On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court decided in a landslide vote of 7-2 that abortion was legal. While the decision itself left some gray area for defining what this meant, at the core it is simple: Roe v. Wade allows women to access control over their own bodies.
I think a lot of people, especially young women today, do not understand the implications of this court case. Yes, anyone can recite that Roe v. Wade gave us access to abortion, but most young women right now, those whom the case affects, did not live in a time before abortion about 43 years ago. We do not remember what happened to women who had little access to and knowledge on the socially taboo topic of birth control. We do not remember mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends so desperate for help with their unplanned pregnancy that they got infections, complications from illegal abortions, or even died. We do not remember the thousands of young girls sent away by their families to homes for unwed mothers, where they were forced to have their baby and then give it up for adoption in order to rejoin their social ranks.
Anti-choice politicians are capitalizing on this lack of remembrance in order to push their personal agendas in the form of public policy. This is a scary thing. When you step back and really think about it, why? Why does it really matter so much?
Why does abortion continue to be part of the political platform? I ask myself this very question pretty regularly. Why is a group of predominantly white males continuing to make choices and govern what happens to my body, and what choices I am allowed to make regarding my body? I think when it comes down to it, it is all about control. These politicians want to control the populous. They have false ideas that a lack of access to abortion means women won’t have sex, thus controlling their sexuality. The same argument is used in regards to abstinence-only sex ed: if kids don’t hear about safe sex, they’ll be afraid and won’t have sex. But a baby should not be punishment for seeking pleasure, and honestly, people have been having sex since the dawn of penises and vaginas. So why are politicians so stuck on getting rid of access to Planned Parenthood, for example? At the end of the day, women should be entirely in charge of their own sexuality. It belongs to them, and them alone.
What is it that Republican congressmen and other politicians hope to achieve by stripping away these rights? Honestly, taking these rights from women pushes them back into a more subservient condition. If women do not have the right to control their reproductive autonomy, well then, here is what happens: we have sex, we get pregnant, and we have to take time off from school, or work, or life in order to raise an unplanned child. This forces either women to rely on men or often times forces women to live in poverty, because they couldn’t finish their education. While these are two overgeneralizations and I recognize that other situations arise, having an unplanned child most definitely changes the life path a young woman will lead. Even if she can stay at school and do it all, so to say, she still has the financial burden of having a child when she wasn’t ready, and adoption is far easier said than done.
I cannot account for every situation, as I am sure some young women may look at this unplanned pregnancy as a gift or blessing. But what I am saying is that all women should have the right to choose their outcome. All women should be able to say if they want to have a child or not. By allowing this choice to leave the hands of women and enter back into the realm of politics, old white men are predominantly making that choice for women. If these men take away a woman’s right to choose, they are forcing her back into 1950s-style rhetoric where she either A. gets a dangerous, illegal, or self-induced abortion B. gives the baby up for adoption, which can be potentially tragic for both the mother and child, or C. has a baby she does not necessarily want or is not ready for. All these options take away a woman’s autonomy. They take away her independence, as she can no longer decide for herself.
So, why are women being forced to fight for rights we gained over 40 years ago? And furthermore, why are politicians basing their political decisions for an entire country in personal religious beliefs? Like I said, it goes back to keeping the same people in power and continuing to keep women down. Religion should not be the basis for policy. Rather, fairness and access should be taken into account. Women need to be able to choose their own path despite the religious background of some man or woman in congress.
It does not matter what decision a woman makes in the event that she is pregnant, as long as it is her own choice and not that of anyone else. This is the very reason we need more pro-choice candidates who recognize that women need to have the right to control their futures. A woman’s life should be no one’s but her own, and she should not be forced to go one way or another on the account of anyone else’s beliefs.
