May 2nd, 2022
by Lana Fleischli
I thought this was important to talk about. This is not about music.
I stayed home from school today. I felt sick so I stayed home. After sleeping for hours, I awoke to hear the news about the supreme court rulings. The leaked documents that are overturning both Roe v Wade and Planned Parenthood v Casey. These major rulings have saved the lives of so many women and without them, are putting countless people in danger.
I don’t have a personal anecdote. I hope I will never need to have an abortion, and I live in California, so my personal safety is fine. I’m not worried about me. I’m worried for so many reasons about so many women. We live in a country with an enormous wealth gap and so much poverty. For some people, it just doesn’t make sense to have children. According to US News, the cost to adopt a child in the US can be up to $50,000, while the average wage for an American as of 2020 is $55,628.60, according to the Social Security Administration. Not to mention that the average living wage for one person in the United States is $68,808, so that average wage is lower than the living wage. That is not enough to take care of one person, let alone one person and a child. These numbers don’t make sense. There are so many children in the foster system and forcing people to have kids that they cannot afford to raise is adding to poverty.
Forcing someone to carry out a pregnancy is also functioning under the sexist and patriarchal ideals that people (especially women) want children. This is burned into our minds as children by placing babydolls in the arms of 2 year old girls. I just want to say, NOT ALL PEOPLE WANT CHILDREN. Or– NOT ALL PEOPLE ARE READY FOR CHILDREN RIGHT NOW. It also functions under the idea that sex is to have children, and that one is someohow evil for having sex without wanting a baby. Our government has a history of villainizing contraception and abortion, which just villianzies sex. Our government also has a history of not providing education more than abstinence. All of these factors just villainize women. It forces a narrative on them, and doesn’t give them a chance to express what they need for themselves.
Also what about miscarriages? Miscarriages are very common, but have also been mistaken for abortions. People assume that the woman wanted an abortion, so she once again becomes the villian. This is a broken system where white men in politics are making decisions about women’s bodies. To those politicians, I say “Get your politics off of women’s bodies and FUCK OFF!”
If someone is choosing to get an abortion, I promise you, they have thought it through. A fetus isn’t living. That’s why it’s called a “fetus” and not a “child.” The government seems to care so much about something that isn’t alive, but when it is born, they could honestly care less.
I know I’m not saying anything that hasn’t been said before, but I hope that I can convince you, if you haven’t been convinced enough, that this is a crisis– this is an attack on women everywhere.
Here is a link to donate to Planned Parenthood:
Sources:
Nadeau, Carey Ann. “New Living Wage Data for Now Available on the Tool.” livingwage.mit.edu. Published 17 May 2020.
“National Average Wage Index.” Social Security Administration. Accessed 2 May 2022.
Snider, Susanna. “What Adoption Costs – and Strategies to Pay for It.” US News. Published June 11, 2020.