I want to approach this topic from the impact it has on someone like the 16-year-old young woman (soon to be 17, as she often reminds me) in our guardianship since she was eight years old.
She suffered emotional, psychological and physical abuse plus extreme neglect the first eight years of her life -- a hell that resulted in a diagnosis of PTSD.
When she first came to live with us, she was an insecure little girl afraid to voice her needs or feelings because during the first half of her life she would pay dearly for asking an innocent question let alone challenge any of her abusers.
Today, about to finish her junior year of high school, she’s evolved into an outspoken, fierce progressive and feminist, quick to call out injustice and intolerance wherever she finds it – hers is an amazing evolution considering how wrong things could have gone with the abuse she suffered.
Add to this – she’s got a way about her that disarms people in a good way. She can fuse facts with ironic humor which makes her quite persuasive – with school mates and even teachers – when she argues her political positions.
Last week, when the following news broke, she was justifiably outraged.
From VOX:
A bill recently introduced in Texas would make it possible for women to get the death penalty for having abortions.
The bill would criminalize all abortions, with no exceptions for rape or incest, and would make it possible to charge a woman with homicide for having the procedure, according to the Washington Post. The state of Texas allows capital punishment for homicide.
Rep. Tony Tinderholt, a Republican state legislator who introduced the bill, says it would make people “consider the repercussions” of having sex.
“My bill simply accomplishes one goal,” Tinderholt said in a statement to media on Wednesday. “It brings equal treatment for unborn human beings under the law.”
Reading about this on social media when at school, she came home, rushing into the house, expecting this story to be the big news on cable TV news.
When I told her I did not hear or see this Texas bill mentioned while I was watching that day, she shook her head and said:
“I bet if Texas outlawed Viagra it would be the hot story of the day.”
I laughed, of course, but a moment later I was horrified.
Not yet 17, she’s well aware that the basic human right for a woman to have dominion over her own body is not a priority in this society.
Then I thought about how, at around her age, I came to the same conclusion – 50 years ago.
How many generations of women, women of every race and ethnicity, will continue to live their lives, from the cradle to the grave, knowing their rights and needs are considered “less than” those of men?
The death penalty.
It’s been 46 years since Roe v. Wade, when the Supreme Court ruled a woman's right to choose an abortion was protected and guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, and Texas is considering a bill that would levy the death penalty against women who choose abortion.
It doesn’t matter if print media has surmised the Texas bill won’t pass or, if it passes, it would be challenged in court.
What matters is the death penalty for abortion is being considered in the year 2019 in a state we “hope” to turn blue.
Also last week, Brainwrap posted a Diary about a law passed in Ohio:
"Human Rights Protection Act," SB 23 outlaws abortions as early as five or six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women know they're pregnant. It is one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.
The bill does include an exception to save the life of the woman, but no exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
… both houses of the Ohio state legislature--the House and Senate alike--voted to ban abortion outright six weeks after conception. There's no exception for rape. There's no exception for incest. There is an exception for the life of the mother (not her health, mind you...just her actual ability to keep breathing)...but that's it. Yesterday this bill was signed into law by GOP Governor Mike DeWine.
Ohio law ALREADY allowed people [to] legally rape their spouse as long as the spouse is intoxicated, drugged, unconscious or mentally deficient. The abortion ban, even in cases of rape, is the part which is new.
Ohio – another state we “hope” to turn blue.
In Brainwrap’s diary I posted this comment:
“When it comes to women’s rights we’re moving backwards. Worse — if we talk about it we’re accused of identity politics.”
My second sentence was actually sarcasm because I personally reject the label: Identity Politics.
I’ve heard the argument from many progressives that intersectionality must include ‘class issues.’
Okay – I can agree with that to a point just as long as ‘class issues’ are not treated as the immediate priority.
Achieving political gains on ‘class issues’ is not going to shield the existential threat to Women, Black people, POC, Immigrants and the LGBTQ community against the hate that has been unleashed in this country since the 2016 election.
We see it in the news every day. We see it in the increased number of hate crimes and reports of sexual assault since 2016 alone.
To put forth the idea that solving ‘class issues’ will somehow stem this hateful tide is, in my opinion, simply ludicrous.
It’s an idea that can only be embraced by white, straight men.
Because white straight men, though many have an intellectual understanding of the threats discussed above, do not understand the reality of living their lives, every day, as potential targets of these threats.
This is the crucial difference.