually assaulted and raped to have to birth the child of her rapist? So what? That child can grow up being a reminder to that girl that she was raped, that she was taken advantage of in a way that no one should ever be? So she can experience even more trauma? That child can grow up being rejected by its mother?
You're going to force a woman in poverty who can barely feed herself to give birth to a child that she can't take care of? So she can go into even more debt trying to pay off the hospital bills? So both she and her child can starve? So that child can be raised into a life of poverty that you've never cared to look at?
What about a trans man who gets pregnant? You're going to force him to have a child? So he can deal with the emotional trauma of having a child? The laws and the regulations we see in the government try to stop the support of LGBT kids, adults, and families, so who will uplift him? Who is going to protect his rights as a male? Who is going to make sure that he is protected socially as an individual, not just a carrier of a child?
What about the girl who just doesn't want a child? The girl who isn't ready to take care of a child because she's in college and her protection method failed? You're going to force her to have a child for what? For her to drop out of school and leave her dreams of education behind? So she can work a minimum wage job with only a high school degree that can barely if at all, support her let alone her and a child?
Don't claim that adoption is an answer to all of these problems. There are hundreds of thousands of children in the foster care system in this exact moment, and some of these children will never be adopted and eventually grow out of the system, unprotected and alone. This happens to thousands of children every day. They are forced out of the system because no one adopted them, how many of them were from mothers who were told they would get adopted if they didn't get an abortion?
There are also medical abortions. Abortions for the woman who will die if she gives birth to a child. What are you going to do? Tell her that her sacrifice will be in vain? So her child can grow up without a mother? "Sorry that you're going to have to die even though we have a preventable method that we can use to save your life right now! Your unborn child in your uterus has more of a right to live than you do!"
Why are lawmakers so obsessed with my body? Why are they so obsessed with making up the rights for MY body? Why do they get to control what I can and cannot do with it?
Are they paying for my abortion? Are they paying for my hospital bill? My child support?
No. They aren't. They aren't paying for any of it.
Why are all these men who can't even get pregnant get to make the decisions about what I do with my body? Why do they get to decide what's best for me? Why do they get to decide what's best for me and the clump of cells that's yet to turn into anything inside of me?
I'm so tired of people trying to tell me what's best for me, what's best for millions of other women when they have never in their life even thought about the kind of situations we go through every single day.
Stop taking women's rights away. You had your fun taking away our rights one hundred years ago and guess what?
We're angry about it and we're not letting you bring us back to those times.
It's not a privilege to have rights so stop trying to take mine away from me like it's okay.
This law isn't solving any problems, you're going to have more unsafe abortions and a lot more angry people showing up at your door.
You're not saving lives because quite frankly, "they" never existed. You're killing the lives of women and men, who simply want to live their lives without a child. End of story.
