As a white, cisgender woman in this country, I am afforded many privileges that others are not. In fact, this puts me within one of the most privileged groups in America. I do not pretend that this is untrue. In many other parts of the world, simply being born a woman puts you in an unequal, dangerous place.
However, I still face inequalities as a woman — I cannot go on runs after the sun goes down, I face higher prices for products marketed toward women and I face harassment every day by simply walking down the street in leggings.
These are minor compared to the acid attacks and female genitalia mutilation many women are put through. I am not a child bride or a victim of sexual assault. By comparison, I live an incredibly comfortable life.
But, we are dangerously close to going back in time and stripping away some of the most fundamental rights of everyone who identifies as a woman in this country. Now that President Donald Trump has nominated conservative federal judge Amy Coney Barrett, the Court has the potential to be as conservative as it last was in the 1930s.
In theory, this should not be an issue because the Supreme Court is not supposed to subscribe to political parties. But with the rushed efforts to create a majority-conservative court, it is hard to imagine Trump’s motivation is anything but political.
It absolutely enrages me that my health and reproductive rights are at risk with a conservative Supreme Court. President Trump recently said on Fox & Friends that overturning Roe v. Wade is a possibility with the appointment of Barrett, while Barrett herself has said that Roe v. Wade was a wrongful decision and needs to be looked at.
She has also been very vocal about her own views on abortion, claiming them to be “always immoral.” In the three years that she served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Barrett ruled on two abortion-related cases. In both of those cases, she ruled in favor of effectively restricting safe access to abortions.
In order for the case to be overturned, the Supreme Court would have to hear a current abortion case that could be applied. There are a few cases in different circuits currently awaiting a ruling, which means they could end up being heard by the Supreme Court. If Roe v. Wade was overturned, the right to an abortion would be determined once again by individual states.
A report by The Center for Reproductive Rights predicted that if the precedent were to be overturned, abortion would end up prohibited in 24 states and legal in 21. This would be a devastating loss for women’s rights and would take away important reproductive health care from so many.
Endangering the lives of thousands of women by overturning Roe v. Wade will take us backward and erase all of the hard work we have put in toward becoming a safe and equitable country for women.
I deserve the right to decide if I want to be a mother or not. Your religious views should have nothing to do with my reproductive organs. If you do not believe in abortions, then I have a very simple solution for you: do not get an abortion.
In fact, why don’t you go adopt a child? You are always talking about how there are other options such as adoption, right? Maybe start fostering all of those children who are suffering because no one could take care of them.
Whatever you do, keep your religion and “moral high ground” away from me and my body. Outlawing abortions will not get rid of them — it will simply get rid of the safe ones. Desperate and scared women with nowhere to turn will still attempt abortions. Without proper medical procedures, they could end up dying. Do you only care about the clump of cells in her uterus and not her own life?
If you want fewer abortions, then start investing in better sexual education starting in elementary school. If you would stop treating sex like it is taboo, more people will be better educated on how to stay safe and prevent pregnancy. Make birth control more accessible to people all over the country. Overall, stop policing women’s bodies. I will not be forced to have a child I do not want.
We will be at an incredible low if our states start to take away basic reproductive rights. No one should have to worry about not having bodily autonomy. I am sick of wondering if this country will become a place where I might have significantly fewer rights depending on where I live, despite the battles so many strong women faced before me.
Do not disgrace their memory, and do not make this country go back in time. We need to work on moving forward together.
