Why yes Léman, it is November and five months past the fourth of July. However, for nearly every woman of every race, of every sexuality, and even those who don’t identify as women but have a uterus, time has stopped since that fateful day of June 24th, when our reproductive rights were stolen from us. Cruelly on that day, our rights: outlined as liberty and the right to choose, were snatched away; and yet on that same day, we watched people rejoice in our misery. So I ask you: what to a ten-year-old girl, barely old enough to have a period, raped by an adult male, and forced to cross state lines to abort the pregnancy that resulted, is a day celebrating independence? Because I don’t know about you, but I don’t see the freedom we were promised.
I have never personally been pregnant or had a pregnancy scare. However, empathy seems to be running dry currently with the way other people are viewing this overturning. Even if you cannot relate, it cannot hurt to empathize with what thousands of people have gone through and will continue to go through. I asked some women at Léman who haven’t been personally affected but are still wary of the future possible consequences. Junior Lina Ytuarte said: “I care. Just because it's not something directly affecting me, doesn't mean it won't have cascading effects on my life. I could potentially be hurt by anything the Supreme Court says. If my rights aren't protected in all fifty states of the country I call home, what else is there for me to say? It’s a big problem, a really big problem.” If the reaction of those unaffected speaks to you, simply imagine the reaction of those affected. I spoke to one of my female friends who resides in Florida and could potentially be hugely affected.“I think it’s wrong and ridiculous that our governor is taking away women’s rights. My mom was telling me how in Florida, I won’t be able to have those rights that she did when she was growing up. It’s like you are going up a set of stairs for women’s rights and this took you 50 steps down. It’s sad.”
For those of you who are still unconvinced, don’t think the Supreme Court will stop with reproductive rights. The overturning of Roe V. Wade has officially paved the way for more fundamental rights to be overturned including (possibly and not limited to) Obergefell v. Hodges, and Loving v. Virginia. For those of you unaware, those two Supreme Court cases legalized interracial marriage and gay marriage in all fifty states. Coming from someone with a uterus, who is the product of interracial marriage, and also part of the LGBTQ+ community, this is highly concerning. This no longer falls under the guise of opinions, but instead, strips away amendment-granted rights. Allowing things of this caliber to happen is setting us back years, and undoing parts of the work on civil rights that still need to be done.
Considering that I write for the Opinions section of a newspaper, I am used to people disagreeing with me, something that is usually of little concern to me. I believe in different opinions, and that it is something that keeps life interesting, and the world turning. However, I don’t believe my bodily autonomy is up for discussion. I also don’t think that my right to love whoever I love fearlessly, or my parents’ right to stay married after twenty-five years simply because they are of different races, is up for discussion either. The overturning of Roe v. Wade is a danger to society. Woman or man, white or black, gay or straight, this will end up affecting us all in some way. If that’s unseeable now, just remember, for someone you know and love, that knowledge slaps them in the face every single day.