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3 Things You Can Do to Celebrate Roe Vs. Wade

 
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On January 22, 1973, the United States Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade, ruled that a woman may legally have an abortion.

In a time where the right to reproductive healthcare and the right of abortion both seem to be hanging in the balance for women in the United States, there are three small ways to celebrate the law that made history and created controversy around the country.

1. Learn about the law. Even if it's through Wikipedia, educate yourself, your friends and your family about the Roe v. Wade case. Research the Hyde Amendment and current discussion with regards to healthcare and reproductive rights. And finally, look into the interactive piece at RH Reality Check- where women write and discuss Roe v. Wade by answering the question "What Does Choice Mean to You?"

For example, Bianca Valdez writes:

"As a young woman of color, I didn’t have a choice but to put myself on birth control because neither I nor my partner have the support systems to allow us to have children and continue our lives, careers, and education. In the same respect, I don’t have a choice but to deal with the stigma of being a young woman of color on birth control..."

2. Educate yourself and others by providing access to accurate sexual health information. Think, "Are there few resources in parts of your community?" If there is a lack of accessibility, join the cause in bridging the gap between low income women and women of color. Volunteer, donate money or join a committee that is dedicated to the expansion of resources for everyone.

3. Think of others. Women in Haiti don't have access to clean water and sanitation to raise their children or give birth. Organizations across the country are struggling to make sure that our new healthcare plans include reproductive healthcare for women. Take the week's worth of money you spend at your local coffee shop and send it over to an organization that is ensuring all women have the right to bear a child, not have a child, and raise a child.

Add a Comment3 Comments

EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

Thank you for your post, anonymous. What you say is true. There will always be abortions whether it is legal or not. There are many countries that do not share in the same practices as the United States and women are still obtaining abortions...here is an article http://timeinmoments.wordpress.com/2009/06/07/illegal-abortions-kill-at-least-70000-women-a-year/.

This article says 70,000 women will die each each year while obtaining illegal abortions. It is very sad.

There are always choices and the above information is great if people would learn from it but unfortunately, that is not the society we live in.

February 20, 2010 - 10:50am
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

We are not going to keep our legs closed, as the reality of the population boom has shown.

Adoption, while theoretically a good idea, is harder to do than anything in the entire world. As a woman who has been carrying around your offspring, your hope for the world, the love of your live, for nine months, giving this living piece of love to someone else to raise can be impossible. Even if you have no hope whatsoever of giving your child anything remotely close to the life it deserves.

Some women think that it is a better choice not to put themselves through agony for the rest of their lives by either giving a child up for adoption or forcing their child to go through a life of horror due to an abusive family member, constant hunger, etc.

These women will have abortions. Most of these abortions will happen before the first flutters of fetuses inside wombs are felt. These abortions will happen regardless of the legality of abortions in the country these women are in. It is clear that legalized abortions help rather than hurt, as the women who get abortions are doing so not with shady "doctors," not with coat hangers, but in ways that allow them to live rather than die. And live the rest of their lives knowing that they made the best choice for their children.

February 20, 2010 - 9:17am
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

This is cruel. I have felt that if you cannot raise a child, then don't have one. Mistakes happen, and that's when responsibility needs to kick in. Adoption gives the child, who may have been concieved by accident, a chanve to grow up with parents who want her/him. Destroying the life that was created is unfair to that life. How many of us over the age of 37 would have been"terminated" if our mothers had Roe v Wade as an excuse? How many of us were accidents? Are you glad to be alive and thankful your mother didn't "terminate" you? Is the world a better place with you in it, or should you have "terminated" because you rather not be here? How many of our own kids these days were "accidents" but who give us joy, and one day may grow up to honor the human race by high achievements? How many of us make decisions that we later regret? Sleeping with the wrong person and getting pregnant is something many women will regret, but ending the life inside her body is something many women in retrospect will regret as well. Two wrongs don't make a right.

Being selfish and destroying life is not the answer to accidental conception. Remember, we don't have to spread our legs if we don't want the risk of getting pregnant. Fun has its consequences. Teaching girls to be responsible to wait and to have self respect, improves self image over the long term that is already badly damaged by the media, peer pressure and society. Getting drunk and making a mistake, means first not getting drunk. And even if a woman is careful and still gets pregnant and is not ready to be a mother, think of the millions of women who are ready to be a mom and cannot, and spend thousands of dollars and countless years trying to conceive. Give then the gift that you don't want.

Roe v Wade arguably has been more a curse than a blessing. It has opened up women to more, not less sexual abuse and objectification. Abortion also gives men the excuse to disrespect our bodies. If we "give it up" easy and something happens, there's "easy clean-up". But what has the woman gained from all that? More importantly, what has she lost?

Race and access to health care are smoke screen excuses for abortion providers to make money. Who are the victims of corporate abortion? Minority women. Poor and inner city women are targeted by the corporate abortion industry. They make their money on how many abortions can be done. The more the merrier. Minoirty groups are dessimated because their next generation is being killed off. Those poor girls who get pregnant are the victims of this entire money making charade. If you truly want to help these girls, then education and prevention is the way to go. Wouldn't it be better to have these girls strive for career success and self-betterment and be an example to their community? That would fulfill the Equality mantra chanted all the time. Free abortions don't help these girls. It sends them the wrong message that bad choices can be erased by hitting the "reset button", and getting an abortion. It does not teach them good lessons in order to prevent future mistakes. Men lose, not gain repsect for women who do not respect themselves. If we want respect as women, we must resepct our bodies and use our minds, not be slaves to our bodies and give in. Societies that force women into early marriages, condone rape and sexual abuse cannot be easily changed by us in America or the "enlightened" women's movement. those societies do not like America, and certainly do not like us coming over there to tell them what to do. We may hate their behavior, and it is unfair to those women trapped there, but we cannot fix all the world's ills. We should have learned the lesson of the war in Iraq: we in America cannot export out ideas and impose them on others. If people want to adopt our ideas, then they come here, like they have done for the last 400 years, to escape their native lands.

Women need to control their bodies. . . .and keep their legs shut.

January 23, 2010 - 7:33am
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