Today, I am very open in my stance on reproductive justice, including but not limited to abortion.
Abortion is not a fun subject to discuss. It is emotionally charged and highly stigmatized. But the longer we keep silent about it, the longer it will continue to be stigmatized. As a cis male, I will never experience a situation where I may need an abortion. That is a form of privilege, decided solely by my biological sex.
Today, the Ohio House passed a Senate Bill known as the Heartbeat Bill. In true conservative fashion, it is a bill that is designed to outlaw abortion after six weeks, when supposedly a heartbeat can be heard. Aside from the fact that this violates Roe v. Wade, which made abortion legal in the United States, it is a serious human rights issue and a very concerning matter.
"State Senate President Keith Faber, a Republican, said the twice-defeated bill came back up again because of Donald Trump’s presidential victory and the expectation he will fill Supreme Court vacancies with justices who are more likely to uphold stricter abortion bans."
Now that we are facing not only a Republican President but also a Republican controlled Legislative branch and, after the President makes his appointment, a Republican controlled Judicial branch, we are at very serious risk of regression on this matter.
Conservatives like to believe outlawing abortion will stop it. But pre-Roe v. Wade America tells a very different (and very gory) story.
In this article by Jennifer Gerson Uffalussy, some of the realities of pre-Roe abortion come to light.
"Surveys from the 1950s approximate somewhere between 200,000 and 200 million abortion performed illegally each year in the U.S. Grimes says that, at this time, it is safe to estimate that four women a day died in America as a consequence of illegal abortion. “That’s a huge amount of suffering,” he says."
Uffalussy is citing David Grimes, a medical doctor, who served as an OBY-GYN and as an epidemiologist for the CDC in relation to abortion in the 1970's.
200 million illegally performed abortions. At what cost?
Morality?
Ethics?
"Now 72 years old, Ronnie Konner was 19 when she found herself pregnant by her “incredibly narcissistic” sculptor boyfriend. “He couldn’t have been less interested in me or my problem — or what he considered my problem,” she recalls. “Or going with me to take care of it.”
After overhearing a college classmate mention abortion, Konner was then able to secure a phone number. The person on the other end told her to go to the California-Mexico border holding sunglasses in her left hand — a sign to the driver that she was to be picked up and driven to Mexico for an abortion. The cost was $300."
That's a very scary picture. That sounds like a drug-deal situation. Imagine the vulnerability many women faced in this "back-alley" abortion. Untrained "clinicians". No access to medical care before or after. On top of that, they were literally in danger of crimes against them by these sketchy providers.
"Should abortion again become a states’ rights issue, like it was before Roe passed in 1973, women might find themselves back in the position they were in the early 1970s, when, Grimes explains, 80 percent of all abortions were performed in two states: New York and California."
"The legalization of abortion is also responsible for the decrease in medical costs across the country when it comes to surgical procedures. Until Roe v. Wade, all surgeries were performed in a hospital. After Roe, freestanding outpatient clinics such as Planned Parenthood emerged, proving to be safer and more cost-effective than a hospital for several reasons."
The fact is, no matter how you spin it:
Criminalization does not decrease or eliminate abortion, it only makes it costlier and deadlier.
Abortion is a public health issue.
Abortion is a woman's choice and right.
The conservative rhetoric about abortion is dangerous. Certainly, if you wanted to, you could research the number of fatalities that resulted from abortion. When it is criminalized, it also increases costs of our policing and already overburdened criminal justice system.
It doesn't matter if you like abortion. Even if you do not support it yourself. We have to live in reality--and reality shows us that outlawing abortion is very dangerous.
Stand up and support reproductive rights.
Much love,
ArchAngel O:)
Totally makes sense, even though I am against abortions, I view it as murder, however I don't feel it's my right to tell any woman what to do with her body. The only time I would step up and try to stop an abortion is if I were the baby's father. I would want to protect my child.
ReplyDeleteTotally makes sense, even though I am against abortions, I view it as murder, however I don't feel it's my right to tell any woman what to do with her body. The only time I would step up and try to stop an abortion is if I were the baby's father. I would want to protect my child.
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