How Do You Live in a World Without Roe v. Wade?
Access to abortion has never been as at risk as it is now. Someone managed to leak what could be a planned Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case which enshrined a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy into law and struck down many state laws around the issue. Now that this right — protected legally for nearly 50 years — is likely to be rolled back, I can’t help but feel disillusionment. I’m unsurprised and, to be blunt, I feel a special sense of rage.
I want to put aside my own sense of what America is becoming or maybe always was. I even want to put aside the fact that historically the Supreme Court makes terrible decisions right before major national inflection points (I think most people at this point would find hopefulness incredibly naïve). I won’t even go into the absolute moronic hypocrisy of a country unable to mandate vaccines or PPE at the height of a pandemic but fully able to mandate a woman carry a pregnancy they don’t want or isn’t safe to term (and then, certainly, make that woman the sole person financially responsible for said baby). I want to share my own family’s experience with abortion. Bear in mind that before writing this I discussed it with my partner — and anyone who seeks to discuss their partner’s medical history should get their express permission before ever doing what I’m about to do. Please don’t…
