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| Republican victory creates anxiety among
pro-choice forces |
| I hadn’t thought much about this year being
the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Now, I and other women are uneasy about the future of
reproductive choice in this country. Part of my reproductive years were before Roe v. Wade
legalized abortion in this country. Post 1972, women no longer had to travel down dark
alleys under the cover of night to find someone -- who might not have been a physician --
to help them. After Roe v. Wade became the law of the land, women could go to hospitals and clinics in broad daylight and get the procedure done under safe and sanitary conditions. And, in many cases, their insurance covered the procedure. Although pro-choice women have always held their breath because they knew this constitutional right could be taken away in the blink of an eye by the conservative U.S. Supreme Court, there was enough uneasiness on the high court to give them pause about overturning Roe. Now, given the significant Republican victories in the November 5 election, not only will Bush be able to pack the courts with anti-choice judges at all levels of the bench, there is a strong fear that even the most right-wing nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court get be confirmed, thus removing any hesitation on the part of the court to take women back to the dark ages when it comes to abortions. Sadly, many of the people who claim to oppose abortion are allowed to call themselves pro-life. Ironically, these people who would force a woman to continue an unintended pregnancy without respecting her wishes or needs or desires, are the same people who are pro-death penalty. How they reconcile that is beyond me. And, even though they oppose abortion, they also oppose teaching sex education in the schools -- unless its abstinence based --- and distributing condoms to teenagers. It’s time to stop letting them get away with calling themselves pro-life or pro-anything. They are anti-freedom and anti-everything else, particularly anti-reality. But for the time being, women are very nervous for what this election will mean for their ability to determine their own reproductive destinies. |
| November Archives |