I was only a year old when Roe v Wade was in front of the supreme court (1973). I was a mother of an 8-year-old and a 3-year-old at the time abortion became legally protected in Victoria (2008). In 2004, I experienced a 23-week termination. The induced birth of my baby, Cooper, due to many defects that were found at the 20-week ultrasound and meant my little boy was “incompatible with life”, as they call it. I was given the choice. To carry to term and he would die, or to give birth and he would die. I had a choice.
A woman in Arizona, Chloe Partridge, is 25 weeks pregnant. In the last week she was informed her baby is incompatible with life. She has also been told she must carry the baby until the baby dies or is stillborn. The ramifications on her mental health, her body, and her sense of being in control of her life have been completely stripped away. She has no choice. The trigger law, which came into effect after the overturning of Roe v Wade by the Supreme Court of the United States, has removed her power to make a choice.
Her decision was made by nine people, only six of whom voted in the affirmative. Her decision was made predominantly by men, influenced by the bible and by a conservative, right-wing agenda that believes women’s reproductive rights are the business of the state, not the individual. In a country so obsessed with freedom, individual rights and democracy, this total hypocrisy is nauseating. The “Greatest Country in the World” is so far from it, it defies comprehension.
I read an article about the “me exception”. A common situation people who perform abortions in America encounter. Women will leave a picket-line, claiming they are pro-life, to have an abortion. They consider their circumstances to be unique. They don’t realise that everyone else’s circumstances are also unique.
These people are bound by tribalism. They believe that to be pro-life is proof you are a good Christian. To be Republican means you toe the party line, which includes pro-life and anti-abortion ideals. The fact this issue has been politicised is insane. Women’s health has been turned into a political platform. And…it’s about politics and power, not health.
The question looming in everyone’s mind now is…where will the madness stop? Justice Clarence Thomas wants it to continue. He wants an unelected bench of people with way too much power to repeal the laws that protect same-sex marriage, same-sex relationships, and contraception. (Obergefell, Lawrence, and Griswold respectively). Will this ruling on Dobbs v Jackson (which overturned Wade v Roe) be the beginning of the end? Will it spark as much controversy as Dred Scott v Sanford, the ruling upholding slavery that instigated the Civil War (1861-1865)?
Margaret Atwood recently wrote, “I Invented Gilead. The Supreme Court Is Making It Real” (The Atlantic). The precariousness of freedom requires constant protection and vigilance. What is won, can be lost. The women of Afghanistan wore mini-skirts and studied at university in the 1960s. Margaret Atwood herself said that everything she wrote about was happening to women somewhere in the world at the time.
My husband, my daughter, her girlfriend and two friends and I went into Melbourne on Saturday to protest this abhorrent situation of women’s rights under attack. The crowd was huge, it was passionate, and it was diverse. There were men, there were children, there were older people. There were people from different racial backgrounds, different ethnicities, and different socio-economic situations. There were people there with varying opinions, however the overall feeling was one of acceptance and tolerance. Of everyone.
Is this clambering by the conservative alt-right fuddy-duddies in America and beyond a response to the fact that the minorities are becoming the majority? You can only subjugate people when you are a majority and hold the power, or people perceive you to hold the power. When you become the minority, when people are no longer accepting of your position to make the rules, your power diminishes. Could it be that people’s tolerance and acceptance of differences has become so widespread? That our understanding of sexuality, race, gender, and other things out of our control, are irrelevant to who we really are?
My young adult children no longer look at people and categorise them by the old standards of sex, colour, background, and education. Younger people seem to have a more nuanced understanding of people as individuals. My kids both identify as queer. Most of their friends sit somewhere on a spectrum, not one side or the other. Seeing the person without the labels and accepting their reality and truth about themselves. I hope this acceptance and freedom to be who you are without fear continues to grow.
The only power we have is the power of the people. We need to speak out for others’ rights, even when it doesn’t affect us personally. Especially when it doesn’t affect us personally. Human Rights must be protected. Women’s reproductive rights should be their own business. Everyone’s circumstances are different, and all are valid to the person, even if privileged, middle-aged, upper-class, fundamentalist politicians or judges are unable to understand it from where they sit.
To read more of Kylie’s work click here.