The move to overturn Roe v. Wade is another forceful attack in the crusade of influential men against the most vulnerable of the female sex, an aim to regain power and control in hopes of reinstating outdated ideas about female sexuality and gender.
Overturning Roe is a logical step for them as it is a long-standing pillar of strength and defiance towards conservative traditionalist ideologies that Republicans have not had the chance to purge the country of until now, as the Court maintains a conservative male majority.
Even when impregnated by rape and incest, Ohio Rep. Jean Schmidt says the pregnancy should be seen as an “opportunity.” You’re already traumatized and you will never be the same, so why not have a baby?
This is not about the unborn. This is about dominating and controlling women.
Throughout a woman’s life, she is constantly told that somebody else, often an older male relative, knows what is best for her.
A woman is taught to question her own judgment from day one and that self-worth is not something she is born with but something to be earned: the clothes she wears, the way she looks, her ability to shut up and look pretty, her ability to swallow her anger and her tears but also to be in touch with her feelings enough to not appear cold to men.
Everything she does should be done with a man in mind: not disappointing her father, not upsetting her grandfather, making herself appealing to men.
But never too appealing.
The societal obsession with female sexuality and religious adherence to the Madonna-whore complex is stuff of the conservative man’s dreams. A woman gets pregnant unexpectedly and faces shame and guilt as everyone forgets it takes not only a woman but also a man to cause pregnancy.
You are either a virgin or a whore.
While one of the most common arguments for abortion rights is instances of rape and incest, it is important to remember that abortion is a surgical procedure that women have for all kinds of reasons that do not have to be life-threatening or traumatic to be valid.
Lower-class women have abortions because they cannot financially support a pregnancy. Mothers have abortions because of issues that occurred in a previous labor. High school and college students have abortions because they are not in the right place financially, emotionally, physically, etc. to have a child.
If you disagree that a person with a uterus should have the right to choose, you are not pro-life, you are anti-bodily autonomy. Before blindly using fear and guilt tactics under the guise of wanting to “save the babies,” put their wellbeing first and start by fixing the broken foster care system, the high cost of medical care, or the underregulation of firearms.
Meg Diehl is a freshman studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. What are your thoughts? Tell Meg by tweeting her at @irlbug.
Assistant Opinion Editor
