Today Should Have Been the 50th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade

For most of American history, women have been second citizens. It was only with the passing of Roe V. Wade 50 years ago that we were fully enfranchised.

Today should have been a momentous day in the United States. We should have been celebrating that we are truly free. Our fate and our decisions were of our own making. Instead, we have regressed back to a time in which our future was dependent on where we lived and who was in the halls of power.

The fact is that abortion is healthcare. It ensures that the patient can make the best decision for both her physical and mental health. Without both of those intact, the level of difficulty to fully take care of the youngster(s) rises exponentially.

If for any reason, she is unprepared or unable to take care of the child once it is born, she should not be forced to bring it into the world. Should she be forced to give birth, at best, her ability to parent will be severely diminished. At worst, the minor will be at the mercy of social services and its numerous failings. The last thing any of us should want is for a young person to suffer because of residual issues of the adult in their life.

As much as we want to mourn, it will not get us anywhere. The only thing to do is to stand up, speak up, and fight. Only then, we will be heard and hopefully, in the near future, will our rights be returned to us.

There are marches across the country today in support of the pro-choice movement. If you cannot march, please donate to one (or more) of the many organizations that are standing up for our freedom.

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So You Want to End Abortion…

There are many people in this country and around the world who believe that abortion is both illegal and immoral. If this is what you believe, this is what has to be done to stop it entirely.

• Teach our boys and men to respect women.
• Break down all of the boundaries that still prevent females from achieving everything they want to achieve. An educated woman with a solid career is more likely to have a child when she is financially and emotionally ready to be a mother.
• Upon reaching puberty, all boys are required by law to have a vasectomy. When they have proven that they can properly take care of their offspring, the vasectomy is reversed.
• If an unplanned pregnancy occurs (whether via wanted or unwanted sex) and the man refuses to take responsibility, use law enforcement to ensure that both the mother and child are taken care of until the child turns eighteen. If he still refuses, cut his junk off.
• Ensure that every child is given age-appropriate sex education.
• Make birth control easily accessible without charging an arm and a leg.
• Ensure that every pregnant woman has easy access to affordable and reliable medical care until she gives birth. After the baby is born, make sure that the parents can do the same for pediatric care.
• If the mother and/or parents are in a financial/employment bind, the government is responsible for providing additional support. This includes housing, food, etc.
• Reduce the cost of daycare to be proportional to the salaries of the adults in the home.
• From the moment they are born, each child is guaranteed a well-balanced education from pre-school all the way up to college. If they choose to go for an advanced degree, that is on them.
• If the youngster is unable to be raised within the bosom of their family and has to be put into social services, remove the identity labels that prevent some from fostering and/or adopting the minor.
• Add mental health screenings as part of the regular medical checkup. If there is supplemental help is needed, it is marked as preventative by the health insurance companies and charged as such.
• If abortion is determined as necessary by a medical health professional, give the family room to consider their options and do not judge them if the decision is made to end the pregnancy.

P.S. Did you hear that a good amount of Republicans in the Senate voted no on a bill that would help with the baby formula shortage? So much for pro-life.

The 49th Anniversary of Roe V. Wade Could be It’s Last

The anniversary of any legislation that enfranchises a formerly disenfranchised people should be one of remembrance and respect.

Yesterday was the 49th anniversary of Roe V. Wade. If things go a certain way, there is a good chance that it would be a thing of the past. The choice of whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term and care for the child that comes out of that pregnancy is not the decision of the government. It is a decision that is deeply personal. The only people concerned are the ones that have a hand in making that decision.

If Roe is either completely overturned or is rendered toothless, the potential of a patchwork of state laws is very real. Depending on where the pregnant person lives and the income they bring in, they could at best have access to a safe abortion or at worst use the coathanger method of ending the pregnancy. If the pregnant person survives, the physical repercussions on their body does not fade quickly or easily.

We all know that having children is a blessing. But it is also a responsibility that I think some pro-life people conveniently forget. Not every child is blessed to have parents who are able to emotionally and financially support them.

At the end of the day, Roe is about a pregnant person (a woman to be specific) deciding their own destiny. Unfortunately, we live in a world in which some believe that a woman either does not have the right to or is unable to draw her own conclusions. For that reason alone, the fight for Roe must continue on.

The CA Gun Law to the SC & TX Abortion Laws: Top That

The game of politics can often be ground down to the game of top that.

With a growing number of states (among them Texas and South Carolina) with the United States enacting severe anti-abortion laws, California has responded with its own law.

The proposed bill, according to a press release from Newsom, would allow Californians to sue “anyone who manufactures, distributes, or sells an assault weapon or ghost gun kit or parts” for damages — the same injunction-skirting mechanism Texas has used to ban all abortions after six weeks, which has so far been permitted by the Supreme Court.

The lawmakers who have created and enacted these draconian pieces of legislation knew exactly what they were doing. They knew that if their bills were written in a certain way, it would be impossible for the Supreme Court (or any court) to strike it down.

Bravo to Governor Newsom. At least someone is thinking rationally.

Gutting Roe V. Wade by the Supreme Court Sets a Dangerous Precedent

This coming week has the potential to forever change the United States for the worse. Roe V. Wade could become a shell of its former self if the ruling by the Supreme Court goes a certain way.

A recent ad campaign tells the story of Annie Fitzgerald. Adopted as an infant, she emphasizes pro-life values.

Adoption is wonderful. However, it is not a cure all, as Justice Amy Coney Barrett suggests. As of 2019, there were 424,00 children in the foster system on any given day alone. The question I would ask anyone who is pro-life is are they willing to step in and be the parents these kids need? Or are they all talk and no action?

In Judaism, abortion is allowed, up until birth. If the life of the mother is threatened, then it is permitted to end the pregnancy. Though it becomes a bit murky after that, the message that the decision is up to the woman is revolutionary.

My body, my future, my choice. If you don’t have a uterus, be quiet. If you do have a uterus, you should still be quiet.

At the end of the day, the choice belong to the woman, her doctor, her spouse/partner (if she has one), and her heavenly creator (if she has such beliefs). No one else should be putting in their two cents.

P.S. I am going to end this post with a tweet that says it all.

Republicans: If you have an abortion, you are a criminal.

Also Republicans: If you give your child a gun and he uses it to murder people, you are not a criminal.

— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) December 4, 2021

Brooklyn Decker Speaks the Hypocritical Truth About the Texas Abortion Ban

There is nothing more hypocritical than a politician speaking out of both sides of their mouth.

I wrote about the Texas abortion ban earlier this week. I am not the only one who is outraged by this law. Yesterday, actress and model Brooklyn Decker shared her thoughts via social media. When a state tightly controls women’s bodies, but is lax on gun control, their actions speak louder than any amount of words can. If this is what it means to be “pro-life“, I have to ask what they mean by stating this and whose lives are worthy of protection?

A message for Texas lawmakers, especially @GovAbbott @GregAbbott_TX

One correction: I said “kids” when I should have said “students” referring to the Campus Carry Law pic.twitter.com/qX5s0I98Ew

— Brooklyn Decker (@BrooklynDecker) September 2, 2021

Thoughts On the SCOTUS Abortion Ruling

For a millennia, men have controlled everything about women, our bodies included. It is only in the past century or so that we have fought to take back the control of our bodies that was ours in the first place.

Yesterday, SCOTUS ruled in favor of blocking an anti-abortion law in Louisiana. In a nutshell, the law said that doctors were prohibited from performing the procedure unless they had admitting privileges at a local hospital.

On the surface, the law does not sound all that bad. It sounds almost preventative, waiting for the day when something goes wrong and an ambulance would have to be called. But, looking at the fine print tells another story. It closes all but one of the remaining abortion clinics on a technicality, putting the lives of the female residents of Louisiana at risk.

What is interesting is that Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the liberal members of the court. In doing so, it is my perspective that he is looking to the future of this country. It is a future that true equality exists between the sexes and women are finally seen as fully-fledged human beings.

It is only a small step. But when small steps come together, they can lead to major change.

Thoughts On Sex Ed for Senators

Logic states that when a major decision needs to be made, one completes research and gathers all of the facts before making said decision. Unfortunately, politics and logic don’t always go hand in hand.

In the wake of the Alabama abortion bill and the various fetal heartbeat bill that have passed in other states, I hope that the lawmakers consulted with anyone in the medical community or at least have someone on their staff check on the Internet before signing the bills into law. But hope often springs eternal.

The scary part of these bills is that these lawmakers are putting the lives of America’s women and girls in danger without blinking an eye. If they really cared about us, they would in the very least, speak to a medical professional or ask one of their staff to make sure that they have the right information. But they didn’t and because of that, who knows how many lives could be at stake?

Thank you, Samantha Bee for speaking the truth. If only we could all do the same.

Thoughts On the Alabama Abortion Bill

Anyone who knows me (or at least has read this blog regularly), knows that my political views are pretty liberal. It’s therefore not hard to imagine that politically, Pat Robertson and I standard very far apart when it comes to politics and other sensitive subjects.

I was surprised to read that he is against the new Alabama abortion bill, stating that lawmakers have gone too far. If Pat Robertson is against this law, that says something.

The thing that strikes me about abortion laws is that they are used by men to control women’s bodies, but men’s bodies are never controlled by women or other men. This idea of a man controlling a woman’s body goes back to the not too distant past when a woman was chattel to her father, husband or other nearest male relative. There are some men (and some women) who still believe that a man has the right to control a woman’s bodies.

The only out that a doctor may have for not potentially going to jail for 99 years is if the abortion is determined to be medically necessary. There is no out for a woman who is raped or whose pregnancy is caused by incest.

The irony of this law is that it was signed by Alabama’s female governor, Kay Ivey (R-Alabama). According to the news report, the lawmakers who supported and signed the bill hope to us it as an avenue to eventually challenge Roe V. Wade in the Supreme Court.

While I respect that those who are pro-life have the right to the opinion, I think that if one is pro-life, why not focus on the children who are already living? There are so many children who are growing up in less then ideal conditions, why not focus your time and energy on those children?

I wish that in 2019, the issue of abortion and the government intervening on woman’s choice on whether or not have an abortion did not exist. But it still does and until the issue does not exist, I an and many others will continue to fight.

P.S. It takes two to tango and two to conceive a child. If these male lawmakers are so concerned about abortion, perhaps they should be making sure that the snakes are kept in the cages or condoms should be made readily available to prevent an unwanted pregnancy and a possible future abortion.

Thoughts On the Fetal Heartbeat Bill

We all recognize that life is precious, especially the lives of our children. The problem is that we do not recognize or remember that our children grow within their mother’s bodies and it is the mother who is as important in the process as the fetus that is growing inside of her.

Yesterday, Governor Brian Kemp (R-Georgia), signed the Fetal Heartbeat Bill. In layman’s terms, abortion is allowed until a heartbeat of a fetus is detected. The problem is that that a heartbeat is detected within five to six weeks of pregnancy, when many women may not be aware that they are pregnant.

Without directly saying so, Governor Kemp has signed a law that bans all abortions.

I don’t know if the Governor or his team consulted with any doctors, but my heart of hearts tells me with that this is wrong. A woman’s right to choose is an unalienable right. The problem is that many still believe that a woman does not have the right to choose how to live her life (which extends to if and/or when she has a child).

While I understand the point of view of those who are pro-life, I disagree with them. If a woman has an abortion, for whatever reason she has it, that decision is between herself, her doctor, her G-d (if she belongs to a particular faith) and the father (if there is a father). Outside of that small circle, no one has the right to tell a woman what to do with her life or her future.