Gains
and Setbacks
“Social
gains are never handed out. They must be seized.”
Sheryl
Sandberg (Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead)
I’ve
been pondering the overturning of Roe vs Wade for 24hrs now. Yesterday, I just
felt hollowed out; disappointed that the court, even members who said that Roe
was “settled law” and would not be overturned, voted the way they did. I have
not read the decision, and therefore do not know the details except what has
been said on the news. Roe may have been flawed from the start, as Judge Alito
said, but at least it protected a woman’s ability to decide whether she wanted
another child or not and kept the procedure safe. Also, I have counseled women seeking
abortions who were pregnant with non-viable babies, even babies that inexplicably
died in utero. Of all the women I counseled, only one had gotten pregnant
because of a drunken one-night stand. Mississippi’s governor said that perhaps
the cancellation of Roe would cause women to make “more responsible decisions.”
That’s possible, except in the case of rape, incest, or domestic abuse. What
bothers me most is that I don’t understand why only women’s fertility and sexuality
are “regulated” in our society.
Everyone
tells me that Roe fell because “they” want to control women, that women are too
powerful and it’s a way to keep them in line, and other such notions. I’m not
sure that is the case. I believe there are many people who genuinely find
abortion abhorrent, who cannot get past the notion that a fertilized egg is a
living human being. I understand their desire to preserve life—I’m the one,
after all, who carries wasps out of the house rather than kill them. I believe their
concern is genuine—it just doesn’t go far enough. If we supported poor women, especially
women who do not have the capacity or skills to find gainful employment—and there
are lots of women in Alabama and elsewhere who fit that description—they would
likely want to keep their pregnancy. But the simple fact is, we don’t. Once
born, there is a gauntlet the mother much hurdle to feed and clothe that child. We
give the mothers $300.00 per month in food stamps (if they qualify), as though
that is sufficient to cover their costs. We don’t provide affordable housing or
childcare so the mother can work. We don’t help train women and clothe them for
the workplace. We don’t teach them how to fill out an application for employment.
It feels like we just insist that they carry a fetus to term, and then abandon them
as soon as the child takes its first breath.
When I was
about 40, I didn’t want to have any more babies, so I had a tubal ligation. I
could make that decision because I had a husband and insurance, and my doctor
was willing to do the procedure. So many women do not have that option. Will
the Supreme Court demand that states provide such surgeries free of charge? My state
didn’t even expand Medicaid—which was a political decision, and not an ethical one
in a state where almost 17% live below the poverty level.
As much
as we want to think the world is fair, and everyone is equal, and all of us
have “the best healthcare in the world,” that is simply not reality. It is not
true. We live in a culture that rewards the rich and punishes the poor. The perception
of why a woman would want an abortion is also not just, and not true. It’s part
of our elitist cultural obsession with wealth, race, and gender. Someone has to
tell the truth here—we are cruel when it comes to providing equal rights for poor
people—especially poor women.
G. D.
Anderson said, “Feminism isn’t about making women stronger. Women are
already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.”
I think the world—at least the American world—is about to find out just how
strong women truly are—in real time. We will survive this particular form of inequity
just as we have others, and we will prevail. As we say around here, “Hide and
watch!”
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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