Mothers deserve right to make their own decisions

As a mother of five, I know first hand that motherhood can be as challenging as it is rewarding. As

I watch my own children become parents themselves, I appreciate more than ever how important it is to have the right support systems and resources to ensure that mothers and their families can lead healthier, happier lives. Our country’s mothers deserve to have the resources, rights and opportunities they need to stay healthy, take care of their families and ensure they can make decisions about their own destinies.

Last weekend I gathered with many generations of my family to celebrate Mother’s Day, but the truth is that my heart was heavy.

The recently leaked draft of a Supreme Court decision that rolls back Roe v. Wade, which established the constitutional right to abortion is terrible news for anyone in America who may become pregnant and takes decisions about motherhood away from individuals who should have the undisputed right to decide for themselves if and when to expand their families.

For nearly 50 years Roe v. Wade has given people control over their reproductive health decisions, whether that’s abortion or birth. Overturning Roe won’t just erase the fundamental right of pregnant people to make decisions about their futures; losing Roe will disproportionately hurt mothers. One in four women today will have at least one abortion before age 45; two-thirds are already moms.

I, too, was the mom of four when I unexpectedly became pregnant for the fifth time.

Having held four babies in my arms and knowing how much care babies require, I knew at the time that I could not add to my family and at the same time care for my existing children.

I decided to have an abortion after deep consideration and based on my best judgment that terminating the pregnancy was the best thing for me and my family. Because of Roe, I had the freedom to make that decision without interference or fear of punishment. Later, when I became pregnant for a sixth time, I chose differently. It was a different time, our family circumstances had changed, and I decided it was time to expand our family. Once again, I was able to make that decision myself without judgment or interference. In both instances there was never any doubt in my mind that I was the only person who was qualified to make this decision for myself and my family.

But anti-abortion extremists on the Supreme Court disagree, authoring a decision that would usurp the most basic health care decision — whether to stay pregnant or not — from individuals by ending the constitutional right to abortion. Without Roe, countless states will immediately outlaw it, abortion clinics will shut down and millions of people will lose access to reproductive health care. Florida recently passed legislation to restrict abortion. The Supreme Court’s decision will further restrict access in our state.

Overturning Roe is the culmination of decades of attacks on abortion rights and access. For years, anti-abortion extremists have tried to control people’s decisions by putting abortion further and further out of reach with restrictions, defunding, bureaucracy and straight-out intimidation outside of clinics where they bully and try to coerce people to forgo care. Now, the Supreme Court is doing the same by overturning Roe. Their decision will make abortion illegal — even a crime — in many jurisdictions, force the remaining clinics to close in the poorest and most rural communities where access is already limited, and deny pregnant people basic rights over their reproductive health decisions.

Denying people access to abortion, delaying the procedure, and passing measures that turn abortion into a crime hurt women and their families. They result in worse health and economic outcomes not only for the individual who is denied the health care they need, but for their children and household.

The decision to have a baby or not have one is an intensely personal decision. A future in which women are allowed to become mothers, but not given the freedom to opt-out of motherhood, delay becoming a mother or even decide how many children they may have does not honor motherhood and doesn’t help families.

Pregnant people, especially those who are already moms, must have the right to decide for themselves when to become mothers and have access to a full range of reproductive health care services.