After Roe v. Wade, will Tennessee lawmakers finally tend to women's health? | Watts
I'm still trying to process the news about the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the landmark case Roe v. Wade and hand over a woman's right to an abortion to each individual state.
As of right now, 21 states have either banned abortion or are likely to ban or restrict abortion within 30 days of the decision. Of course, Tennessee is one of these states.
Now, I'm still fairly new here, as I just passed my one-year mark as a Tennessean, but it's obvious what position elected state officials like Gov. Bill Lee support in the conversation about abortion.
My issue with pro-lifers is the lack of care about the quality of life that babies will be born into. How can you be pro-life without considering improving the quality of life and environment that these children will be raised in?
Tennessee's Attorney General's office argued the state "has valid interest in protecting the lives of unborn Tennesseans," but what about the living, current residents of Tennessee? Who is going to protect us?
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It's unreasonable and irresponsible to ban abortions without ensuring that the parents of those kids will have access to high-quality, affordable healthcare and child care.
Lack of affordable healthcare options
In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that the option to expand Medicaid was up to states rather than being implemented nationwide. Tennessee is one of 12 states that is still refusing to expand Medicaid coverage— which would provide Medicaid benefits, through the TennCare program, to groups who previously did not qualify for the program.
How can you claim to be "pro-life" but won't agree to expand the parameters of a federal healthcare program that could provide 339,000 Tennesseans with quality and affordable healthcare?
Healthcare costs are expected to rise another 3.6% in 2022 because of inflation, reported the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
According to the Tennessee Justice Center, 61% of Tennesseans admitted to experiencing healthcare affordability issues and 11% of the population remains uninsured.
Tennessee is losing out on $2.1 billion of federal aid and leaving close to half a million Tennesseans ineligible for healthcare coverage simply because they refuse to expand.
The phrase "It takes a village to raise a child" is an old African proverb, which means that it takes many people to provide a safe, healthy environment for children to develop and flourish. Children are an extension of their parents and a product of their environment.
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Since lawmakers are banning abortions, Tennesseans need their elected officials now more than ever to be apart of that village and help make sure that they have access to resources that can help towards child care.
War on women
This ban on abortion is proof that some people reduce the act of motherhood and raising a child to such a minuscule commodity that they allow 50 different variations of a decision that should be made by each individual American female.
The overturning of Roe v. Wade is a major injustice and should be considered an attack on all women. There are no laws that govern a male's decision with his body.
Vice President Kamala Harris, when she was a U.S. senator, made this point back in 2018 during now Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing. Harris asked: "Can you think of any laws that give government the power to make decisions about the male body?"
"I'm not aware – I'm not – thinking of any right now." Kavanaugh said.
That's because none exist.
But the decision on whether or not a woman can get an abortion has been tied up with the court system for the past 50 years. It's a war on women.
Rather than dictating the reproductive rights of women, we need to focus on improving the quality of life of Tennesseans so that they can provide their children with happy and stable homes.
Kyra Watts, an Atlanta native, is a graduate of Florida A&M University, and a writer and editor on the opinion and engagement team at The Tennessean in Nashville. She can be reached @Kyrawatts98 on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Roe v. Wade: Will Tennessee lawmakers finally tend to women's health?
