When a leak indicated the upcoming SCOTUS opinion would make abortion illegal, I just fell silent. I couldn’t believe the court might refuse to make allowances for the health of the woman, or exempt situations involving rape or incest, or viability of the fetus.
I just did not think THAT would happen. And indeed it hasn’t yet. There is still time for Chief Justice Roberts to convince his colleagues that some compromise must occur to avoid complete chaos and the unnecessary deaths of scores of women who will be forced to seek back-alley abortions.
Patchwork Nation
I say chaos because the US is in the process of becoming what I call a “patchwork” nation. For example, before the SCOTUS opinion on Obergefell v. Hodges, we couldn’t go to just any state in the union for a same-sex marriage license. We had to pick and choose where we went. Our then-governor Snyder refused to recognize the marriages of the “Michigan 300” (300 couples) following a ban issued by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. That left 300 couples in legal limbo, as the case traveled its way up to SCOTUS to be finally decided on June 26, 2015.
My wife and I have family in Washington and decided not to get tied up in the legal machinations in Michigan. We just wanted to get married without the drama after all those years of being activists. The Michigan 300 was caught up in this quagmire for over a year. We’re getting too old for that stuff, although it is super important. Dear friends of ours were part of the 300, and it was very difficult to have strangers decide if they can marry. It’s important to say that we had the resources to go somewhere else or we would have been in the same boat with the “301.”
If a women in Texas wants an abortion, there are many reasons she may want to go to another state because of one of the most draconian statutes passed recently by the state legislature. What if you are in Alabama where there is only one abortion provider in the state, you have serious cardiac issues, and you have no money to go to another state?
The Epicopal Church’s teaching on abortion
Let me state here that as a priest in the Episcopal Church (TEC), I accept the teaching of TEC that “within every abortion lies a tragic dimension,” and I completely agree. However, my church also teaches that women must have safe, legal reproductive care available to them. In other words, women must be trusted to make appropriate decisions and to care for their bodies and reproductive health without the government’s intrusion.
The Right To Privacy – Abortion and Same-Sex marriage fall in this catory of fundamental rights
For most of my adult life, I have lived with governmental intrusion into my most intimate relationship. The federal government brazenly refused my fundamental right to marry until the Obergefell decision in 2015. My spouse and I were legally married in 2014 in Washington State after sharing our lives for 32 years. How outrageous and ridiculous for us and our peers to wait that long to get married – or rather to wait at all!
As a young firebrand attorney fighting for same-sex marriage, I and my colleagues worked for equality even though we paid our taxes and did everything else accorded to good citizens. Yet we labored under the constant message that we were “less than,” that the way we expressed love with our bodies and our shared lives made us inferior.
It’s the same thing all over again. The GOP-led forces work tirelessly to propel the federal government faster and faster towards a frightening reality. Our government “by and for the people” will no longer recognize that we are guaranteed the right to make our own decisions and to love who we love. Likewise, our government edges towards an ugly future in which women can no longer be trusted to decide about their family composition and how many children they raise. These same forces will work to eradicate same-sex marriage, too.
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness – or, Body, Mind, Spirit
This phrase, enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, promises us certain inalienable rights to live our lives based on our own needs and wishes.
We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights,
that among these are
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Of course, when the declaration was released on July 4, 1776, this phrase applied only to white men, although black men and women had been here as slaves since 1619, and Native Americans for centuries as free peoples.
Slowly over time, various groups achieved their rights, including emancipation and the right to vote. First, white women, and then black women and men became more fully franchised with the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Gaining these rights have come at a terrible cost. The late Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) was nearly beaten to death as he worked to pass the Voting Rights Act.
It’s about the sanctity of our very bodies
In our history, the bodies of people of color became opportunities for domination and humiliation. Despite being enfleshed, people of color have been treated as though they are disposable, like tools or gadgets. The racism and continued lynchings that occur in this country are not random accidents. They serve as evidence of slavery and the white privilege that treated Blacks, Latin@s, Native Americans and Asians with such contempt. In many instances, such discrimination was enacted into law. And of course, women from all of these groups suffered greatly as well, as have white women, particularly respecting reproductive freedom.
Stop Saying “Choice!” It’s about our Fundamental Rights as human beings
The buzz language for reproductive freedom resulted in the phrase “Pro-Choice.”
We dubbed our opponents to abortion as “Anti-Choice.”
I’ve never been comfortable with describing access to reproductive care as a “choice.” It is so much more fundamental than that – it’s a right, a fundamental right to have jurisdiction over our bodies and our life, mind, and spirit. Our messaging must change to outright anger and resistance over the loss of fundamental rights!
The Right immediately shot back with the phrase, “It’s a Child, not a Choice.” Frankly, I thought it was a very clever response and not only because of the alliteration. The Right twisted the phrase’s meaning – that supporters of abortion see the decision to have one as capricious, superficial, or lackadaisical – the easy way out.
Always better at messaging, anti-abortion advocates recoined the phrase to “Pro-Life.” Well, I’m pro-life, as mentioned in the Old Testament, but I also believe women must have access to safe, legal, comprehensive health care, including reproductive health care.
Women who decide to have an abortion take the decision very seriously.
According to an official statement issued by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)
Pregnancy imposes significant physiological changes on a person’s body. These changes can exacerbate underlying or preexisting conditions, like renal or cardiac disease, and can severely compromise health or even cause death. Determining the appropriate medical intervention depends on a patient’s specific condition. There are situations where pregnancy termination in the form of an abortion is the only medical intervention that can preserve a patient’s health or save their life.
As physicians, we are focused on protecting the health and lives of the patients for whom we provide care. Without question, abortion can be medically necessary.
This decision is one of the most difficult decisions one can ever make. However, the medical realities indicate
- Some pregnancies must be terminated to save the life of the woman
- Sometimes pregnancies occur due to rape or incest. And while those pregnancies are rare, they involve an evil perpetrated on the women. Therefore the women must decide whether to carry the pregnancy to full term without the state’s intervention.
- Sometimes it is clear a fetus will not survive in utero or once born due to congenital and irreversible birth defects. Pregnancy, labor, and delivery are potentially life-threatening to the woman. To require a woman to carry a doomed fetus to term endangers the mother unnecessarily. Only 1.2% of pregnancies were ended in late term, or after 21 weeks, however the care must be readily available.
In an article by Dawn Stacey, PhD, LMHC, and medically reviewed by Monique Rainford, MD, women often cite two to four reasons for ending a pregnancy, further showing the complexity of this decision for most women.
For younger women, feeling unprepared for motherhood, lacking financial resources to support the child, and being with an unsupportive partner are the most common reasons. Sometimes women don’t want anyone to find out they are having sex. The heated debate over abortion can also make the decision more complicated because it makes women feel more self-conscious.
Women often cite that they are responsible for other children already or that they are beyond child-bearing years. These reasons are consistent regardless of race, income, educational level or parental status.
Roughly half of birth control methods fail, resulting in unplanned pregnancies. There is a stigma attached to having an abortion, although it is the most commonly performed surgical procedure for women.
Abortion is still legal
SCOTUS has not officially released an opinion of record, so get the help you need while you still can.
What can we do?
We need community organizing where like-minded people come together [could we link this to the Province V recording with Adonis from Michigan United?] over a common cause. People bring their unique skills, talent, experience, resources, etc. We then join all of that power together into a public power. It works! Just remember the work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the late Congressman John Lewis.
There is power in the people! Contact your local Planned Parenthood or go to their national website to join their activities.
Additional resources include:
- People for the American Way
- The ACLU (for starters, they need money for the huge litigation costs they have)
- NARAL
- National Abortion Federation
- Center for Reproductive Rights
- List of Abortion Rights Organizations in the USA
Next week, I will go into more detail about what we can do before the critical mid-term elections in November. In the meantime, find somewhere to roll up your sleeves. The organizations listed above need all the help they can get from us.
Blessings on your journey.
