Readers of this blog will know that I am not usually political. However, it is impossible for me to ignore what is going on in the United States, our neighbour to the south. This is not a post attempting to replicate any of the excellent reporting and opinion pieces on the tragedy of the Supreme Court of the US striking down Roe V Wade like some unwanted piece of garbage. It’s part personal post and part reflection on the injustice that will likely tear America apart.
I am a strong supporter of a woman’s right to choose and a woman’s right to control her own body. A right most men take for granted. Personhood confers those rights. Women are persons. In second year university, at the age of 19, I became pregnant. This was not a wanted pregnancy and despite my father’s – yes, my father’s – willingness to send me to England for an abortion, my husband and I decided to go ahead, get married, and have a child. At the age of nineteen, two years into a university degree and the potential that would bring for the future, we continued the pregnancy. The baby was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. He essentially died in the birth canal.
Would I do that again? No. Would I encourage either of my children to continue a pregnancy under such circumstances? No. If asked, would I recommend the course of action we followed? No.
That’s the personal story. Millions of women have faced similar decisions. The statistics I’ve seen suggest that 1 in 5 pregnancies are terminated each year and that 1 in 4 women have had an abortion at some time in their lives.
The following images and text speak for themselves.
And two more … recommendations for how women, and men, can make a stand going forward. There was a better version of this first photo on Facebook – but the ‘content police’ over there have removed it from my feed and from the woman who originally shared it. So I had to create my own 🙂
Many historical novels written fifty or more years from now, will no doubt reflect on last week’s decision. The themes and conflicts embodied in those novels won’t be pretty.
NORMALLY, I POST ON ALL ASPECTS OF HISTORICAL FICTION. SO, FOR MORE ON READING & WRITING HISTORICAL FICTION FOLLOW A WRITER OF HISTORY
M.K. Tod writes historical fiction. Her latest novel is THE ADMIRAL’S WIFE, a dual timeline set in Hong Kong. Mary’s other novels, PARIS IN RUINS, TIME AND REGRET, LIES TOLD IN SILENCE and UNRAVELLED are available from Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Google Play and iTunes. She can be contacted on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads or on her website www.mktod.com.
22 Responses
Right on, MK! Thank you for sharing your personal story. It is a reminder of what this decision really means and what must be done about it. My heart breaks. I fear for our democracy. It is no longer what it once was. A great deal is at stake, not just this issue, but many others. We Americans have work to do.
I’m praying for you and those with a similar point of view.
Thank you for this. The right to obtain contraception, privacy about sexual acts, and for my same-sex friends to marry are also in the sights of this Christofascist SCOTUS.
I feel like I’m in the middle of the longest, least satisfying “I told you so” ever.
Hi Sharon – many thanks for your comment. Christofascist – what an apt label to use.
Well said and written. Thanks for sharing your story. Hard to believe that in America, justice is no longer blind and her scales are weighted by politics. There is no room for politics or religious creed in either law (or health care.)
I attach the principles all judges worldwide are supposed to uphold.
The blindfold on lady justice statues represents that she ie justice can not see who is standing in front of her, or how powerful they are. Justice is blind and only judges based on the evidence and it doesn’t matter to her that what the judge, rather only on the evidence placed on the balance scale.
This the credo of every democratic justice system, the judge never take decisions emotionally, but by evidence and law.
The blindfold over the eyes is a very old tradition. In India it is a 1000 years tradition that before the courts and before the judiciary, in panchayats, the judges blindfold themselves and listened to both clients and make the right decision. The only thing matters is evidence and law. no matter what the judges think.
Thanks for sharing this, Sarah. It seems that these principles have been thrown aside. It’s as if they searched and searched for any rationale they could cobble together to deny rights that had already been established – and to deny the fact that almost 70% of Americans support abortion. It’s the antithesis of democracy.
A fine post, Mary. Thank you!
Thanks, Pat!
Mary,
Thank you for sharing your personal story. I am sorry for the loss of your son, especially after the myriad of confusing and emotional decisions you had to make at such a young time in your life. I think (hope) these stories may be the one thing that makes anti-abortionists pause, perhaps sways them bit by bit when they realize how all of us or someone we love are confronted with difficult choices, and it’s so much more than the stories they hear on FoxNews.
I also appreciate the images and texts you shared and have made part of the historical record.
Thank you.
Dee Andrews
Thanks for your response, Dee. Unfortunately, I think that the anti-abortion crusaders are blind to the pain of others. And they are fanatic about Fox News – the fact that this organization calls what they spout ‘news’ would be laughable if it wasn’t so dangerous.
Brava, MK!!!
Thank you! This has certainly rocked everyone I know. I marched, I had teas, I went to teas, I wrote to my congressman to guarantee women the right of their own health decisions. To think that five Catholic judges are still carrying out the wishes of the nuns who taught them in Catholic school and subjugating a nation of women, taking over the very control of their bodies, is horrific.
The Catholic church and its adherents have a lot to answer for. And to think that they these judges call themselves Christian.
Thank you for this post, Mary. It’s gut-wrenching to suddenly be demoted to second class citizenship in one’s own country.
Thanks for your response, Patricia. I have to say that it makes me question whether I want to spend any time in the US right now.
THANK YOU!
Very well said. It is hard not to speak out against injustice even in a country not your own.
Thank you, Susan. Totally agree. The right to choose is a hot-button issue for me.
Thanks for sharing your personal story and for the collection of very appropriate memes!
I hope you have a chance to use a few of them, Liz!
You are brave to make your story public. Thank you. It is so sickening to watch what is happening in the US. Condolences. And congratulations for speaking up!
Thanks, Tema. Combine these Supreme Court decisions with the testimony given on Tuesday by a brave young woman at the Jan 6th hearings – even more sickening.