The Heartbeat Ban is a Disgusting Disgrace
(First posted May 14, 2019)
For a few months now, I have been actively advocating for women and motivating others to view the pro-choice movement in a different light. In one of my speeches, I asked my audience to imagine what society would look like if abortion were to become illegal again. As I sit down to write this blog article, I fear that I will no longer need to ask my peers to imagine this society, but rather open their eyes. With a heavy and broken heart, I am addressing the latest abortion ban that has been recently introduced in Georgia. This is one of the most restrictive bans, and it is quickly moving and developing amongst southern states. In 2019, in the land of the free, women are forced to undergo unwanted pregnancies if a heart beat is detected, which can be as early as six weeks. I’ve heard politicians claim that this is finally an option that has potential to please everybody, as if. The goal is not to please everybody, the goal is reproductive freedom.
I can vividly recall the night that I first read about such restrictions. I had just gotten back from a night out with my friends, and my roommate and I were taking off our makeup in preparation for bedtime. I started scrolling through my phone when I opened a news article I found on Snapchat. There it was, staring me dead in the eyes, an article about Georgia’s Heartbeat Ban. I put my hand over my mouth and started sobbing into my pillow. I stared outside my window for hours, thoughts of fear and hopelessness running rampant through my mind. I am disgusted, horrified, and outraged.
Women have made profound strides in society, gaining and fighting for justice against misogyny, sexism, and discrimination. One hundred years ago, women were so confined and restricted that voting wasn’t even authorized. We had no rights. We were viewed as inferior objects, like beings that had to be controlled. Unfortunately, from my eyes, every stride that has been made is disparaged since the introduction of the Heartbeat Ban.
We cannot claim to have freedom if we now only have most of our reproductive rights. It’s a matter of all or nothing. Imagine a puzzle, you can have all the pieces perfectly aligned with one another, but the puzzle is not complete without the final piece. Women’s rights are a puzzle with a missing piece. We can’t just have almost all reproductive rights and consider this justified. Women are not free, and our oppressors are the very men who in power who allow such bills to be passed, who tie a confining knot around our wrists, ankles, and, oh, our vaginas. To speak generally, because females do not have full reproductive rights, I do not view women as free anymore.
Audre Lorde was a writer and feminist who said, “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” This is so much more than some random abortion law in Georgia, this is a matter of women’s freedom or rights. You see, it might seem a bit dramatic to lose my shit over some law in a state that I don’t live in, have no relatives in, and probably will never find myself in too frequently (especially now). Those who are victims of unlawful reproductive restrictions, the women who reside in southern regions of America, are not free. As a result, I am not free, my mother is not, my future daughter, my cousin, aunt, nobody. As a collective society, we must recognize that the Heartbeat Ban is the beginning of a new reality. I want to encourage everybody, regardless of where you live, to open your eyes to the true devastation at play. This is not a problem for those in the south, this is a problem for all women in America.
We are not free unless we have all our rights, including access to safe abortions. In response, Alyssa Milano proposed a sex strike. She said, “Our reproductive rights are being erased. Until women have legal control over our own bodies we just cannot risk pregnancy. Join me by not having sex until we get bodily autonomy back. I’m calling for a #SexStrike. Pass it on." Is the solution to this problem abstaining from sex? I understand Milano completely, and respect her decision to stop having sex in a time where women don’t have full reproductive control over their bodies. However, I don’t believe that a sex strike is the answer.
I feel that this strike reinforces the stigma that when women have sex, they are invoking in some grand act, giving away a piece of themselves and never getting it back. I feel that due to existing stereotypes and gender roles, suggesting that women refrain from sex to fight against abortion restrictions is not productive. I have to be honest, one of the main reason I feel like this is ineffective is because, in reality, nobody is going to do it. Sex is one of the most natural aspects of life, and we must encourage women to feel liberated as they express their sexuality however they chose.
Further telling women what to do with their bodies in a time where men in power are already doing so will and has caused a lot of controversy. I do have to acknowledge that I admire Milano’s approach because it pushed people to actively speak and become aware of reproductive issues at play. Her radical suggestion caught the attention of the media and got people talking. I have to wonder, with an idea as extreme as hers, was this her primary goal?
As of now, we have to fight. This is about freedom, control, and justice. I pray and hope that I will not have to watch any more videos of men (who will never get pregnant) sign away our reproductive rights.