Before I start, I know everyone will have different opinions. And as I say to my students' opinions are like assholes everyone has them. That is part of what it means to be a human. In my opinion, another key factor in being human is having choices, so when Roe was overturned I was left feeling choiceless.
We as women are an incredible part of history, our world, and our country. Our place in society has been made by countless other women who fought for us to have a choice, to have the right to vote, and to be seen as a human not just as a woman. It breaks my heart that we somehow seem to be going backward in our country. We as humans change, grow, and evolve every day, and to me, the foundations this country was built on do not hold up any more in our modern world. I always think of Judaism, the religion I was born into, there are so many rules we are supposed to follow. One of those rules is not to eat any pig products...but do you know the reason why that is? It's because back in the day when that rule was made pigs were seen as unclean so they didn't want us to get sick. So why doesn't the rule change when we are in a completely different place in our world?
Why now when women have fought so hard to be seen as equals are our rights being taken away?
Is it because the people in power are scared of us? Is it because they see us as less than? Is it because of money? I honestly think it is probably all of those things and more.
But we should have a choice. It is our bodies and what we do with them should be what we decide is right for us. It's not like the people in charge know my name, my story, my income, my situation so why should they have the right to tell me what I can and can not do? Why should other women fight against women? I can't believe some of the things I have seen other women say about abortion rights.
I am saying this next part with the privilege I know I have as a white woman...
Women are a community that has been shit on so much for so long that when we fight against one another and think we have the right to make decisions for all of us, we are not helping anyone. We as a community must stand behind one another and instead of saying "we all must see it this way" say "well that may not be my choice but they should have the right to choose what is right for them."
I mean hello?! I would never force my choices on someone else because I am not that person. I have grown up with different experiences so I have different opinions that have led to different outcomes.
I am so sad for the women who are coming from situations where they won't have the funds to help support that child they are being forced to have, or women who have been raped that will be forced to carry that trauma with them, women who have ectopic pregnancies who may be forced to give their life for their children.
I am sad. I am angry. I am.
No human should be choiceless. So if this is what it has come to then we have to make these women's lives easier. You are forcing their hand by not giving them options. So make child care affordable, give stay-at-home mothers a salary, and make their lives and the lives of that child worth all the pain you are giving them by not giving them a choice.
We have to make changes. We have to help support one another. We have to do something.
So do something,
Your Cycle Half Emily
Think about donating to Planned Parenthood...$1 makes a difference.
May we get back to a place where we are all prosperous. A place without war, inflation, and pandemics. a place with choices. A place where I want my children to grow up in.