The overturning of Roe v Wade is a devastating sign of how the world sees women

Millions of women in the US have been robbed of their reproductive rights. Here’s why those of us who have had abortions are so heartbroken for them.

OPINION

I terminated a pregnancy at 22 because I wasn’t ready.

That’s it.

I see no reason any woman should have to explain it further than that.

The weekend’s unfathomable US Supreme Court decision, however, is undeniable proof we live in a world that deems it necessary to explore the intricacies of a woman’s choices surrounding her body and life with sick perversion. So here goes.

I fell pregnant to my boyfriend at the time. I was on the pill, but had forgotten to take it. We didn’t use condoms. Frankly, it had never been discussed who would bear the responsibility of whose “job it was” to ensure an accident didn’t happen. It just seemed obvious it would be mine, so it was.

I made the decision to terminate the pregnancy the day after the dreaded plus sign appeared on the test. I wouldn’t say I agonised over the decision, but it certainly wasn’t one I made lightly, either.

I do want children someday. The basis of choosing to end my pregnancy at that point in my life was just that I wasn’t in a position to raise a child. Neither was my boyfriend. Neither were my parents.

Abortion rights activists take the streets of Washington. Picture: AFP.

Not long after the procedure, we split up, and in the years since I’ve had many moments of sweet, sweeping relief that I didn’t go through with having a baby I didn’t want in a relationship that wasn’t right.

I’ve also been able to live overseas, secure my dream job, make incredible friends and monumental mistakes, and become the happiest I’ve ever been.

Almost eight years later, there is no doubt in my mind that when I do become a mother, my child will be far, far better for it.

It breaks my heart that there are women in the US who will never have that clarity.

Roe v Wade, which in 1973 provided the constitutional right to abortions up until foetal viability, was overturned on Friday local time. It is now up to each state to determine whether women can have legal abortions.

At least 10 states have outlawed abortion — with no exception for rape or incest — since the ruling, which means millions have lost their reproductive rights.

Barriers are seen outside the US Supreme Court as abortion rights activists protest. Picture: Samuel Corum / AFP.

This has left many of us shaken to the core.

Every 68 seconds an American is sexually assaulted, and 1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime. An unwanted pregnancy as a result of rape on top of the trauma of being a sexual assault survivor will be a national disaster. It’s a given.

But regardless of what led to an unwanted pregnancy, every woman should have the freedom to choose the direction their life takes with the same freedom men have to opt out of using protection.

It’s been pointed out by many that the cripplingly underfunded health system in America is not only ill-equipped to support women from conception to birth, but the country itself is enormously underprepared to support the inevitable influx of children born into families that cannot afford to raise them.

It is not about babies and it never was. The devastating truth here is that women’s bodily autonomy does not exist in 2022, and the men who want to claim it as their own are far more powerful.

Pediatrician here. This isn't about babies, because if it were, we'd support kids & families with health care, high-quality education, universal child care, reliable housing, access to healthy food. This is about controlling women's bodies.

— Scott Hadland, MD (@DrScottHadland) June 24, 2022

It’s not about babies. It’s about punishing women (and all people with uteruses) and controlling our bodies.

— Leila Cohan (@leilacohan) May 4, 2022

The end of Roe isn't about babies. (See my many other threads on things that are good for babies!).

The end of Roe isn't even about abortion.

The end of Roe is about returning to a world in which pregnancy is a vulnerability that women have and men can exploit. [9/x]

— Betsey Stevenson (@BetseyStevenson) May 5, 2022

Everyone’s story is different. But I’ve never met a woman who lives with regret for their abortion, and we should never be made to feel ashamed of that.

We didn’t kill our babies, but in one fell swoop, the US Supreme Court killed women’s freedom.

That is the only source of shame here.

Originally published as The overturning of Roe v Wade is a devastating sign of how the world sees women