I, like almost 323,000,000 Americans, have never had an abortion. In 2013 and 2014, the number of abortions performed numbered less than a million - for the first time in years. The ratio of people actually getting abortions in relation to the people weighing in on abortions and the legality of the practice isn’t exactly balanced.
The Supreme Court, in an act that was its strongest in almost 15 years, declared Texas laws that would limit the number of abortion clinics to be unconstitutional. Texas would have left only ten clinics for the entire state - infamous for its immense size - and would have made access to an abortion an even more difficult task.
My heart was heavy on Sunday evening. I watched the news and wondered what tomorrow would bring. The Supreme Court held a very precious part of national acceptance in its hands.
Monday brought relief. The federal court ruled that this restriction of clinics was unacceptable. According to Adam Liptak of the New York Times, “The decision on Monday means that similar restrictions in other states are most likely also unconstitutional, and it imperils many other kinds of restrictions on abortion.”
I have never had to consider abortion, thankfully. It’s a trial that I would wish on no one. It’s also an incredibly important decision, and extremely personal. Texas’ actions opposed the Constitution, which is mightily important; they were also interfering with personal lives in ways that can’t be defined on parchment or in an online article.
Opposition to rulings in favor of abortions has to be borne of something too interfering and unfounded. I can’t imagine one single moment where it would be acceptable to look at a woman and tell her that her situation, which is entirely under her discretion, must become the business of the nation and that her actions - which affect a debated but still limited scope of people - must comply with the majority rule.
A woman was interviewed on the news. She explained her struggle to pursue an abortion, a decision that resulted from her doctor’s diagnosis that the fetus would live a few minutes after birth, at most. Understandably, she was distraught.
Having an abortion would not be painless, both emotionally and physically, but she wouldn’t have to carry a baby doomed to death until term, knowing that it would die shortly after it was born. I don’t think it’s possible to quantify the cost of that experience on herself, her family and friends, and others involved.
The Supreme Court didn’t decide to encourage unprotected sex or to ignore the responsibility of bearing children; the Supreme Court ruled that interfering with the very complex and personal decisions of women is not a free-for-all. The matter remains heavily disputed, but this ruling is a move in the right direction.
