#yet fucking Amy Coney Barret doesn't care

[leaveherwildliketheflowers]

It's 2:30 am and my mind won't stop racing. All I can think about is Roe vs. Wade and the implications if the Supreme Court overturns the legislation. It's a horrifying thought, especially as I venture into trying for another pregnancy. I can think of dozens of reasons why an abortion would be a necessary health care option for me. But of course those of us who have lived through the horrors of pregnancy loss imagine all the ways that things can go wrong, and there are so many. The thought of not being able to obtain the necessary care from my team of doctors is extremely anxiety provoking.

The reality though is that no matter what happens it won't have a material impact me personally. As an upper class white female I live with a certain privilege. I have the resources to travel wherever necessary to get the care I need. Out of state or out of country, it wouldn't matter. If it was best for my family it would happen and with very little impact to me financially. Meanwhile, the lower class population continues to be suppressed and left without access to critical and often life saving health care. It's infuriating, but that is the reality.

It's important for people like me to not let privilege drive complacency because this impacts not just myself but an entire community, including my friends and family, who don't all share in my privilege. 1 in 4 women will have an abortion. That means someone you love and respect has had an abortion. Yet this continues to be shamed and stigmatized in our society. Abortion is something that everyone deserves equal access to regardless of reason, race or socioeconomic status. Abortion is health care, and health care is a basic human right.

I have never heard an argument against abortion that wasn't founded on religious beliefs. Yet there are literally hundreds of peer reviewed studies conducted by medical professionals that outline the medical necessity of abortions. Not to mention the economic implications of carrying a fetus to term, especially in a society without universal health care or paid leave for parents. There are also major mental health risks from the trauma of pregnancy and childbirth in an unwanted or medically compromised pregnancy. None of this should be forced on a person because someone else's religious beliefs state that the fetus is a "unique person" when a heartbeat is detectable. Religious beliefs are not grounds for interfering with health care, and no one person has the right to push their religious agenda on an entire population.

I will never understand how people think banning access to abortions is ok. How one can think that fetuses rights outweigh the rights of the people growing them. I know these people exist because I am directly related to a few of them. To these people I say, if you have seen the horrors that myself and countless other women have and if you only knew the gut wrenching truth that often leads to these decisions, maybe your perspective would change. Not every pregnancy is sunshine and rainbows. Not every person wants to be a parent. And for the love of God, delivery and adoption is not a substitute for abortion.