The U.S. Supreme Court handed a victory to abortion advocates this Monday by wiping out lower court rulings that upheld a Texas order banning nearly all abortions in the state. This archaic order was initially sold as a preventative measure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but no one was fooled. This was part of Governor Greg Abbott’s way of taking away the rights of women and furthering his own political agenda, and I’m glad to see that his efforts failed.
Abortion rights are human rights, and no matter how hard pro-life sycophants try to crush these rights, there will be advocates and people who will fight tooth and nail to protect a woman’s right to do what she wants with her own body. I happen to be one of those advocates, and after working at an abortion clinic and getting firsthand experience in what women have to do to get basic care, I hope this Supreme Court ruling makes anti-abortion supporters think about the women they are working against.
Abortion care can change a woman’s life for the better. Personally, I’ve worked with women who don’t have the financial means to care for a child, who have been forced to become pregnant through domestic violence, and who risk death if they keep the pregnancy growing inside of them. Each and every single one of them has a human right to use the health care services that can help them in their current situation, and no one has the right to take that away from these women.
On a side note, I subscribe to the belief that if you don’t have a uterus, you have no right to be banning essential services having to do with uteruses. Talk about them until you’re blue in the face, but you don’t get to make decisions for bodies and lives that have nothing to do with your care and health. This belief comes from watching how timid, afraid, and confused women are in general when it comes to abortion care, and that is born from the fact that anti-abortion advocates want women to feel guilt for taking care of themselves.
This leads to an erosion of education where women don’t even know what happens during an abortion or how the options available to them are essential health care services and a basic human right. Abortion care is nothing to hide from or feel shame about, and the only way I can help battle this misinformation is by being a well of knowledge for those who need it or who don’t know where to turn to. I’m not the only one.
If you’re looking for information or abortion services, because they’re your rights as a human being, check out the National Abortion Federation (NAF). They are a professional association of abortion providers whose mission statement is to “unite, represent, serve, and support abortion providers in delivering patient-centered, evidence-based care.” That’s a message I can get behind, and so should you.
(image: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
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