On Wednesday, Ohio amended a bill that bans abortion after a fetus’s heartbeat can be heard, which is normally six weeks into pregnancy. Ohio legislators then proceeded to pass a new bill on Thursday that would make abortion illegal after twenty weeks. The two bills are awaiting John Kasich’s signature, the very anti-abortion Republican governor of the state.
And this is just the beginning. There is an anti-abortion effort nationwide existing within fourteen states, with Donald Trump vowing to turn the bill for twenty-week bans into federal law.
Written by anti-abortion and anti-LGBT rights activist Janet Porter, who also wrote the book "The Criminalization of Christianity: Read This Book Before It Becomes Illegal," this bill makes me question whether secularism in government is being overlooked or just simply ignored. I would like to personally remind lawmakers that we belong to a secular nation, where a female’s right to control her own body should have no place in the discussion.
There is an obvious form of religious beliefs that is seeping into the anti-abortion discussion, and one that is ignoring all scientific facts. I understand beliefs that are about respecting the perception of unborn people, but scientific facts rather than religious beliefs should be what informs our laws.
Some follow-up questions to the news pop into my mind - why is my body in the hands of a man? What is constitutional in stripping away a woman’s right to making decisions in regards to her own body?
There is no "pro-abortion" response to the name anti-abortion, it is pro-choice. Abortion is a deeply personal experience for a woman to go through. It is obviously not something that is wanted, nor is it something that is hoped for. It is necessary at times, a process that is undergone simply because it must.
This gives a man the ultimate power over a woman’s body. Religious beliefs aside, it hurts to not be in control of not only your own body, but the entirety of your life if you become pregnant. The bill does not even offer protection for cases of rape or incest.
This is the beginning of a long fight for women under Trump’s presidency. The misogyny that we are being faced with is painful and scary. Abstinence, closing abortion clinics, or denying women birth control do not lead to healthier society. Women deserve more reproductive rights where she has complete control over her body.
