Last week, the US Supreme Court voted 5-4 to overrule the landmark Roe vs. Wade decision. Within hours, the news had reverberated across the world, leaving tens of thousands of people saddened, outraged and alienated. In particular, it means women and people with uteruses are no longer guaranteed access to their reproductive rights or are able to have control over their bodies.
The ruling shows that despite it being 2022, prejudice and misogyny still continue to plague our modern societies and way of life.
Since 1973, Roe vs. Wade has protected the right for American women and people with uteruses to obtain an abortion, the choice to continue or terminate pregnancy belonging to the individual and the individual only, not any other authoritative or government body. Under this legislation, abortion was considered a fundamental liberty, constitutional right and meant that individuals had the power to make important, personal decisions about family, sexuality, relationships and bodily autonomy. Access to safe and legal abortion is integral to consolidating gender, reproductive and economic equality.
Across the United States, 13 states have trigger laws in place where the overruling of Roe automatically prohibits all abortions within 30 days. Another 17 are either likely to ban it in the near the future or the fate of abortion rights remains uncertain.
Let me be clear: no matter any legislation, no matter any reversal of fundamental rights, women will continue to have abortions. None of this means women will have less abortions, just less safe ones. It also means that some women will be forced to carry pregnancies to full-term, even if they or their baby are in danger or are likely to not survive the pregnancy. For some states, abortion providers can face up to life imprisonment, the same sentence a rapist can be met with.
It also means negative stigmas towards abortion and the women who seek one will be perpetuated.
The appalling double standards of the United States have been exposed. We’ve all been horrified by the so-called futuristic, uber-religious world of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, where a woman’s worth depends on her ability to bear children. We have been disgusted and repulsed by the stories of the brave sexual assault victims of men in power in the #MeToo movement. We have seen women consistently be silenced and targeted during the egotistical presidency of Donald Trump.
This is the same country that claims to be the land of the free. In the same week that Roe was overturned based on the assertion of “pro-life”, the US Senate passed a gun control bill that expanded gun rights. One conclusion that can be made is that although government bodies have continuously pushed to criminalise abortions, they will not protect these children from guns (the world remains devastated by the recent Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas).
Don’t forget the only woman who voted against Roe vs. Wade, conservative Amy Coney Barrett, elected by Trump back in 2020. For a fellow woman to vote against abortion rights, and consequently neglecting the mental, physical and emotional wellbeing of women, is nothing short of a slap in the face. Not to mention that Clarence Thomas, also in favour of the overruling, was convicted of sexual abuse in 1991 by lawyer Anita Hill.
And this isn’t just a US issue. Regardless of where you come from in the world, it’s important to stay vigilant and become part of these political conversations. As the United States may be viewed as a country that sets a precedent for the rest of the world, it is important to remember that women’s rights were hard fought for and it’s not enough to sit on the back burner. It serves an important reminder that these rights are still wrongly negotiated and we must continue the fight.
The hypocrisy of these American authoritative bodies is disgraceful. Once again, the woman is seen as the marginalised “Other”, shackled by the chains of patriarchy and boxed into the backward stereotypes of being obedient and voiceless wives and mothers.
History will remember this day with anguish. It will remember this as the starting point of a dark path, a major contribution to the global war against women.
But most importantly, it will remind the world that women will not be silenced and will not tolerate having their liberties taken away from them. They will not be discouraged from advocating to regain their fundamental rights, especially when it involves them and no one else.
We won’t go down without a fight.