I took a minute (overnight) before putting my own thoughts together on this. We knew it was coming but that doesn’t make it any less shitty. Yes, Roe v. Wade made abortion legal but it was specifically because it established that the constitution grants every individual American an inherent right to privacy and autonomy over their own body. If you’re pro life, right wing, or not breeding for whatever reason, you may think RvW isn’t about you. You’d be deeply wrong. Here’s a short list of the other rights that have been established leaning on the privacy precedent set by Roe V. Wade.
The Right to Contraception
IUDs, the pill, oral birth control, the birth control shot, the patch, male and female condoms, spermicide, etc. Anything that can prevent pregnancy in the first place.
The Right to Procreate (without intrusion of the State)
This is a special shoutout to those with big families who struggle financially or lean on state and federal programs to help make ends meet. Without this right, the State could step in and tell you to stop having children.
The Right to Make Decisions About How to Rear One’s Children
Don’t want the State telling you how to raise your kids??? That’s been a BIG conversation lately between the pandemic lockdown and people who can’t read thinking that CRT is taught in elementary schools (that’s a collegiate level teaching, by the way, but the folks this post is for don’t ever listen to that nugget).
The Right to Marry
Yes, that would be LGBTQ+ marriage, but it also allowed ***interracial*** marriage. Prior to RvW, there were states that still had a ban on mixing races. Mind you, RvW happened in 1973, nearly a decade AFTER the Civil Rights Act. smh
The Right to Personal Control of Medical Treatment
The Right to Intimacy
This one protects the right of those with mental disabilities the right to an intimate relationship.
The Equal Credit Opportunity Act
This granted women (and marginalized people) the right to hold a credit card in their own name without their husband’s name being attached to the card. Prior to this, allowing a woman to have her own money was up to the discretion of the credit card company. The established inherent right to privacy is what helped to change this.
That’s not all of it but it’s enough. Still think RvW being overturned isn’t about you??? I may not be making babies anymore, but I have a lot of people I love who will be touched by at least one part of all this and they’re not all women…
It’s beginning to feel a lot like Gilead up in this piece….
Note August 15, 2022: This was originally posted to my Facebook fanpage when my website wasn’t working properly. It is being reposted on my blog now backdated to the original posting date.