Today is the 45th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. The decision that rocked a nation and gave women the right to make medical decisions that have saved their lives for 45 years. The decision that came a few years after Griswold v. Connecticut gave women the right to birth control without their husbands consent.
Decisions made by conservative judges nominated by conservative presidents because they understood that birth control prevents abortion so if we want to prevent abortion we have to provide women with birth control because…
EVERY BODY HAS SEX. THERE I SAID IT. PEOPLE IN AMERICA HAVE SEX.
The decision has long been made. Here in America we attack contraception and abortion because it keeps women oppressed, shackled by the machinery of the state. Here in America we have an administration who is nominating federal judges to lifetime appointments who:
Propose policies that empower states to ban abortion when a woman’s life is at risk
Believe that Medicaid coverage should be denied rape victims seeking abortions as a result of said rape
Who believe that there is no “fundamental right” to abortion as the Roe v. Wade decision states
This isn’t just about abortion…it is about miscarriage and wanted pregnancies too. When abortion was illegal if a woman miscarried she was forced to suffer and was rarely believed if she went to a hospital for medical treatment. That is not a world I want my daughters to live in. “Going back to those dark and violent times is the master plan of many in power today.” -Marge Piercy
It is their plan because many of us don’t know the history of the decision. Many don’t know that Roe was decided by a 7-2 majority of conservative judges. For an excellent primer read, Abortion the Clash of Absolutes by Laurence Tribe. Please don’t argue about abortion and Roe until you have a full understanding of the reason this all came to being. It wasn’t always a moral/religious argument…policies legalizing abortion came about because the medical profession wanted restrictions against quack doctors who were killing women with nefarious procedures (Tribe, pg. 30) not because of moral high ground.
Happy Anniversary Roe v. Wade. I am sure glad you are here.
Start some mayhem, raise some hell! Dr. Melissa Bird
Here are some of my quotes from my article, Social Justice Advocacy in the Belly of the Beast!
