When I was growing up, I was convinced that by the time I became an adult, I wouldn’t have to argue about my rights as a woman. I also didn’t think I’d be watching panels full of men discussing what should or should not be done with a uterus which does not belong to them. The conversation around abortion has become something I really hate talking about, and for a few reasons which I’ll discuss. I’ve read a lot about the possibility that Roe v. Wade may be overturned by the Supreme Court in the U.S., and I’ve seen a lot of important points raised, like the fact that abortion is healthcare and the fact that these constant attempts to control women’s bodies is nothing short of a class war. It has become increasingly apparent that the underlying issues regarding this major disagreement between pro-life and pro-choice politicians go deeper than most people realize.
First, I would like to elaborate on the class war. For starters, young people who work minimum wage jobs are the most likely to seek out an abortion and not be able to afford the procedure or may not be able to afford to travel to the nearest place that provides abortions. Young mothers who work full-time minimum wage jobs are not going to be able to afford a lot of the prenatal care, they won’t be able to afford daycare, and these are both things that conservative republicans do not want to pay for their taxes. Quite frankly, they don’t want to contribute financially to the youth at all, all they really care about is making sure that women are forced to carry their baby to term; they do not care about what happens to that baby after it’s born, or else you might actually see pro-life individuals protesting about better funding for daycare, better funding for foster care and social workers who work with these children. In the United States, abortion is one of the most heavily regulated procedures, despite it being one of the safest in the world. So, if that’s true, why are white men so hell-bent on restricting access to safe abortions? I’ll explain to you why. When fewer people are born, there are fewer people out there consuming things (yes, I’m going to make this about capitalism). With a shortage of people to buy things, there is also a shortage of people to work, mainly minimum wage jobs. White-collar individuals who own businesses and companies, who make billions of dollars off the backs of these lower-class individuals fear labour shortages, but they fear more a shortage of people to consume their products. It’s pretty icky to think about the fact that people see dollar signs as more important than a woman’s bodily autonomy, but let’s dive a little deeper, shall we?
Many of the arguments often cited against abortions have to do with religion, Christianity, and Catholicism to be precise. These religious groups see abortion as an “abomination” which is murder; those who have abortions are murderers and they should be ashamed of themselves. The pretty darn obvious issue with this take is that… not everyone is a practising cult member! Bold of me to say but I won’t lie I’m tired of these people. These are some of the same people who chanted “my body my choice” when vaccines were becoming available and mandated, but now wish to regulate the uteri of people across America. Funny how that works. I don’t speak about all religious people, I understand that some of them have a brain, but it’s ungodly what these people are trying to accomplish.
Lastly, I would like to talk about abortion in the healthcare debate. Once again, this shouldn’t be a debate, but keeping women alive and healthy while also giving them the opportunity to terminate an unwanted pregnancy should be simple healthcare. I’m sure you’ve heard before those abortions will continue to happen, regardless of whether they are legal or not. Women will die trying to accomplish an abortion if they are not able to access them, and this is a factor that politicians and lawmakers seem to not care about. I can’t really fathom how an unborn bunch of cells, a fetus, is more important than a woman who is here and living right now, but that truly is the message being sent to women everywhere. They are not as important as the fetus growing inside them that they might not want, might not be able to take care of, might not want to carry to give away, whatever the reason may be. That, to me, is the sickest part of all.
I want to say this is not typically how I write and yes, this article is incredibly biased, but coming from a young woman who is already pretty sick and tired of defending her stance on abortion, I don’t really care anymore. I don’t care if this offends you, I don’t care if it upsets you, there is nothing remotely okay about this possibility of horrendous acts going on in the U.S right now. There is nothing okay about the regulation of women’s bodies, there is nothing okay about incriminating women for not wanting to have a baby. There are even talks in some states right now about incriminating women for using IUDs as birth control. As you can probably tell, it’s not about saving the fetus and allowing it to be born, there is something about controlling women’s bodies that is desirable to a large group of people in this world, and I can speak with confidence when I say that women are not going to allow this to stand.
I would also like to close with a quick call to action for all of the men out there since this isn’t just a women’s issue this is a “you” issue too. You need to speak up just as much as women are speaking up right now. You need to stand with women on this issue as women stand with you on issues about men’s mental health. Men are equally as responsible for the conception of a baby, yet they carry none of the risk associated with the criminalization of abortions. We really need you to speak up with us.