n Contrary to Michael Cipriano’s belief that President George W. Bush’s administration is a perceived threat to women (“Constitution ignored in pro-choice argument,” pg. 7, April 16), these anti-choice extremists have already affected the lives of millions of women. This administration is comprised of a surgeon general who won’t prescribe hormonal birth control to unmarried women and an attorney general who ignores Planned Parenthood’s repeated requests to investigate the bomb threats that their clinics constantly face. Bush’s abstinence-only sex education takes a clear stance against young women and prevents them from having the tools to understand their reproductive health and prevent unplanned pregnancies.
To answer the question you pose at the end of your perspective (“If the majority of the population in any given state was in favor of banning abortion … shouldn’t that law be considered legitimate?”), I would say, absolutely, but only if those same people who decide to ban abortions can decide when, at what age – single or married – and where, in which states and under what conditions you can have sex, Mr. Cipriano.
I agree that the framing of Roe v. Wade under the rubric of privacy is problematic. It should have been written with the recognition that without a woman’s right to control her reproductive heath, all other rights become moot. The right to choose is about sex and not being forced to have it on anyone else’s terms. It’s about privilege, access to sex education and reproductive health care. If the majority of people living in my state don’t believe in abortion, are you claiming that the majority of people in my state have the right to involve themselves in my decisions about motherhood?
The right to choose is about a woman’s right to control her own life. These choices to which we have grown so accustomed have not always been ours to make. It was not that long ago when our fathers decided if we could go to school, who we could marry and when. Our husbands decided when we had sex and therefore how many children we had. Men no longer have the right to decide when women can and cannot have sex. When that decision is taken away, we call it rape. What do we call it when women are forced to give birth?
I will be in Washington, D.C. this weekend to support a woman’s right to choose.
Megan Gavin
UNI ’01
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