Effectively, it lastly occurred. Roe v. Wade has been overturned by the Supreme Court docket. Conservative voters and politicians have been telling us they have been going to do it, and now they’ve. Abortion, with only a few exceptions, is now unlawful in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas. In one other month or two, as soon as all of the paperwork has been filed, over a dozen different states will ban or severely prohibit the process.
As the one columnist on the Portland Press Herald who’s able to being pregnant, I assume I’m certified to commentate right here. Positive, that’s not a lot of a qualification, however I can assure 4 of the 5 justices who overturned Roe have by no means and can by no means be able to being pregnant, so I’ll simply forge forward whereas it’s nonetheless authorized for me to have a newspaper column.
There may be one factor I’m utterly, completely, 110 p.c, rock strong positive about: Republicans received’t cease now. Have you ever ever had a canine beg for a chunk of meals from the dinner desk? Do they cease and go away after you give them a chunk? No. They double down and whine more durable. They’re emboldened. The one option to make the canine cease is to level to a nook and say “No! Go lie down!” in a stern voice, which is what we have to do to the GOP.
In any case, these are spiritual zealots we’re speaking about, and should you actually imagine that God desires you to do one thing, what earthly issues are going to cease you? Keep in mind the story of Abraham within the Bible, who very practically kills his son as a result of God instructed him to, solely to be stopped by God within the nick of time, as the child was strapped to the altar? Christians are purported to mannequin themselves after that degree of religion. And Isaac was Abraham’s personal son. If Christian zealots imagine that God desires them to ban abortion, what does it matter that girls they’ll by no means meet will undergo and die?
If Republicans acquire management of Congress and the presidency, they are going to enact a nationwide abortion ban. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, minority chief, has already acknowledged help for a ban at 15 weeks and as we’ve seen, these individuals don’t cease. If Republicans acquire management of Maine’s authorities, they are going to chip away at abortion entry. Oh, positive, they’ll say in any other case. They’ll swear up and down that issues are completely different right here in Maine, and that it will probably’t occur right here, and that Maine is such an unbiased state. But when judges can lie below oath about Roe v. Wade being precedent, what’s to cease common politicians from mendacity?
I’ve a household historical past of being pregnant issues. I’ve at all times recognized that I’d want an abortion sooner or later. And if I do get accepted to donate a kidney (which I’m nonetheless making an attempt my absolute best to get cleared to do), any being pregnant of mine will routinely be thought-about “excessive danger.” One of many few long-term points that comes from being a kidney donor is that it raises your danger of pre-eclampsia throughout being pregnant from a mean of 5 p.c to 11 p.c. Pre-eclampsia is life-threatening hypertension throughout being pregnant. It could result in a really fast demise. Typically it may be managed safely till supply; and typically it will probably’t. If it will probably’t be managed, there’s no treatment apart from not being pregnant anymore, which implies an abortion. And whereas I’m positive that if I turned a mom I’d be keen to die for my baby, I’m not keen to die for a fetus. Sorry if that makes me a egocentric particular person.
Nothing will change for me straight away. I’ve a contraception implant in my arm that’s good by 2026. However long-term, my horizon is shifting. In any case, I’ll be 30 in September, which implies the following decade is make it or break it for having organic kids. If the nation turns into an unsightly red-and-blue patchwork quilt of security and entry, I’d have to limit journey whereas I’m pregnant. What if I’m on a highway journey to go to my household in Virginia and my amniotic sac ruptures at 15 weeks whereas I’m in Pennsylvania and I would like an abortion to stop sepsis however the hospital can’t carry out one since there’s nonetheless a detectable fetal heartbeat?
And if there’s a nationwide ban, or abortion entry is revoked right here in Maine, I merely received’t get pregnant. I’ll select to not have organic kids. Getting pregnant with out easy accessibility to abortion would merely be an excessive amount of of a well being danger for me. Plus, what if I had a child lady? I’m not about to deliver a woman right into a Maine the place she doesn’t have management over what goes on inside her physique.
So. The place can we go from right here?
Effectively, thankfully, I used to be raised on Johnny Money and episodes of “The Lone Ranger.” Outlaws have been my household heroes. And if abortions are outlawed, solely outlaws could have abortions.
Victoria Hugo-Vidal is a Maine millennial. She will be contacted at:
[email protected]
Twitter: @mainemillennial
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