So as you may know this past January marked the 40th anniversary of Roe Vs Wade, a huge milestone in women's reproductive rights. This allows anyone who wishes to seek an abortion to be protected under the U.S. constitution. Unfortunately, though this has not stopped people in places of power from attempting to infringe upon those rights. I was hopping around on the internet when I came across a story about the 40th anniversary on democracy now.org (a lovely website).
Lynn Paltrow, the founder of the National Advocates for Pregnant Women, a very cool person, said some startling things. But, the most startling of all was the fact that there have been 413 cases of a woman not receiving said rights, some cases resulting in death. So, I said no freaking way! That can't possibly be true! That's utterly horrifying. Well, she was right. Some examples of this include:
- A woman in Utah gave birth to twins. When one was stillborn, she was arrested and charged with criminal homicide based on the claim that her decision to delay cesarean surgery was the cause of the stillbirth.
- After a hearing that lasted less than a day, a court issued an order requiring a critically-ill pregnant woman in Washington, D.C. to undergo cesarean surgery over her objections. Neither she nor her baby survived.
- A judge in Ohio kept a woman imprisoned to prevent her from having an abortion.
- A woman in Oregon who did not comply with a doctor’s recommendation to have additional testing for gestational diabetes was subjected to involuntary civil commitment. During her detention, the additional testing was never performed.
- A Louisiana woman was charged with murder and spent approximately a year in jail before her counsel was able to show that what was deemed a murder of a fetus or newborn was actually a miscarriage that resulted from medication given to her by a health care provider.
- In Texas, a pregnant woman who sometimes smoked marijuana to ease nausea and boost her appetite gave birth to healthy twins. She was arrested for delivery of a controlled substance to a minor.
- A doctor in Wisconsin had concerns about a woman’s plans to have her birth attended by a midwife. As a result, a civil court order of protective custody for the woman’s fetus was obtained. The order authorized the sheriff’s department to take the woman into custody, transport her to a hospital, and subject her to involuntary testing and medical treatment.
All of this implies that a woman is somehow suddenly less than human because she has a fertilized egg in her? Not cool America, Not cool.
If you want to watch the video the link is here
Article I used here
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