Sunday June 26, 2022
What I learned this week | Abortion
Hi all! Happy Sunday.
This week will be more opinion-based than typical.
At the start of this journey three weeks ago, I promised I was not here to push my agenda. I also promised I'd be fired up about something at some point - this is one of those weeks:
My feed this week
I read the entire decision that overturned Roe vs. Wade. The New York Times annotates it here.
The world's top medical journey condemned the court's decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
The LA Times wrote about an illegal abortion that paved the way for Roe. (Incognito window to avoid a paywall.)
What I learned this week
It is no one's fucking business what women do with their bodies. Whether you think a fetus = life at 15 weeks, 24 weeks, or one day, pro-choice lets women choose. It takes nothing away from anyone's religious, moral, scientific, social, or spiritual beliefs. All women's rights are maintained in a pro-choice environment. Without Roe, the pro-life agenda is pushed on everyone. Women who choose otherwise are shut out of the healthcare system, mainly damaging to minorities and people living in underserved areas who can't easily afford travel.
Abortions are healthcare. The New England Journal of Medicine, using CDC data, states that "mortality due to legal induced abortion is 0.41 per 100,000 procedures, as compared with the overall maternal mortality rate of 23.8 per 100,000 live births." In other words, unhealthy pregnancy is ~60x more dangerous for moms than having an abortion. Ectopic pregnancies, septic uterus, and miscarriages that the female body won't release are all treated with abortion. Worse, overturning Roe doesn't actually decrease the number of abortions anyway - it only makes them unsafe.
Context is decisive. The difference between conservatives and liberals is interpretation — conservatives debate the original understanding of laws, while the liberal lens is forward-thinking. The definition of insanity is repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting different results. For this reason, I think conservative views are mostly, if not totally, insane. The interpretation of our laws, old and new, needs to protect our people today. Not yesterday, today. Woman today. The Supreme Court's job is to interpret the law only underneath the context of equality and justice for most people. The country is not divided on abortion. The majority is undoubtedly pro-choice by every credible study out there. This decision will be fiercely challenged in the coming years, likely with new, more iron-clad laws.
Try this on
Three ways you can support women's healthcare:
Donate to Planned Parenthood from my Instagram Page
Sign up to be part of TheChangeDAO (pre-launch)