I need a venue to vent.
I can’t use my WordPress or Medium sites because those are for my professional side hustle — although I’m tempted to write something to post on there. Overturning Roe will very much affect my profession beginning in a year or so.
You see, I’m a pediatric speech-language pathologist and child language researcher. As a clinician, I specialize in working with children with complex communication needs (e.g., behavioral challenges, communication devices, etc.) As a researcher, I investigate ways to support academic achievement of children at-risk of poor academic outcomes due to socioeconomic or cultural/linguistic differences. I see the effects of planned and unplanned pregnancies on the children every day. I work with children who are the result of a very much wanted pregnancies that went ‘wrong.’ I work with children who were the result of unplanned pregnancies that trap single moms and the children in poverty. Overturning Roe means there will be more children and families across this continuum to serve very, very soon.
I have a interview on Monday at a prestigious, research-intensive university for a position that would allow me to combine my clinical and research interests. I should be researching the project, the faculty, the department, the school, and the university. But, I can’t seem to focus on that.
After all, as a woman, it was having the constitutional protections afford to me by Roe, Casey, and Griswald that made it possible for me to choose to pursue my education at public universities which terminated in my Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders. I have several medical conditions that would have complicated a pregnancy from early on. And, as life would have it, I never met anyone for whom I would be willing to risk my own health to have a child. I’ve always known that if I ever wanted a child of my own, adoption would be the best option for me.
But, that’s just the point. I had those options. I was able to spend 11 years in college because I wanted to. I was able to purse a career that I love and that has brought me so much joy. I’m able to share my expertise with the families I serve clinically and conduct studies and share those results with other researchers. I had those choices.
That changed yesterday. Yesterday, anyone with a Y chromosome in this country has more rights than anyone with two XX chromosomes. If you have a Y chromosome, you have more choices than I do this morning.
Yesterday, the six unelected justices of the Supreme Court who have never had to walk a day in the shoes of the families I work with every day decided they know better. They decided that religious zealots who practice medicine without a license in state legislatures know better than individuals and their families about whether and when to bring an actual living, breathing child into this world. Yesterday, they decided that the wording in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence was the law of the land — that all men are created equal. And, those who can become pregnant have no voice and fewer choices.
Looking ahead, the six individuals who had their own choices have created a tsunami of unintended consequences. Where is the funding for prenatal care? Forcing more women to carry to term means increased prenatal care. Where is the paid leave so pregnant people have the time from work to access this care for themselves or their children? Where is the paid parental leave immediately following birth? Where is the funding to train more medical professionals to care for these women? Where is the funding for Medicaid to provide healthcare for these children? Where is the funding to train more pediatricians? Where is the funding for early child care to enable the mothers to return to work? Where is the funding for early intervention services for the increased numbers of children with special needs who will be born as a result of red state policies? Where is the funding for building larger schools? These children will need to be educated. Where is the funding to recruit and train more teachers and professionals to work an increasingly thankless and dangerous job? Where is the funding to go after the men who walk away from the people they impregnate and who abandon their responsibilities in having and rearing the children they father? If people who can be pregnant must face criminal penalties for making the best choices for them, then why should the men who chose to impregnate them not have to face the same penalties?
We all know what will happen. People who can become pregnant will be blamed for the choices that were taken away from them. It’s already happening. Karianne Lisbonee (UT Rep, R-of course) said yesterday and with a straight face that women can control when and which man ejaculates into them.
Yesterday, the religious extremists who have played the long game for the last 50 years won a major battle in the war. But, I wonder if they understand the consequences of their choices. I do. And, I will continue to fight for the families affected by their decisions.
I choose to continue fighting. I live in a sanctuary state for the moment anyway. I choose to open my home to families who need a place to stay when they have to travel here for reproductive care. I am a liberal and choose to be a progressive. I choose to support politicians who truly are pro-life — pro-democracy, pro-voting rights, pro-environment, pro-public education, pro-family by being pro-choice, and pro-equality. I choose to continue fighting because we are all in this together if we want to move forward.
Thank you for taking the time to read my rant.