We aren't your incubators. Abortion bans dehumanize pregnant people. Pass Ohio Issue 1
Attorney Sarah Kolick is a graduate of Smith College and George Washington University Law School who is passionate about advocating for women's and LGBTQ people’s rights through grass roots activism.
A friend and I held a bright pink sign that read “Abortion is Health Care” to the Oct. 6 March for Life rally.
As debates surrounding the Issue 1 abortion rage on, here are three takeaways I pray Ohioans reflect on as November 7 approaches:
We are not your incubators
At March for Life, signs depicted fetuses suspended in a sea of fluids that were separated from the living person whose uterus is continuously being put on display.
These signs erase women and other people with uteruses from our own stories.
We are living, breathing people with hopes and dreams that are worthy of being fulfilled. As Diana Greene Foster’s Turnaway Study showed, women who receive abortions are more likely to be able to continue working, studying and planning for their dream futures. Issue 1 helps us protect our right to control our own destinies.
Abortion bans are deadly and dehumanizing.
Contrary to marchers telling us that “women don’t die in childbirth anymore,” a person is 14 times more likely to die from complications related to pregnancy than from those related to safe abortions. And Black women and birthing people experience the greatest increases in maternal mortality when abortion is banned.
More: Ending abortion access may widen public health inequalities for Black women, poor Ohioans
Even if abortion bans have “medical exceptions,” these bans still endanger pregnant people’s lives. In Texas, Amanda Zurawski was forced to wait until she went septic before she was able to receive a life-saving abortion.
Unfortunately, being forced to wait to receive healthcare caused her bodily injury as one of her fallopian tubes is now permanently closed
“The state of Texas says they want to preserve life by banning safe legal abortions," fellow Texan Ann Zargarian said. "I’ve ever felt my life mattered less than it did during this situation.”
Ohio’s proposed “heartbeat bill” does not protect an actual beating heart since a fetus does not have a functioning heart with chambers at about six weeks. But Issue 1 protects pregnant people whose hearts actually beat.
Abortion is a Human Right.
Respecting the religious belief that life begins at conception, we presented marchers with Judith Jarvis Thomas’ hypothetical scenario: You are in a car crash and the other driver’s kidneys are damaged. Would you find it morally permissible if the state required you be hooked up to a dialysis machine for 9 months to save the other driver’s life?
Mother My son was tortured, kidnapped and murdered. Abortion, death penalty easy answer
Pastor: Our faith does not 'force pregnancy and birth onto a 10-year-old little girl'
Most of us would answer no— the government should not be able to force an unwilling individual to undergo an invasive medical intervention, even in the name of saving a life.
It should logically follow that people should NOT be forced to donate their uteruses against their will.
Just like forcing someone to undergo dialysis would undoubtedly violate their human rights, forcing someone to give birth against their will violates their human rights.
Holding that the case of abortion is different discriminates on the basis of sex in the guarantee of fundamental rights.
We must pass Issue 1 to protect the human right to make decisions about our bodies, lives and destinies.
But the fight does not end there. We must continue to ensure that abortion care is truly accessible to all people by eradicating needless barriers to accessing healthcare.
Attorney Sarah Kolick is a graduate of Smith College and George Washington University Law School who is passionate about advocating for women’s and LGBTQ people’s rights through grass roots activism.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Abortion bans hijack uteruses. We aren't your incubators.
