That’s what I want Congress to do after Roe v. Wade is overturned.
History bears witness to a cross-border, cross-cultural, cross-era truth: women will seek relief through abortion until sex itself is banned.
Women willingly or unwillingly deal with the possibility of pregnancy for forty long years while men spend precisely zero seconds on this. By overturning Roe v. Wade, the justices will deliver a profound message to women: quit having sex unless you want an untold number of babies with unfettered consequences. In other words, don’t do it.
God, society, morality have less to do with this than patriarchy. It's simply about who gets to have sex. Men yes, women no.
If there ever was a human rights issue, here it is.
I am lucky I did not have an unexpected pregnancy. It could have thrown us into utter chaos. I did have a life-altering scare when our doctor suspected that one of our babies had a significant chromosomal abnormality in utero. Another woman in a different situation may have needed the choice to end her pregnancy, if a similar suspicion was confirmed. And the cruelty of forcing a raped woman to bear a child that results from it is simply unfathomable.
Being neutered in the prime of their life could be the only alternative for future generations of women including my granddaughter. What a way to progress!
When Roe v. Wade is overturned, 13 states will trigger laws banning abortion with more waiting in the wings. Then there is the utter absurdity of the Texas law that pits women against other members of the general public. These laws mean that women at all socio-economic levels will have no access to abortion services in many geographies. They will have to travel to locations outside their states, maybe two or three states away, to get the necessary services.
Well-to-do women will hop on a plane to get an abortion, a hassle beyond measure but doable. A poor woman will not be able to afford to travel and will end up having babies and raising them on non-existent funds or bear the pain of separation or care for a desperately sick newborn. Worse yet, she will seek an illegal abortion with irreparable emotional, physical, legal, and financial harm. Some states will now come after women if they travel to get this service elsewhere. Without Roe v. Wade many pregnant women will be punished.
Here are some statistics to set the context. In 2014, three quarters of abortion were sought by low-income women, majority white. 49% of them were below the federal poverty line. 59% of mothers already had one child. Most states require parental consent for adolescents seeking abortion. 13% of pregnancies end in an abortion. Although these statistics are a bit dated, they are directionally accurate.
13% is 800k-ish, a large number. The government will be vultures preying on these hapless victims because four men and one woman get to take a fundamental choice away. A choice without which many women will be harmed. A choice that does not harm the pro-lifer. She can simply carry on with the baby.
I would never tell a woman what is the right choice for her. I am not in her shoes, I do not have her life experiences, I do not have her medical conditions. I do not face her economic hardships. I do not have her faith. I simply cannot and will not demand a specific behavior from her. Yet the government is able to do that.
If you have known a woman who had an abortion, you know that the decision is never ever easy and the burden of the choice can last a lifetime. If you haven’t known anybody who had an abortion, consider yourself to be remarkably shielded.
The Bible-thumping, god-fearing conservatives know fully well that banning abortions will not make it stop. It will simply make it go underground and endanger women. Truth is, they simply don’t care because these men don’t bear babies. They impregnate and disappear.
There are solutions that can rescue us. First: pack the court and tilt it to sanity. For this the Dems need to grow some cajones for the women in their lives.
Second: ban organized religion because nothing good comes out of it except for a cult mindset and melding of Church and State as evidenced by this soon-to-be reversal.
Third: ban sex for everyone because that's equal opportunity madness. It will force us to have the appropriate conversations instead of misogynistic and politically motivated legislations that forcefully propel women into the middle ages.