Written By: Amelia Chavez, Staff Writer
CHANGING: A case that has affected America for years.
On June 24, 2022 Roe v. Wade was overturned. This case was originally brought to the Supreme court in 1971. It allowed women across the nation a choice -a choice to their own body, that has now been stripped away.
Jane Roe filed a lawsuit against Henry Wade, the district attorney of Dallas Texas in 1971. She claimed that the state laws were unconstitutional based on the right to privacy clause stated in the Fourteenth amendment. Her right to privacy should protect her choice and millions of others. Without this choice women had no control over their own body and by relation their life, taking away the freedom this country swore to protect. The Supreme Court ruled that the state could only intervene during a woman’s second trimester. Women now had the choice over their own body in every state, not just one. This case gave them a right to choose, it gave them a voice.
This isn’t just a modern topic though. Abortion has been around since 1650. Many hold the assumption that abortion was a misdemeanor back in the 1700s. However, this is a misconception. Laws discussing abortion didn’t appear until 1821 and eventually it was banned in 1860. By 1910 it was a criminal procedure that was only allowed to be performed to save the mothers life.
These restrictions were caused by a great deal of reasons. The University of California press stated some factors such as social classes and family dynamics affect these choices especially in the 1800s. However midwives would educate women on their body and encouraged sexual liberty. They showed upper class women alternative methods to medical practices. Occasionally they would preform illegal abortions. This caused doctors to see them as a threat. Due to midwives many women began to distrust doctors. This meant the doctors were losing clients, which meant they were losing money. Medical communities which consisted mostly of men at the time, started anti-midwives campaigns. This soon spread to everyday society. Midwives were characterized as evil temptresses trying to corrupt young females. What’s more “evil” than trying to educate someone after all?
Race and ethnicity played greatly into the topic as well. The University of California press noted that upper class white men feared that the lower class birth rate was growing far too much. If the upper class was producing as much they would soon be overrun. The upper class despised the lower class and feared that if they were having more children they would seep into their society. They wanted to avoid this at all costs. The last thing any white man wanted was to lose his power. So he took away women’s power, by removing her voice from the conversation about her own body.
Political cartoons and extreme right newspapers began a promotion. It portrayed women who opted for abortion as selfish and unnatural. By doing so she undermined her role as a mother. This influenced many people giving it a negative connotation. No one wanted to appear selfish. Even decades later women still believe this is true. This negative stereotype still persists in society too, harming the health of many women.
It was one hundred years before abortion would become legal again. In that time nearly 5,000 women died every year from botched abortions. By making it a crime they didn’t get rid of it, nor did they stop, instead they made women risk their lives. It only provided more hoops to jump through. Banning it won’t get rid of a procedure that can save millions of lives. However, instead of a necessity, it was seen as a threat.
Beyond that, there is a growing movement opposing abortion by the slogan of “Pro Life,” a group that firmly believes all abortion is murder regardless of the circumstances. A significant portion of this movement’s support comes from the Evangelist Christians who put “Thou shalt not kill” at the forefront of their minds, only further muddying the discourse. Pro-life beliefs that life begins at conception. To get an abortion is seen as murder in their eyes.
This however disregards women’s rights. They have a life as well. With that life we have the freedom to make our own choices. No one should be forced to keep a baby conceived of rape or incest. It isn’t just exclusive to that as some babies die inside the womb. Should women be forced to carry a dead fetus inside of them? Should they be forced to carry a baby that will die as soon as it’s born? As a human we are given one thing that will remain ours till death. Our body. If we don’t have a say in our own physical being what do we have? Nothing.
It also ignores other operations that are considered abortions, ones that can save a mothers life. When a women as an etopic pregnancy they use a method similar to abortion to save them. States that have now banned it are completely ignoring this life or death procedure.
A recent poll taken by NPR found that 62% of people wanted to legalize abortion. The Guttmacher Institution found that 73% of women who got abortions choose to do out of financial instability. The overturning Roe V. Wade has set the progress of society back. It is once again taking away a voice from women. A voice that is our basic human freedom. It is our right to have a say in our own bodies.
Women should live in a country where they can feel comfortable. One where they are allowed to make choices for themselves. This is no longer the case, instead the state gets full control of our bodies. In a country that prides itself on freedom, why are women the exception? It is our bodies, not the governments, not the state, ours. Ours alone.