This week, women across the country marched in their respective cities for women's rights. A lot of women on my Facebook find it to be ridiculous, citing that other countries have it worse and that we should sit down and be quiet. I refuse, and let me tell you why.
In spirit, I walk for HER
For the girl from my hometown who felt that suicide was her only way to escape her abuser, a man who was supposed to care for her and her mother and siblings, not try to make a pass at her, cop a feel, or sexually assault her or her siblings. A girl who tried to tell adults, tried to tell police, but was made to continue being around this man until she died at the end of a noose on a livestream. It's been almost a month since she died, and he hasn't been put in jail yet.
I walk for HER
For my cousin, who made the most difficult choice in the world when she had her twins removed at 23 weeks just so she could survive because it was either lose all three of them or lose only the twins. As is, she is a healthy mother of 3 and grandmother of 2. Without Roe v. Wade, she wouldn't have been able to legally make this decision, and my family would have not only lost an amazing, god-fearing woman, but we also would have never gotten to meet the children that came after Trey and Emma.
I walk for HER
For Haylie Grammer, a mom who made the choice at 19 weeks not to terminate her pregnancy, but at 24.5 had little choice in having her baby pulled from her and was still persecuted for it. Baby Embree had a tumor that was going to be fatal, and without the cesarean section to remove her, Haylie may have died too, but the state of Texas took none of that into consideration. She was forced to sign paperwork labeling her as someone who had an abortion, had to sign that she had received pamphlets on the guilt a mother feels about terminating. Yes, she had a choice, to hold her living baby or deliver a dead one and maybe even die too, and the state of Texas has, in essence, labeled her a murderer for it.
I walk for HER
For my mom, and my sisters, and my grandmother, who have all had their share of abusive and controlling relationships. Relationships where they couldn't hold a job, couldn't speak to their male friends, were hit, kicked, manipulated, until they felt less than human, and all they got was a "why didn't you just leave him?" instead of a single genuine offer of help.
I walk for HER
For the single mother that has no clue where the money for her bills are going to come from, much less food or childcare. The ones that try their hardest, and all they have to show for it are government subsidies and people calling them bad parents. She can't afford to take a day off if her child is sick, she can't even afford to take a day off if SHE is sick. People look down on her, when as a people, we should try to build her up.
I walk for ME
So the stigma of birth control will be leveled, because not all of us "sleep around." I walk so that clinics like Planned Parenthood won't be defunded, because I understand the value of affordable help. Birth Control isn't cheap, and I really wish that it were as simple as "closing my legs". If it were, I would close my legs to regulate my hormones, close my legs to remove every cyst from inside of me, close my legs to stop the severe abdominal pains I can get, pains that are so bad that they can make me light-headed or even nauseous at times. I walk so that OB visits can be more affordable and available not only for me, a middle-class white girl in the country, but also for the black single mom of 3 working 2 dead end jobs and living in The Bronx.
