It's time to stand as one and let our voices be heard. These are tumultuous times for anyone who supports bodily autonomy and reproductive agency.
We cannot allow extremist ideologies to legislate how our organs inside our bodies should be used. Women's value should not be whittled down into being incubators to use their organs against their will for someone else's purpose.
Most women who have to make difficult reproductive decisions do so because of poverty. Over 60% of those women, in fact. Statistically speaking, children who are born in poverty have alarmingly higher rates of child abuse, hunger, neglect, and death. Children who grow up in poverty are less likely to have college education, and many end up in prison. And the cycle of poverty continues.
Aside from body autonomy, women having agency over how their organs are used is also healthcare. It's a decision a patient makes with their doctor as to what's best for their body. The United States has one of the highest maternal death rates of all developed countries in the world. Giving birth in America is inherently unsafe. Women of color have a maternal mortality rate 4x greater than women who are not of color.
The top-down strict-father mentality of banning agency over reproductive decisions isn't the solution. Instead, it's a multi-faceted approach to reduce poverty and expand reproductive education including:
• Free college education
• Free or subsidized childcare
• Universal Pre-K
• WIC expansion for pregnant women and parents of young children
• Food stamp expansion
• Free breakfasts and lunches at school
• Comprehensive sex education in schools
• Access to free birth control
• Universal healthcare for all
• Prison reform
If it's really about life, then the focus needs to be on protecting children who are already born and helping those who live in poverty, such as the over 425,000 children currently in foster care in the U.S. If women aren't facing economic inequality and poverty, and they are better educated about reproductive healthcare, they'll not only be less likely to have an unwanted pregnancy, but they'll also have the means to afford to take care of any children.
If it's really about life, then we need to challenge others to look at it from a different perspective. Take care of the lives that are already born, and there will be even less unwanted or unintentional pregnancies as a result of that.