I Agree With Brian Kemp's Heartbeat Bill, But I'm Still Pro-Choice Because It Isn't Only About Me
By being pro-choice, we leave room for everyone to make their own decisions, which is their right.
I remember years ago, I visited the Bodies Exhibit in Atlanta with my AP Biology class and Human Anatomy classes. In the exhibit, they have one room dedicated to how a fetus grows in the womb. I remember seeing that a fetus does not have a heartbeat until five or six weeks and I vividly remember saying to my friend that I would be able to understand getting an abortion if there wasn't a heartbeat yet. If we declare someone dead when their heart stops, then isn't it fair to declare that someone isn't alive until their heartbeats?
To some, I sound extremely cynical, but when approaching the argument of abortion laws, I try to think about every woman, not just myself. I know that many people are against abortion due to religious reasons, and I support that. It is a valid reason. However, not everyone is religious. I know what the Bible says, but we cannot call out one sin when we are drowning in so many other sins. We cannot force non-believers to conform to a law set in place because we are afraid that God would not want it or that we are allowing the world to be a broken place.
We are all living in our own sin and just as Jesus said, "You who is without sin may cast the first stone". We cannot fight against abortion and say, "this is what the Lord would want" when we are ignoring so many other things that He would want for us. I understand the religious argument and I agree, there is nothing wrong with the idea of the argument, my problem is that we are a bunch of sinners calling out other sinners as if we are holier than thou. It is not an easy solution, but I pray that pro-lifers could see that being pro-choice doesn't mean you are pro-death, but that you want to allow women to make their own decisions while we, as believers, pray for them. That is what God would want.
In one semester of Women's Health, I have learned more about both the male and female anatomy, menstruation, ovulation, and pregnancy, than any white male in office will ever learn in their lives. They don't care enough to learn about how the female body works because they hyper-sexualize women and do not see them as human beings. If these men do not understand how the female body works, how can they be in the position to make decisions about the female body?
So, here's where it gets tricky. I agree with Brian Kemp's heartbeat bill personally.
I would support that if it was only a law for me.
But this is not how our government works.
When we put a law into place, everyone has to abide by it. So, when we make these laws out of our own egotistical or religious beliefs, we are showing everyone that we do not care what anyone else believes. By being pro-choice, we leave room for everyone to make their own decisions, which is their right. We do not have to agree, but we have to agree to disagree.
Voters, I encourage you to do your research. Do not simply be pro-life or pro-choice because of what your friends believe or what you see on social media. Make an educated choice. But, do not think only about yourself and your beliefs. Think about all the women of Georgia now and for generations to come. Think about how this bill would affect demographics, public education, orphanages, and finances. Make the educated vote not just for yourself, but for everyone.
Women, we are fortunate to have the right to vote and it is critical that we stand up and exercise that right. These elected officials have declared war, they are threatening to take our rights away, this is our time to fight and our votes are our weapon. They want unborn children to live, but they are not willing to fight for those children once they are born. We are at risk of receiving life in prison meanwhile rapists are receiving six months to fix years maximum. Even if you are pro-life and support anti-abortion laws, I hope you vote against this bill because the punishment is no solution. If you see the punishment as fair, I hope we can stand up against rape so that rapists receive punishments that fit their crime. If we can put the same energy we use to fight about abortion in to fighting against other inequalities in our justice system, imagine where we could be.
