Written version of podcast. Click here for podcast version: https://youtu.be/DpLXFo8tQnU
June 30, 2019
By: H. Elizabeth Williams
DISCLAIMER: Before you read this article, I must warn you it can be quite triggering for some. I made it that way for a reason. No matter what party you stand behind, whether it be left or right, I want to spark this conversation for real. I want a right-wing to read this and get mad for me "falsely" calling them out. I want a left-wing person to read this and get upset that I called them out as well. I may not agree with some of these very radical statements mentioned, but it's all here and said to prove a point. You don't control women's bodies, it's just that simple.
Get mad. Spark a conversation. See things from a new perspective, or at least try to.
Men, put yourself in our shoes just for a moment.
Again, if you have some hate you want to leave in the comments don't bother. I don't care. I write to spark change. I write to tell perspective changing stories. I won't change my writing for a couple of cry babies who didn't get their way.
Get over yourselves. Our country IS a crisis. Time you realize that and work with others instead of contributing to the reason it's all going to shit.
Now, listen, If i'm a murderer for aborting a 6 week old zygote then what do we call the people who enable mass shootings, let people die from lack of healthcare, pollute our environment, peddle oxycontin and shoot unarmed civilians?
I’m not going to go into intensive detail on this idiotic bill, assuming you’ve heard about it, it’s been spamming the news for weeks. Even if you wanted to avoid it, you couldn’t. And now, here you are.
This ‘Heartbeat bill’ bans abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy, and already 11 states have passed such a law this year alone (Georgia, Louisiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Alabama, Utah, Arkansas, Indiana and North Dakota), and probably a few more by the time this goes out.
This bill prohibits abortion once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, but even though it’s common sense to know that this will prohibit abortion before many women even know they are pregnant, I wouldn’t expect senators who were placed into office and are expected to obtain knowledge on the things they vote on and not counting on their own personal agendas, to know that. Most of the men writing these anti choice heartbeat bills don't know the first thing about a woman's body outside of the things they want from it.
Let’s keep it real here. Pro-life was never about saving lives or having the right to life… It’s always been about control.
Take a glance at a history book. It’s all there. Your hypocrisy in all it’s glory has been recognized in the annals of history.
Isn’t it interesting that a country founded to allow freedom of religious persecution is now using religion to persecute freedoms?
You demanded the Government be out of your lives, out of your business and out of your bedroom.
Now you’re in our wombs, but you don’t care. You don’t care because you’ve never been pregnant. You don’t care because you don’t understand nor do you want to. You don’t care if millions of women are screaming at you to leave our bodies alone because you’ve learned to tune out our cries when we were being drugged and raped.
You. Don’t. Care.
So why would you care about a non-developed fetus when you don’t care about grown ass women?
You don’t.
“What if the baby you abort grows up and cures cancer?”
What if the teenage girl you’re denying an abortion to grows up and cures cancer? What if she takes us to Mars? What if she helps to resolve world hunger? But, now, she can't afford to go get an education. Instead, she has to take care of a baby. What about her? An actual living human?
Again, with the hypocrisy. For instance, the fact that if a 16 year old girl wanted to adopt a child, the government wouldn't allow it. She isn't done with her education, she can't financially support herself and she isn't a legal adult. But if she gets pregnant, the government can ban her from getting an abortion. How is that logical.
You don’t care.
On July 1, 2018 there were 16,154 children in foster care in Ohio alone. That number is projected to hit 20,000 by 2020. Ohio, which is one of the states that passed a law forbidding abortion, wants us to believe they care about children.
Ohio… the state that has the eleventh highest rate of babies dying before their first birthday.
Ohio… the state that ranks 35th in healthcare and 31st in education.
You’re obviously not pro-life. You obviously don’t care.
If you care about children why do school teachers have to buy their own school supplies? Why is healthcare a for-profit industry? Why do they pretend like the planet isn't being ruined? Why are children detained in cages? Why do they favor gun lobbies over victims?
They. don’t. Care.
“We’re against abortion because we love our children.”
No you don’t.
Do you support guaranteed maternity leave? Nope.
What about funding CHIP and nutrition programs for low-income children? Nope.
Banning military-style assault rifles used to massacre children in schools? Nope.
Let's get scientific. One of the defining characteristics of life (something is not considered alive unless they have ALL of the characteristics of life) is the ability to independently process energy, meaning cellular respiration, photosynthesis or fermentation. Fetuses in the earliest weeks are known to be only tiny clumps of cells, therefore, they have no need to go through any energy processing at all. Later on in the pregnancy, they are able to “breathe” through the umbilical cord. Without it, they die. They are completely dependent on their mother. If the mother dies, the fetus dies. If the umbilical cord is broken, the fetus dies. It is not able to independently process energy through cellular respiration. It lacks a characteristic of life. It is scientifically not alive.
Anti-abortionists plead for science from the other side. Well, here it is. Simple biology. Scientifically speaking, the fetus is not alive until it takes its first independent breath. Adding onto that, the heartbeat exists because the heart needs to form first in order for blood to pump, so cells can begin forming other organs.
The human uterus automatically rejects and flushes out around 70% of all fertilized eggs, so defining life as beginning at conception essentially makes it illegal to have functioning reproductive organs. The human uterus is one of the most hostile places for an embryo to implant. Guess all of our uteruses are potential serial killers. And, its hostile because human pregnancy is incredibly dangerous by all accounts compared to the rest of the animal kingdom, so bear that in mind whenever someone says ‘just go through with the pregnancy and give it up for adoption.’
While we’re bringing light to these buried facts, We need to talk about what late term abortions really are. They have been grossly mischaracterized by the right, ignored by the left and it is destroying our country. “Late-term” abortion is a tragic and rare thing. It happens when there is something very wrong with a fetus, and/or when the mother's life is threatened by the pregnancy. The right has painted it as something done often, and casually. Both are untrue. They have said it causes pain to the fetus, when in truth a non-viable fetus growing to full term, being born, and then dying moments later is far more real and painful. This issue is a major lynchpin in wording our right to safe and legal abortions because people have believed so many lies.
So, with that said, to all those who go on and on about how abortion is murder, yet the mother dying because of being denied one isn’t… Scientifically speaking: you suck.
Ever notice how it's mostly white republican men and religious nuts who are ALWAYS telling women what to do with their bodies? Also, crying crocodile tears about ‘the children’ but can't be bothered to support social programs for mothers or children to get healthcare or education?
Don’t believe me?
Coleman-Madison offered an amendment requiring the state of Alabama to pay for medical care to the age of 3 for any child it required a woman to carry to term.
It was defeated 23-6. Once they are born they don't care. They never did.
So, just wondering but if a fetus is a person at 6 weeks pregnant, is that when the child support starts? Is that also when you can’t deport the mother because she's carrying a U.S. citizen? Can I insure a 6 week fetus and collect if I miscarry? Just figured if we’re going here we should go all in.
Forcing people to have children while opposing policies that ensure access to healthcare, education, housing and nutrition has nothing to do with the sanctity of life and everything to do with stripping individuals of bodily autonomy as part of maintaining an oppressed underclass.
To that we say: you’ve been allowed to be unchecked for too long. No more. Your BS and hypocrisy is being called out and challenged.
If they are so concerned about “fetuses” then why don't they protest IVF clinics?
IVF procedures produce countless embryos, which are discarded. Is it because it’s mostly rich, white couples who do IVF and this issue isn't about ‘fetuses’ at all?
Hmm, interesting. You know, call me crazy but it’s like we can see right through you.
Alabama put a carve-out in the bill for IVF. Meaning they DO NOT CARE if these embryos are lost. Alabama state senator, Clyde Chambliss, even dug himself a hole by saying: “the egg in the lab doesn’t apply. It’s not in a woman. She’s not pregnant.”
In other words, all they care about is controlling women.
Whatever happened to ‘life begins at conception?’ If what these people care about are ‘embryos,’ if they truly believe that ‘abortion is murder,’ then why aren’t they calling IVF murder?
Answer: because they don’t believe any of it. They believe in controlling women.
If they care about fetuses then why don't they consider miscarriage the biggest public health threat in the world? 50% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage (usually the woman doesn't even know).
Answer: They don't care about fetuses. They only care about controlling women.
If you take away a woman's right to choose whether or not to have a child, you tell her that her worth is derived solely from her value as a breeder-not her mind, her innate value as a human being. That makes her a second class citizen. THAT is what this issue is about.
If you have an abortion, there's a stigma. If you have a baby outside of marriage or as a teen, there's a stigma. If you get married and don't have babies there's a stigma. It’s almost like it's not about the babies its about judging women and controlling their decisions.
Speaking of controlling, How are women perceived in 'The Handmaid's Tale?'
Hosts.
And what are women in the eyes of the men that voted on this bill?
Hosts.
In both cases, women are portrayed and perceived as nothing but a vessel to carry children in; no matter their career, aspirations or desires, it is simply a woman's role to give birth to life. While this dystopian series is merely fantastical, it would not be completely illogical of you to believe that such a society could become our reality. I mean, look out the window. You don’t have to pay for Hulu anymore to see The Handmaid’s Tale. It happens to be going on right outside.
Hosts. That’s all we are to them.
Women are basically considered hosts rather than full human beings. I mean you can’t even take an organ from a cadaver without the person having granted permission before they die. We can legally pull the plug on people who are brain dead even when they have heartbeats because they are legally dead. Without a brain you have no cognitive function or awareness of anything really. But go off on how a heartbeat equals life so you can further oppress women.
And yet, women, who are fully functioning people are not given a choice in many states and if it surrounds our country, with the people we have on the supreme court now I have no confidence that our rights will be protected. And again, some of us will always have options, but the most vulnerable among us have fewer and fewer and fewer. You can't go to another state. You can't have a long waiting period. You know, it's just that simple. And we shouldn't have to. But, I guess It's nice to know women will always have access to a free abortion so long as they get pregnant by a married republican congressman. Scott Lloyd. Tim Murphy. I’m looking at you.
It's fascinating to see people argue that women won't really be punished if abortion is illegal.
Here are some things that have *already* happened to women despite Roe:
Melissa Ann Rowland of Utah was charged with murder after one of her twins was a stillborn-because she refused a c-section.
Purvi Patel of Indiana was sentenced to 20 years in prison for feticide. She said she had a miscarriage, and no traces of any abortifacient were found in her blood work.
Angela Carder was 27 years old, 26 weeks pregnant and had cancer. She was forced to undergo a c-section to try to save the baby despite the risk to her health. They both died.
Rennie Gibbs of Mississippi was 16 years old when she delivered a stillborn baby-she was indicted on charges of “depraved heart murder” after accusations that she used drugs.
A woman in Louisiana was jailed on charges of second degree murder after she went to the hospital for unexplained vaginal bleeding. It was over a year before medical records showed that she had a miscarriage.
Christine Taylor of Iowa was charged with attempted feticide after she fell down the stairs at home.
Laura Pemberton was in labor ready to give birth at home when a sheriff arrived strapped her legs together and took her to a hospital for a forced c-section. Judge claimed she was endangering her baby by attempting a vaginal birth after a previous cesarean.
Regina McKnight had a stillbirth caused by an infection. Prosecutors argued she caused the stillbirth because she used cocaine. A jury found her guilty after 15 minutes of deliberation and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Texas forced a woman to deliver stillborn baby.
It’s mostly women of color, immigrant and low income women who are already being punished using anti choice laws. And this is while abortion is legal. Can you imagine what would happen if roe were overturned. Do you care?
LADIES OF GEORGIA LISTEN UP! I know i mentioned how you can’t go to another state and that we need to actually leave women’s bodies alone, but until they listen know that The Georgia abortion law does not take effect until January 2020. Until then please help spread the word to help women:
Only take an at home test. Why? Because of step two.
Don't tell ANYONE YOU’RE PREGNANT. That includes any form of texting, talking, social media ANYTHING. Don’t even tell your best friend.
Go for camping, fishing, hiking trip. Never tell anyone anything else.
Obtain the abortion and DO NOT sign any waivers. If you do not sign any waivers giving consent for even providers to communicate to other providers, you are safe.
Look up HIPPA. Your information is federally protected. If the one and only person who knows you had an abortion leaks it they will go to prison. Why? Because they violated HIPPA and unless you ignored the other rules, they are the only one who knows.
Senator Clyde Chambliss saying “when God creates the miracle of life inside a woman's womb it's not our place as human beings to extinguish that life.” Describing rape as “God creating the miracle of life in a woman's womb” is one of the most heinous examples of weaponizing religion against women i’ve ever seen.
And he’s not the only one.
The fact that THESE are the people voting on what I can do with MY body makes me sick to my stomach:
Clayton Williams, a republican from Texas said, “Rape is kinda like the weather. If it's inevitable, relax and enjoy it.”
Todd Akin, a republican from Missouri said, “If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to shut that thing down.”
Rick Santorum, a republican from Pennsylvania said, “Rape victims should make the best of a bad situation.”
Richard Mourdock, a republican from Indiana said, “Even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that is something that god intended to happen.”
Lawrence Lockman, a republican from Maine said, “If a woman has (the right to an abortion) why shouldn't a man use his freedom to use his superior strength to force himself on a woman? At least the rapists pursuit of sexual freedom doesn't (in most cases) result in anyone's death.”
Are you stupid? How the fuck did you get elected? Never mind.. I know the answer.
And, by the way, this is Just a PSA, but if you personally believe a rape victim has to keep their baby, especially because “god wanted her to get pregnant,” stay the fuck away from me.
Can you think of any laws that give the government power to make decisions about the male body?
To be against abortion and comprehensive sex education and affordable access to birth control is being against fire and fire extinguishers. I’ll tell you, If men got pregnant they’d sell abortion mints at every grocery store checkout right next to the altoids. What would it be like if the roles were reversed?
This is a sperm at just one day old. Masturbation is MASS MURDER and should be a federal crime. At one day your sperm has 23 chromosomes a flagellum and can already swim.
See how ridiculous this sounds? That's you right now.
Or what about this fancy idea: Mandatory vasectomies until you want to have children. They can be reversed, so there’s no argument. Come on guys let's save lives! What's that? A hard no? Why? Because it’s your body and we don't get to make that choice for you? Ohhhh. Interesting.
Alabama, Georgia and all those states that are hopping on this idiotic “heartbeat bill” have indefinitely pissed me off as I am sure they have done to many others.
According to the Georgia law, if a Georgia resident plans to travel elsewhere to obtain an abortion, she may be charged with conspiracy to commit murder, punishable by 10 years imprisonment. HOW IS THIS LEGAL?!
The fact that a doctor who performs an abortion on a rape victim will face more time in prison than a rapist is absolutely insane. If you’re convicted of first degree rape in Alabama, you can serve as few as 10 years in prison. But, under this new Draconian Law that Alabama Senators just tried to pass, if a rape victim has an abortion it’s up to 99 years in prison. Honestly, I think christian moms who abort their 14 year old LGBTQ+ kids from their homes should go to prison for 99 years instead. Just saying.
You wanna tell me to my face, it's not about women? Okay, If women can’t have abortions than the government need to stop wasting $85 million prescribing viagra for broken dicks. God broke your dick, the consequences of life. Broken dicks is the natural way of life just like babies. No abortions for women, no fix a broken dick pill for men.
Behind millions of successful men is an abortion they don't regret getting with their partner. I urge men to go beyond solidarity and talk about how they’ve personally benefited from abortion rights too. Not because it's the right thing for you to do, but because it's true!
How about a law that states any politician found to have paid for an abortion will serve life in prison? I’m sure then you’d change your minds because it affects you.
I think no matter what side of the argument you’re on you can’t fail to realize just how ridiculous this is.
It’s the year 2019 and yet 22 male senators have voted to make abortions illegal in Alabama. You know… abortions that only females can have.
It’s the year 2019 I can not believe I live in a country that thinks a zygote is a fully realized human being with rights, but still hasn’t decided if a black person is. You’re pro life until that baby is poor, transgender, black, gay, mexican, disabled, or sick.
It’s 2019 and yet all those who claim to be pro-life are deadly silent when a woman went into premature labor while being detained, her baby died and this is ICE’s response: “a stillbirth is not considered an in-custody death.”
It’s 2019 and yet the Senate Republican working group formed to find a consensus on health care is all men. That doesn't look like the panel that protects women that looks like the panel that says ”well she drowned guess she wasn't a witch.” Guess the Salem Witch Trials are making a comeback… lovely.
It’s 2019 and we have a state where an 11 year old cannot buy a PG13 movie ticket, buy a lottery ticket, buy cold medicine, by a T-Rated video game, drive a vehicle and vote BY LAW is now required to carry out a full-term pregnancy. This genuinely brings me to tears anti-abortion is supposedly pro-life, but do you honestly think a CHILD'S body can handle this?! Her physical and mental health basically destroyed and a permanent reminder of the horrific trauma she's already been through.
We must also bear in mind that abortions are going to take place, whether they are legal or not. Except, as BBC explains, 'History shows that making abortion legal generally leads to significant reductions in injuries and deaths caused to women by abortion.'
No shit. By making abortion illegal, more women will die, and that is certainly not 'pro-life' at all.
What I find hilarious is that You all don’t want us to have birth control or abortions but God forbid we whip a titty out to feed the baby you wanted us to push out.
I honestly want them to say all this was a joke, because right now our country is a joke. We have old ass white men making laws on abortion like they’re able to give birth, we have loads of school shootings, people are drowning in college debt and it’s getting harder and harder to survive. If you’re pro-life then fight for a black man's right to live. Take immigrant children out of cages and stop treating them like animals. Six have already died in US custody.
If you’re so pro life then start treating already born humans at least as well as you are treating an unborn fetus.
A child in a cage is a person. My period 10 days late is not a person.
Men refuse to take birth control because of the symptoms, refuse to use condoms because it ‘doesn't feel as good’ and refuse to acknowledge rape and assault against women because that's their ‘bro’ but wanna put their two cents in on what a woman should do with her body.
“I stuck my penis in you, therefore I am entitled to use you as my personal incubator, and you are now obligated to raise my spawn. However, I retain the right to be involved as little or as much as I feel. Failure to comply shall result in prison or death.”
Well, and I say this in the most lady-like manner I can muster: go fuck yourself.
You’re in my womb. I want you out. You don’t control this and certainly don’t control me. You don’t own this and certainly don’t own me. You all came from a woman. Did you not learn a single thing? You can't get pregnant. You’ve never been pregnant. You don't know what it's like to be pregnant. You don't know what a woman goes through when she's pregnant.
Do NOT speak for women, Do NOT try to control women and certainly, please if you have one speck of intelligence left in that brain of yours, do NOT FUCK with women. You misogynistic assholes won’t like the outcome.
This isn’t about being pro life at all, cut the bullshit. This is about controlling women. I mean, come on… If they cared about kids they wouldn't put kids in debt for school lunch. They wouldn't let them drink contaminated water they wouldn't let climate change destroy their future, parents could have maternity/paternity leave, they wouldn't put them in cages at the border, wouldn't let them be murdered in school, they'd invest in public school, they'd completely revamp the foster care system, they wouldn't let families experience homelessness, would make it more accessible to see a doctor and get treatment, they'd end the school to prison pipeline, they'd pay living wages so parents could have more family time and not have to work 3 jobs, they wouldn't let drug companies overcharge for medication, they'd stop building housing on contaminated sites, teachers wouldn't beg for raises, college debt would be erased, they'd be ample access to non opioid medicines, ‘gay conversion’ wouldn't exist, trans kids would be able to use the bathroom they identify with, they'd let LGBTQ+ couples adopt, they'd teach consent and sex education, they’d ensure poor families had electricity and running water, food manufacturers wouldn't be able to sell us cheap garbage bc fresh food is unaffordable, … If they actually cared about the health, safety and well being of children they would address any of these things first and you wouldn't put people and doctors in prison for abortion.
We should pass a woman's heartbeat law: if a woman has a heartbeat, you can't tell her what to do with her goddamn body, ever.
There's not a single thing in this world a man could experience that would come even close to the indignity of being legally forced to carry your rapist's baby to term. Why do you want that for us? What have we done to deserve this? Challenge you for a seat at the table? Realize we’re worth more than being mere servants to your beck and call? If you were in our shoes, I’m sure you wouldn’t want this. So don’t do it to us. This is your last warning. We’re done asking. We will fight and we will win.
Because you don’t control us… Not anymore.
