Growing up in a generation that straddled the Roe v. Wade decision has always influenced many of my thoughts about women and the rights which should have always been afforded us and yet, haven't been.
Being a teen and seeing what girls were and were not allowed to do, simply on the basis of their sex always made me angry. That has not changed. This make what I am writing about very personal for me.
Having some old man, who has no idea of my life, or anything else about me for that matter, determine how and when I could or could not have an abortion, make the hair stand up on make neck due to anger.
I knew someone who had an illegal abortion. I was in 9th grade and she felt she could not talk to her parents or anyone else. So like many teenagers who listen to other teenagers about what to do in cases like this, she tried to use a metal hanger to end the pregnancy. She died. She bled to death.
I also knew someone who became pregnant at the same time. She tried to hide the pregnancy from her parents but when they found out, she and the boy, and he was a boy, married.
In 1973, when Roe v. Wade was passed, I was in 10th grade. I can guarantee you that all of us did not run out and have sex so we could have an abortion if we got pregnant.
I was raised in a Southern Baptist Church. I know my Bible pretty well, probably better than many of those old men in Texas who feel that, not only can they make an abortion illegal after 6 weeks, but they can offer a reward to others to turn people in. The St. James version of the Bible that I know, has nothing like this travesty in it.
And I am sorry, not sorry, but what in the heck does religion have to do with my body anyway? I believe a decision such as this should be between a woman, her god, and her doctor, religion does not play a part.
I never thought I would ever have to fight again for my rights as a woman. I have been fighting, as we all have, for over a hundred years.
I was 20 when I married my first husband. Six weeks later, despite being on the pill, I became pregnant. Married, poor, pregnant. I chose, the optimum word, to have my son despite the struggles I faced early on and later as well, once my husband and I divorced. No court in the country EVER made him a responsible person; one who paid his child support; one who emotionally supported his child; one I could depend on to co-parent as they say today. He died several years ago still owing me almost $20,000. At the $30.00 a week at the time, you figure out how much I ever really got. My son is now 42 and I really raised him by myself.
The ability to choose at this point in the country seems to be the go to word and hearing it daily about mask wearing, you would think that it would translate to what a woman chooses to do with her body. It doesn't, at least not in Texas' mind. Let us offer a bounty for any woman who chooses what to do with her own body so we can call ourselves what? Christian?, Good people? Following Jesus? What on earth would you people have done with Mary Magdalene? What about rape or incest? Who is going to pay for that child?
What is moral to you may not be moral to me. How holier than thou are you politicians going to become when time and time again you get caught with your pants down?
Many people think because I am no longer of child bearing age that I should have an opinion. I don't have a dog in this fight, so to speak, but they are wrong.
If I was of child bearing age, I could afford to go somewhere where abortion was legal. Europe comes to mind. A plane ride, a simple medical procedure and a plane ride home. What about the poor women? What about the women of color who live day to day, many times with an already full household and a minimum wage job who husband or boyfriend has disappeared, many times to his other family?
All of us women better start fighting now because if we wait any longer, the stakes go up. We should be able to send a clear message to our politicians. Stay out of our vaginas. You don't want us legislating your penises. Enough said.
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