Roe v Wade is the 1973 landmark United States Supreme Court decision that ensures all women have the right to obtain legal and safe abortions. Tragically, it’s on the verge of becoming history.
When I first published “My Abortion Story,” Roe v Wade was already under siege. Mobilized right wing groups do whatever they can, sometimes violently, to make it hard for doctors to work and clinics to exist. They murder physicians, set up false clinics, heckle patients, and work to undo basic legal human rights.
Those same bible-thumpers protest governmental Covid-immunization efforts. If it were up to them, we’d be living Margaret Atwood’s iconic novel and TV series, “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Start saving up your wire hangers?
Planned Parenthood outlines the current horror this way…
“… a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion confirms our worst fears: that the Supreme Court is prepared to end the constitutional right to abortion by overturning Roe v. Wade. But as of today, abortion remains your constitutional right.”
In an earlier Happiness Between Tails post, “My Jury Duty Pt 1 + Infidel753 Works for Justice and Freedom to Choose,” guest blogger Infidel753 recounted his stint volunteering at an abortion clinic as a patient escort. Your comments to his story lent me the courage to tell mine.
So did reading KE Garland’s thoughts and experience on getting an abortion at her blog, which she allowed me to re-publish here.
Pioneering militant feminist Gloria Steinem, at 22 years old had an abortion in 1957, when it was illegal. Years later, she openly discussed it. She said…
”It [abortion] is supposed to make us a bad person. But I must say, I never felt that. I used to sit and try and figure out how old the child would be, trying to make myself feel guilty. But I never could! I think the person who said: ‘Honey, if men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament’ was right. Speaking for myself, I knew it was the first time I had taken responsibility for my own life. I wasn’t going to let things happen to me. I was going to direct my life, and therefore it felt positive… In later years, if I’m remembered at all, it will be for inventing a phrase like ‘reproductive freedom’ … as a phrase it includes the freedom to have children or not to. So it makes it possible for us to make a coalition.”
By the way, when it comes to transgender rights, she and Mona Sinha co-wrote a letter to The New York Times in 2020. They decried then-President Trump’s elimination of civil rights protections for transgender healthcare and said…
“The health of any of us affects the health of all of us, and excluding trans people endangers us all.”
Abortion: My Story by da-AL
In my mid-20s, I terminated two pregnancies. That same year, I got pregnant twice, each time using different forms of birth control. At the time, I’d been living with a boyfriend since I was 18. He was a sweet, intelligent man who I loved dearly.
We were surviving on sporadic work, earning hardly above minimum wage. For that and many more reasons, I didn’t feel I could provide any child with a decent upbringing.
Abortions were expensive, and weren’t covered by my job’s health insurance. Each procedure was a physical ordeal of pain and then high fevers. I had to take days off from work, which I could ill afford.
Fortunately…
I had a kind lover to help me through. Never have I regretted my decisions.
Later, in my 30s, I was sexually assaulted. Good luck, if the term can apply to anything about rape, is the only reason I didn’t get pregnant.
Regarding Choice…
When people seek control, they say others “need to be held accountable.”
Seeing the world as “them” versus “us” makes it easy to objectify one another. Not so long ago, United States medical officials conducted the infamous 40-year Tuskegee Study. They pretended to treat black people for syphilis when really they were studying the full progression of the disease. To their reasoning, white lives mattered and black lives didn’t. Sound familiar?
What if you’re very young and your family is the opposite of a Hallmark card? What if you’re not employed? Or your job doesn’t provide insurance and sick days? What if the rape was more than you could bear? And you don’t want the added burdens of facing the police, defending your reputation as well as your case, can’t afford a good lawyer, and don’t want to confront whoever assaulted you in court?
Or say you simply got pregnant at any age, and for whatever reason, just don’t want to go through a full pregnancy?
What if, what if, what if?…
It’s no one’s business why or how many times any woman has an abortion.
When statisticians tally how many people consider abortion acceptable, they sidestep the real issue. What matters is no government ought to be entitled to have say over women’s bodies.
No one should have a say over who is sterilized or who must bear children. End of story.
Is it still legal to get an abortion?
The answer in the United States is yes, due in good measure for Planned Parenthood’s work.
The organization offers a range of affordable health care to all genders, all ages, all over the world. Interestingly, in 1970, President Richard Nixon signed into law funding for family planning services, which included Planned Parenthood.
According to Wikipedia, Nixon decreed…
“No American woman should be denied access to family planning assistance because of her economic condition.”
Remember, it’s not enough to win rights — we must continually work to keep them. We can’t rest on our laurels.
For example, according to Wikipedia…
“Poland is one of the few countries in the world to largely outlaw abortion after decades of permissive legislation during Polish People’s Republic. About 10-15% of Polish women seek abortion in neighboring countries due to the strict restraints in their own country. Poland’s abortion law is one of the most restrictive in Europe, along with a group of other traditionally Roman Catholic countries of the region.”
Daunting news, yes — which is why we absolutely mustn’t succumb to burnout. Now more than ever we must be active in whatever way we can, big or small. Please share this post and podcast to your social media, tell lawmakers and whoever you know where you stand. Contribute time and/or money to organizations such as Planned Parenthood. Contribute to justice winning.
Infidel753’s blog offers a growing wealth of information. A recent post included abortion resources, tips to avoid criminal charges for abortion pills, a link to Valerie Tarico’s post on fighting for abortion rights inspired by a discussion at Nan’s Notebook.
It’s your body — how much control do you want lawmakers to have over it?
Happiness Between Tails by da-AL 
The overturning of Roe versus Wade will be a huge step backwards for women’s rights all over the world. Another sign that the end of the American Empire is drawing near. I am not against abortion, but I don’t like the idea of women using abortion as a form of contraception. That being said, abortion should be accompanied by proper counselling of the women and the provision of advice on birth control. Given the huge overpopulation issue on the planet and its contribution to the poverty cycle I would have to take the stance that numerous abortions is better than the alternative; unwanted children. The failure of birth control measures and rape are different situations to ignorance and abortion is necessary in those circumstances which are unavoidable. At the end of the day, people have a right to chose and that right should never been taken away regardless of anyone’s personal opinion on the matter.
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Robbie, I appreciate your visiting & stating your opinion — confirming your support of the right to choose & adding your personal preferences about how an individual should decide. counseling might be helpful for some but for many others it could only complicate issues in a disastrous way…
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Nothing is every easy in life and no two peoples experiences of the same thing are ever the same.
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amen
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Thank you, da-AL. This is the cause that may help us galvanize people to vote and save our democracy. Ending abortion is just the beginning. We must be activists!
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would love if such immense goodness comes of this. tx for visiting, commenting, & for blogging about at your site as well, Annie ❤
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I am confused about the practices in the US, actually. So actually women still have the right of abortion, unless religious fanatics hinder them. What happens to the religious fanatics when they do that? Can they not be brought to justice for harassment and in some cases assault? You even mention murder.
And I read somewhere else, that in some states women are charged with manslaughter, if they have an abortion (the unplanned one, which makes it even more insane). And the doctors who execute planned abortions are charged as well. How can that be, when the federal law allows abortions?
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thanks for weighing in, Birgit — good questions! — but having a law & enforcing it, unfortunately, can be 2 different things…
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It is certainly easier in little Denmark. We don’t have federal states, only municipalities … 😉 … and they have to abide by the law.
As far as EU laws are concerned, however …
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here it took a long time for anti-segregation laws to be heeded, for example — what are laws about abortion like there?
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da-AL, although I have never needed an abortion, I believe the government has no legitimate role in regulating a woman’s control over her own body.
A major issue with overturning Roe v Wade, of course, is the inevitable return to illegal and dangerous abortions that were the norm fifty years ago.
Other terrifying possible scenarios are also in the news. One state in the deep South is discussing trying women who have abortions for murder. Several states plan to prosecute anyone who assists a woman in getting an abortion, even for driving her to another state. It seems unconstitutional, but there is talk of prosecuting women who have gone to other states for having an abortion. There has been discussion about tracking women’s travel to other states by their cell phones. Some women keep the dates of their menstrual cycles on their phones, and there are plans to use this personal information to prove that a woman has had an abortion. Miscarriages are fairly common. Will women who have had miscarriages be dragged into court and charged with murder?
Even though recent polls show that three-quarters of the US electorate is in favor of retaining Roe v Wade, some elected representatives are ignoring the will of their constituents. They are determined to impose their religious beliefs on others, a clear violation of the constitutional doctrine of separation of church and state. Also disturbing is the politicization of the courts, whose role is supposed to be making apolitical judgments. What rights will be next to be threatened? I fear for the future of democracy in the US.
Roe v Wade is admittedly not perfect. The allowed timing in pregnancy when abortions are permitted is arbitrary. More extremely premature babies are surviving, but often with devastating chronic health problems.
Though not perfect, Roe v Wade has served us well and should not be overturned. Some form of abortion rights should be legislated into federal law to protect the rights of all American women.
I read on one blog that laws banning abortion contradict Jewish religious beliefs. I hope we can get the government to respect the separation of church and state and the privacy of citizens. Privacy rights, though not in the constitution, are implied in the fifty-year-old precedent of Roe v Wade. If it is overturned, do we lose our right to privacy?
Thank you, da-AL for taking on this emotionally charged topic. Your arguments are very well-reasoned and are supported by compelling examples. ❤ I also appreciate the podcast. My eyes needed a break! 🙂
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Your comments are right on target, Cheryl – your addition to the conversation is much valued ❤
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No woman should be denied the right to choose what’s best for her. Our body, our choice. Period.
Here, as well as in Serbian state clinics abortions are free of change. I think it’s a very good thing.
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thank goodness sanity & compassion exist somewhere ❤
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