ABORTION SHOULD BE THE RIGHT OF EVERY WOMAN
In 1972, when I was a sophomore in college, my best friend got pregnant. This was before the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, the lawsuit that led to justices establishing a nationwide right to abortion. She was in a toxic relationship with a Vietnam veteran who had post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues. He was not a good candidate as a husband or a father. And she wasn’t in a financial position to support a child herself.
After much thought, she made the difficult decision to have an illegal abortion. It was an expensive, traumatic and dangerous experience — she flew to Mexico to suffer the procedure alone in a foreign country. It was a choice she made, and the right one at the time.
Thinking of my friend and the many women before her who faced life-threatening danger with an illegal abortion, I marched in May against the potential Supreme Court overturn of Roe v. Wade at nearly 70 years old. It was the first protest march of my life. I joined the “Bans Off Our Bodies” rally in Carlsbad along with hundreds of other passionate women — and men — who came together to fight for women’s choice. I marched to support reproductive rights so that my young granddaughters will have a choice in their future.
A draft opinion leaked to Politico on May 2 suggests the Supreme Court intends to strike down Roe v. Wade. The next day, Dr. Herminia Palacio, president and CEO of the reproductive health research organization Guttmacher Institute, said the news was “not surprising, but shocking nevertheless — in its sweeping reach, its complete disregard for the rights, bodily autonomy and dignity of millions of people, and the chaos and uncertainty it will unleash on those seeking an abortion in many parts of the country.”
The Guttmacher Institute predicts that without Roe, 26 states would be “certain or likely” to quickly ban abortion to the fullest extent possible, mainly in the South, in the Midwest and in the Plains, and Palacio noted that, “We know from decades of research that the impact will fall hardest on those who already struggle to access health care, including abortion.”
The Supreme Court also responded to the leak on May 3, saying in a statement that “It does not represent a decision by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case.”
I remain optimistic that the public uproar about the draft might possibly change some of the justices’ opinions. The thought that a conservative group of Supreme Court justices could take away the protected federal constitutional right to abortion is not only appalling, it is frightening.
The reasons women seek an abortion are as diverse as each individual contemplating it, including but not limited to rape, medical issues and financial constraints. But regardless of why, it is a decision involving women’s bodies. The constitutional right for women to make our own reproductive choices must be protected.
According to the Pew Research Center, abortion has long been a contentious issue in the United States, and it is one that sharply divides Americans. Today, 61 percent of U.S. adults say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 37 percent think abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.
Overall, these views are relatively unchanged since Pew began asking the question in 1995.
The organization’s latest survey, conducted March 7 to 13, finds deep disagreement between political parties over abortion. In fact, the partisan divide on abortion is far wider than it was two decades ago.
But this issue shouldn’t pit conservatives against liberals, friend against friend or family member against family member. It shouldn’t be a fight at all. It should be the right of every American woman — regardless of color, income or social status — to make decisions about her own body.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told The Washington Post in a 2014 interview: “I am ever hopeful that if the court has a blind spot today, its eyes will be open tomorrow.” Her hope is my fervent wish in the fight to keep abortion legal.
I will continue to let my voice be heard with millions of other women throughout the nation.
The right of women to make our own reproductive choices must be protected.
Piercey