A few days ago, one of the things we would never imagine happening in the 21st century happened. The Alabama Senate banned abortion. Legislators from Arkansas, Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, Utah, and Ohio voted to make abortion illegal.
They passed new anti-abortion laws that believe it or not, made abortion a crime punishable by 99 years in prison. The most horrifying part and blood-curdling part of this madness is the fact that they did not make exceptions for incest or rape.
I cannot find a suitable way to express my anger, but at the same time fear about everything that is happening. I personally have never been in such a devastating position to have to decide on abortion. I’ve never had one in my life. And I hope that I would never have to go through one in my life.
But I know many women who have been through this procedure. And I know that you do too. We are all aware that it is both physically and emotionally painful thing to do, but it is also something that we choose to do for the sake of our own lives. Each and every person that I know of have gone through this procedure because they thought it was completely inevitable. All of them were responsible and made the right decisions. And in the end, it was up to them to decide what is best for themselves.
That is good enough for me. And it should be good enough for anybody!
So, tell me, how is it possible that there are actual people who actually vote to deprive human beings of their liberty to choose?
If this isn’t terrifying enough, most of these people that for some reason have a say in this sensitive and important issue have proven to the world that they clearly have no idea how the female body works. It stresses me out to even say it, but when you think about it, our bodies are in the hands of men who have probably never passed a proper biology test in high school.
I don’t know if you’ve read more on this topic, but when Clyde Chambliss a Republican Senator was asked if these laws would allow victims of incest to have abortions, he said that they would, until the woman knows that she is pregnant. He did not bother to explain how on earth a woman could have an abortion before she finds out that she’s pregnant. His only statement was that the chromosomes need time to create an embryo.
This lack of knowledge about women’s bodies is destroying us. And it is not limited to only one state. An Ohio Representative and Republican Senator John Becker supportс the limiting of insurance coverage for abortions but made an exception for ectopic pregnancies (when the embryo actually attaches outside of the uterus)
And trust me, this is not all. It’s just the begging of this madness. Texas State Representative Dan Flynn believes that having an abortion is basically done by cutting a woman’s uterus, while Idaho Representative, Vito Barbieri thinks that women could be gynecologically examined just by swallowing a camera.
But I think that the most ignorant, insane and terrifying thing was stated by Missouri Congressman Todd Akin, who openly claimed that women cannot get pregnant if they’ve been raped. He even stated that the female body shuts completely during that process, the juices stop flowing and the bodily functions are not the same.
I am genuinely terrified by the ignorance that these men in power have. These politicians, these men that are in charge of making law that is taking our rights away seem to have no knowledge about how women’s bodies work. Therefore, they seem to have zero understanding of how this legislation would eventually impact women.
So, tell me. Why would we as women follow the laws written by men who think that our bodies work as simple as games?
This article is written by Stephanie Reeds. If you have any questions regarding this topic or one of your own interest, feel free to email me at [email protected] and I will be glad to give you my opinion.
