“The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman’s life, to her well-being and dignity. It is a decision she must make for herself. When government controls that decision for her, she is being treated as less than a fully adult human responsible for her own choices.”
— Ruth Bader Ginsburg
“It is essential to a woman’s equality with man that she be the decision-maker that her choice be controlling. If you impose restraints, you are disadvantaging her because of her sex. The state controlling a woman would mean denying her full autonomy and full equality.”
— Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Texas Women have known SB8 (in more accessible terms) has been coming since May when Greg Abbott signed it into law. We’ve been worried about it for longer than that. I even wrote a blog entry in April about it. I felt it was so radical that the entire nation needed to know about SB8. And it turns out it will affect more states — because other states are looking into implementing the same law.
I haven’t written about this yet because I’ve been so angry that there has been a bounty on my womb. I thought over time I would become less inflamed, less bitter, less passionate, but instead, I’ve become more so. And I think that’s for a good reason. The Texas Abortion Ban is officially a War on Women. And I thought today would be a great day to write about it. Today, there are 650+ marches in all 50 states.
We all know about the law. If you want to find out more about it, I’ve included plenty of resources for you to acquire knowledge. I had 58 pages on a Word document of quotes I wanted to include — quotes about the law. But instead, I’m going to talk about how I feel about the law, and how others feel about the law. Because this hits too close to home, and details won’t help anybody learn anything. However, what we’re feeling may give you an idea of what we have to come to terms with.
I received quotes from many people, but couldn’t include them all in the end. People are just as emotional about this as I am — both liberals and conservatives. And we can’t wait to vote Abbott out of office.
There’s a bounty on my womb. You feel my femininity makes me weak, that men must make my decisions for me. And that anybody I know can see my choice and decide to damage my family or anyone who helps me make the hardest decision of my life.
My womb is no good to you, but as a host for a fetus until it is born and you leave us both behind to suffer. I only matter to you when my uterus is doing what you want it to do. You say you’re pro-life, but we all know it’s just a nice marketing buzzword, a clever way to say that you’re anti-woman, anti-choice, and only pro-birth. Because once there is life, you do everything in your power to stop that child from receiving help. Texas criminalizes abortion but ranks 34th in baby wellness checks, 49th in prenatal care, 50th in uninsured women, 43rd in maternal mortality, 44th in school funding per child, and 40th in child hunger.
You won’t even try to prevent pregnancy; you refuse to teach sex education in schools, try to make it impossible sometimes to get contraceptives. The truth is, you want my womb full because that’s all you believe a woman is good for – a host body. A State Senator from Florida said as much on television. He didn’t call me a woman or even a female. Instead, he called me a “host body” as if I’m nothing more than an incubator.
My mother and grandmothers have told me I’m more, my fellow sisters in the world have shown me I’m more, and I know that I am.
My womb is powerful, and I am stronger because of it. It is as fierce as the words I use to speak out against you, as determined as my pen in the ballot box. I am vigorous, blooming, and vibrant. I am a woman with no baby, and I am still worthwhile.
My demanding of rights is consuming and burning, and it is one part of me you’ll never be able to control with your cruelty, callousness, and draconian laws. Yet, you cannot suppress my womanly calls to my rights to my own body.
There is a bounty on our wombs because you put it there; you will allow vigilantes to punish those who believe women’s rights aren’t rights we need in this country, vigilantes who are as inhumane as you.
But you’ve made a terrible mistake because you can place no bounty on our will. So we will roar with passion through the land about the misogynistic male lawmakers who feel controlling our bodies is their right, not our own, until we are finally heard, and our bodies are our own, until we own our wombs again.
You may have won this battle you’ve waged upon women, but you will never win the war.
“SB8 is offensive and wrong. Abortion is a personal decision for women between them and their doctor. The government should not be involved. Further, the law sics Texans on other Texans and invites lawsuits by neighbors against other neighbors. It’s not Texan. This bill proves once again that extremists like Lance Gooden are out of touch with reality and Texas families.”
— Charlie Gearing, Running for US House of Representatives Texas District 5
“‘Texas anti-abortion law shows ‘terrifying’ fragility of women’s rights, say activists” – sourced from The Guardian.
“The new law [that] bans abortions after about six weeks, once embryonic cardiac activity is detected, and does NOT make exceptions for incest or rape, is another obvious example of how the federal government is telling women what to do with their bodies. It is blatantly obvious to the average person who has any conscious thought on history that we are going back in time to the Dark Ages. Females will do what they think should be done no matter the cost. I am specifying backroom abortions with wires, poisonous homemade concoctions, and other inhumane forms to terminate the fetus, mostly resulting in high mother fatalities.
This is just a small amount of things that will happen because of this law. Of course, no female enjoys getting an abortion; it is a depressing, life-changing sadness that stays with her forever. But whatever her reason is, please let her grief be hers because it is a hard enough burden without the white male-dominated legislation peering and judging down at her.
Suicide rates will skyrocket, depression is inevitable, and for what positive result? So our cold-hearted governor can “stop future rapes”? The government men pushing this through are the ones who are the sexual predators out there trying to save their own asses, and that is my opinion based on 25 years of sexual harassment for being a female in the city of Dallas.”
— Megan Dill, Texas
“This law makes me ashamed to be a Texan. As a nurse, I have been with patients who have been sexually assaulted, who have been victims of incest, whose pregnancies are a detriment to the mother’s life. How can we deny access to abortion services for these women? I also find it abhorrent that even before a woman may know that she is pregnant or had the means to determine if she was pregnant, this choice is being taken away from her. I find it ironic that in Texas, where personal liberty is held in high regard, lawmakers have decided that their thoughts, values, and beliefs have superseded their constituents’ values, beliefs, and needs. Unfortunately, this will only harm those who are already at most risk to receive inadequate access to healthcare or inability to travel to access constitutionally protected rights of autonomy.”
— Rachael, Texas
“Instead of putting a 10k bounty on women, why don’t we put a 10k bounty on human trafficking, child molestation, rape, etc.? The reason our government doesn’t give a fuck about us or what’s right is that they just want to control us with our own tax dollars.”
— Allison Doyle, Texas
Resources
https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/87R/billtext/pdf/SB00008F.pdf#navpanes=0
https://time.com/5354490/ruth-bader-ginsburg-roe-v-wade/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/18/texas-abortion-provider-alan-braid/
https://twitter.com/IAmPoliticsGirl/status/1433499193708974089/video/1
https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/1442580151796060167/video/1
https://time.com/6099174/abortion-rights-birth-control/
https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/09/dear-prudence-skip-holidays-texas.html
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/09/amy-coney-barrett-partisan-hacks
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/13/who-is-going-save-texass-women-girls/
https://www.buzzfeed.com/kellymartinez/things-to-know-about-abortion
https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=167987
https://www.thecut.com/2019/10/what-does-codify-roe-v-wade-mean-from-democratic-debate.html
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/09/enforcement-of-abortion-laws-before-roe-v-wade.html
https://www.newsweek.com/texas-abortion-law-companies-donations-1626691\
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/09/supreme-court-overturn-roe-wade-texas.html
www.twitter.com/fundtexaschoice
https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-anti-abortion-ban-republican-plot-supreme-court-2021-9
https://www.insider.com/satanic-temple-lobbies-members-abortion-pills-religious-freedom-right-2021-9
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/01/texas-abortion-law-supreme-court
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/01/texas-abortion-law-supreme-court
http://theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/deviousness-texass-new-abortion-law/619945/
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/trump-supreme-court-abortion-ban/619963/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/04/hillary-clinton-warned-us-this-day-would-come/
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-texas-law-is-a-disaster-for-conservatives-who-oppose-abortion
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/09/20/texas-abortion-ban-greg-abbott-roe-wade/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/09/20/win-courts-could-backfire-anti-abortion-movement/
https://www.newsweek.com/will-texas-women-able-get-abortion-more-easily-mexico-1626900
https://apnews.com/article/health-religion-us-supreme-court-laws-23c373f3252d511f15ccc170887c30e2
