Why you should be pro-abortion. Period | Opinion
Four years ago, in response to Justice Kennedy’s retirement, I wrote a piece for this publication stressing the danger an additional Trump-nominated Supreme Court Justice could pose for abortion and privacy rights in America.
Well, time has passed, two more Trump-nominated Justices joined the Court, and now, in an unheard-of breach of Supreme Court etiquette, a draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade has been leaked to the public.
In my prior piece, I wrote about the likely cascading eradication of privacy rights that would result from overturning Roe. Such as the right to access contraception, the rights of interracial and same-sex couples to marry, and the right to refuse medical treatment. While those claims are becoming more real by the day – the cases legalizing same-sex marriage and sodomy were explicitly targeted in the leaked opinion –the core of the issue is much simpler.
I discussed fundamental rights as things given force by the documents to which they are tied. But there is a deeper right that cannot be bestowed by any government or enshrined by a piece of paper, the right to your own body and how that impacts your life.
That is what being pro-abortion is, it’s the belief in the right to self-determination and bodily integrity. If you do not believe in that most basic right, what other rights could you possibly defend?
In the intervening four years, I have graduated from law school, passed the Bar, worked, been unemployed, lost people I loved, and gained an amazing niece. I developed a deeper understanding of the women in my life. It is because my mother, sisters, grandmothers, and foremothers were able to make decisions about their own fertility, through abortion, contraception, or other methods – legal or not – that I am where I am today. Every opportunity I have ever had is their gift to me.
Whether the decision to get an abortion is complicated or simple, it is an act of self-determination so personal it exists far beyond the jurisdiction of any court.
People will end their unwanted pregnancies regardless of legality, we have been doing so since the dawn of humanity. Abortion bans, like Florida’s recently passed 15-week ban, only serve to disproportionately harm people of color, those of low-incomes, and young people in search of care.
Abortion is still legal for now, but as we approach the Court’s almost certain decision to overturn Roe, just know there are options. There are abortion funds to help patients travel and pay for care. There are clinics that need donations and volunteers to help them stay open. And, as always, there is the choice to get involved in your government.
None of these is the answer to ensure every person is empowered to make and carry out their own reproductive decisions, but they are something. I have hope they will lead to a world where my niece will never hesitate to assert that she is a complete and capable person, able to make any and all decisions for herself.
Madeline Brezin is an attorney and lifelong resident of Tallahassee, Florida.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Send letters to the editor (up to 200 words) or Your Turn columns (about 500 words) to letters@tallahassee.com. Please include your address for verification purposes only, and if you send a Your Turn, also include a photo and 1-2 line bio of yourself. You can also submit anonymous Zing!s at Tallahassee.com/Zing. Submissions are published on a space-available basis. All submissions may be edited for content, clarity and length, and may also be published by any part of the USA TODAY NETWORK.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Why you should be pro-abortion. Period | Opinion
