Abortion rights. It’s been 50 years.

I wrote this in 2019 but never posted it. Maybe it’s more relevant now, with a few updates.

A few weeks ago, I stepped onto a sidewalk and hoisted a poster. Slathered with sunscreen and wearing a floppy hat against the fierce Florida sun, I joined my sisters-for-a-cause in front of a women’s health clinic. Most of us were middle-aged women, who have been here before, supporting this cause: our right to control our health decisions. Our own bodies.

Some of us recall our early years of activism, the passage of Roe vs. Wade. I never thought I’d be in this place again, having to advocate and fight for my right to my own body and those of my daughter and her generation. How did we get to this place, where government is again trying to legislate our personal health care decisions?

photo from Pixabay

Now, this 61-year-old body has no risk of pregnancy, intended or otherwise. I have two adult children, never had a need for an abortion, and no idea what I would have chosen had such a situation arisen. But that doesn’t really matter, because I can sure imagine what that might look and feel like. That doesn’t really matter either.

The thing is: abortion is no one else’s business. We are born into individual bodies, with our own hearts, souls, and minds. We get to choose for ourselves. Just like you can choose not to have an abortion if you don’t want to. (Not to be pedantic, but you can’t “not believe” in abortion. It exists.) You might have a faith basis for not wanting an abortion, but you also get to pick your faith. Again, it’s no one else’s business what kind of religion you choose to practice.

A friend pointed out a big truth from her own life: her husband was not required to donate a portion of his liver to their infant, though his already living, breathing child would die without a transplant. No mandated risks to the father’s health; no consequences beyond his own conscience. Let that sink in: He.was.not.forced.to.save.his.living.child’s.life.

All pregnancies start with a male, so why aren’t we regulating male behavior? Clearly, these restrictions are not about *saving lives.* They are about control and a myth of male superiority.

I don’t know one person who thinks we need to promote more abortions. Not one. However, you won’t stop abortion by making it illegal. You only outlaw SAFE abortion options. Abortion has been around long before any of us were born, and women contracted horrific infections, died, from the procedures. That’s not “pro-life” at all. Those who only believe in exceptions for rape or incest are saying the only time a woman has agency over her own body is after someone violates it.

So is it possible to find common ground? Can we agree that reducing the need for abortion would benefit everyone? Fewer unwanted pregnancies, fewer abortions, fewer risks to women, as well as healthy, deeply desired children born to women able to care for them.

“When contraceptives aren’t available, women use abortion, even if it isn’t legally sanctioned and even if it puts them at great physical risk,” -- Diana Greene Foster, an associate professor at University of California San Francisco, who studies effectiveness of family planning policies.

After Colorado implemented a family planning policy that included access to free birth control, “the state abortion rate declined 64 percent for women ages 15 to 19 and 41 percent for women ages 20 to 24. The number of teens giving birth for the second or third time dropped 63 percent during the same time period.” – Colorado Department of Health.

 It starts there, with education and contraception. Those of us who fight for the right to choose also fight for proven methods to reduce the need: affordable and accessible contraception, health care for all, real sex education that covers more than abstinence, educational opportunities and income equality, support services for women and children, affordable day care. These policies are actually pro-life. They work and save lives, so we advocate and vote.

Back to sign-waving on a busy street. Honestly, it was less protest and more patient support. More letting our community know there are strong women on the side of choice. Demonstrating that women who seek help at women’s health clinics need and deserve care. We gathered to create a barrier from the handful of anti-choice sign-holders who screamed invectives at patients and religious rhetoric at those passing by. We drowned them out with encouragement for women seeking care.

Did we change any minds? I doubt it. But we did get a lot of honks and thumbs-up waves from passing cars. A young woman of color pulled over to say thanks, leave us a box of doughnuts with a promise to join us when she could. Clinic staff welcomed us with gratitude and safety vests. Our group included women of various faiths, all believing in the beauty of empowering women. I felt a stirring of hope, that our small group was part of a bigger conversation in our community.

Now it is 2021:

We’re still trying to find safety through a worldwide pandemic, yet the state of Texas has turned abortion into a bounty hunter’s game. By limiting legal abortions to the sixth week of pregnancy or before and allowing lawsuits to be filed against any participant in the process, they think they’ve eliminated abortion. Their governor says they will end rape, so there’s no need for exceptions.

Seriously…if he knows how to end rape, why the hell didn’t he do it before now? Does he have any f*cking idea how many rapists are family members and friends? And if life begins at six weeks, the male involved needs to start paying child support at six weeks. It’s about control.

But they have only banned SAFE abortions. They are turning brother against sister and determining the life of a fetus is more valuable than the life of a woman. Now, Florida wants to do the same. Damn it – I thought we would be past this by now, 50 years later.

Now it is 2022:

And here we are again. Shocked, but not really surprised. A Supreme Court leak has revealed the Court is preparing to overturn Roe V. Wade, allowing states to make their own laws about abortion. A gut punch, and the outrage is real. Just weeks ago, Florida passed legislation to ban abortions after 15 weeks. The Republican legislature is prepared for an outright ban if Roe V. Wade is struck down. The forced-birthers are celebrating.

I’m well past the stage of abortions, but I am a woman. How dare the Supreme Court say that I do not have agency over my own body! What’s next? Our right to drive, vote (women of color are already dealing with this one), or gather peacefully? Freedom is not just for straight, white, Christian males. I am sick. Sick for my daughter and the women of her generation. It’s their turn to fight this fight. The feminists of my generation will be standing with you.