Abortion ban means Tennessee women have lost bodily autonomy
Praise be! You’re here. Welcome to 2023, where you no longer have bodily autonomy and forced birth is the new norm. After Roe v. Wade being taken away from us last year, it is now time for all of the unwanted, can’t-afford-them babies to pop. THIS in the year of our Lord 2023.
I will give you some background on me. I am a 36-year-old woman. I do not have children, but I would like the option of being able to have one if I wanted to. I also live in Nashville. Tennessee has one of the strictest abortion bans in the nation, and I don’t have the resources to move out of state. There are no technical exceptions for victims of rape or incest, and only a slim provision for the life of the mother.
If your baby will not survive outside the womb, too bad; you have to give birth anyway. We have already heard horror stories of women being admitted to the emergency room with ectopic pregnancies (which are never viable) and having to wait hours, until they are on the brink of death, to be treated with an abortion. How close to death does a woman have to be for a doctor to be able to legally perform an abortion?
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OB-GYNs are already leaving the state, creating maternal-care deserts in a state that is already one of the highest for maternal mortality. Can you blame them? You’d probably leave too if you weren’t able to practice your job using your best judgment. THIS in the year of our Lord 2023.
Why are men still making rules about women’s bodies? Do they live in our skin? Have they any idea what it takes to bear a child? Of course not. They have no clue what it means to give birth, yet here we are — our bodies governed by men. THIS in the year of our Lord 2023.
I don’t believe in Christianity — to me it is as fictional as Harry Potter — yet here I find myself, my body being regulated by it. Last year, our governor, Bill Lee, created a holiday of prayer and fasting. Instead of supporting common-sense gun laws so children aren’t slaughtered in schools, or expanding Medicaid, this is what he did. This is our country, not his church.
In addition, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee named Griswold v. Connecticut, the case that made birth control legal, as one she finds "constitutionally unsound." Do you see the paradox here? How are we supposed to prevent unwanted pregnancies without birth control? But some politicians want women to be broodmares. THIS in the year of our Lord 2023.
I sincerely hope all Tennesseans will vote in future elections. We are one of the worst states when it comes to voter turnout. I truly believe if every Tennessean voted, we’d be a blue state instead of a red one. White women: these laws affect YOU. We NEED you to vote.
All of this in the year of our Lord 2023. If there is a God, she is crying with us.
Catherine Raines is a Middle Tennessee native.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Abortion ban means Tennessee women have lost bodily autonomy
