BACKWARDS OR FORWARDS?

Are we going backwards or forwards? With the potential of Roe vs. Wade being undone, here are my thoughts. Women may suddenly once again be clandestinely seeking abortions in states that allow it. The guilt will be their burden for a long time. As I’ve written before, abortion is not an unemotional decision. Most men probably can’t relate to it at that level. Additionally, there will be the stigma attached to the decision. Therefore, women will keep quiet about it, just like pre-1973.

Why should women bear the brunt of this kind of decision? How can any state say it’s okay to keep a pregnancy caused by rape, or if the mother is an unprepared teenager? What about incest? It is by no means an easy decision. It is one that may take many family and friends as well as the man involved to weigh in on the decision for the woman in question to examine her motivations, and final decision. It is not to exclude the male . It is simply to start the decision-making process with the woman who is most affected.

I am currently finishing my second book, a work of fiction based on a true story about a young man who was adopted from Chile and discovers he was stolen from his mother. It is another example of the heartache a woman feels when she’s lost her child, whether through legitimate adoption, abortion or in this case, a villainous social worker who stole the child due to a dictator’s unimaginable policy.

Hopefully, the Supreme Court will have second thoughts or at least direct states on how they should proceed. I truly think it would be a shame to reverse Roe vs. Wade carte blanche. I am hopeful that most states will realize the importance of options for women in a safe environment that is not life-threatening. It is hard to imagine anyone not agreeing to this. I can support putting a limit on how many weeks pregnant seems within reasonable parameters, but let’s be real. Six weeks is too soon, but twenty-four weeks is not acceptable. A woman should be able to evaluate the situation as soon as she knows she’s pregnant and gather support for her decision before the fetus is fully formed.

No matter what, placing this kind of personal decision in the hands of the courts seems outrageous in 2022. Have we not come along as a culture and as a nation? Let’s not criminalize this decision.

We’ll have to wait and see what happens.