Collective World

Extreme Anti-Abortion Laws Are A War On Women’s Rights

We cannot let abortion rights fade from consciousness as these extreme laws become America’s new normal.

By

Twenty20 / @findingkp

It’s 2019, right?

Okay, I just wanted to make sure, because lately it seems like we are going back in time. It seems like we are going back to centuries ago when women did not have any rights and they had to do what the “law” and white men said.

On Tuesday, 25 white Republican men passed a bill through the Alabama Senate that could effectively ban abortion in the state.

On Wednesday, Governor Kay Ivey signed into law the Alabama Human Life Protection Act, after both houses of the Alabama Legislature passed HB314.

Alabama’s governor Kay Ivey said in a tweet on Wednesday that “Alabamians’ deeply held belief that every life is precious & that every life is a sacred gift from God.”

Alabama’s abortion bill is the most restrictive abortion law in the US. This law will make Alabama not-so-sweet for thousands of women.

Alabama’s new law is a near-total ban on abortion. The law only allows exceptions “to avoid a serious health risk to the unborn child’s mother” or if the “unborn child has a lethal anomaly.”

Any doctor who is convicted of performing an abortion in the state would be a Class A felon — the highest level in Alabama. Doctors who perform abortions will be the same as rapists and murderers in the eyes of the law.

This includes doctors who perform abortions on victims of rape or incest. You read that right — there are no exceptions for rape and incest. So pretty much victims that are brutally raped will be forced to have the offspring of a violent act.

Women that don’t have the means to support a child or are not ready will be told that they have to keep it. There are some women that simply don’t want kids, but they too will have to face the fact that abortion is not an option in their state. Women will be forced to travel even further for abortion care, which will make it expensive. Leaving the state will be the only option for most women.

These lawmakers say that all lives are precious, and that is why they are trying to enforce this strict anti-abortion law. So they say.

But what they are actually telling women is, “Too bad if you are not ready for a child; you will have it now.”

“Well, it is your body, but we make the decisions on what you can do with it when it comes to reproductive system”.

“Oh, you were raped, abused, either by a stranger or family member? Well that is too bad, sweetie. If you get pregnant, you MUST keep that baby even if you don’t want to, and don’t you dare to get an abortion because if you do, the doctor that performs that procedure will spend their entire life in prison.”

Many women turned to Twitter to rant about this, including myself.

https://twitter.com/hernandezjmitzi/status/1129057840914681857

I shared my tweet across my other social media, and men told me I sounded idiotic and stupid for saying what men should do with their male parts. Well, that is how barbaric Republican men sound telling women what they shouldn’t do with their reproductive system.

Other women in the government showed a strong disagreement on Alabama’s anti-abortion law.

Presidential hopeful Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced that she is going to “fight back against the greatest threat to reproductive freedom in our lifetimes.”

Former democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton called the bill an example of “an attack on women’s lives and fundamental freedoms. Women’s rights are human rights. We will not go back. “

Let’s make one thing clear: just because a bill becomes law doesn’t mean it’ll take effect. The new law isn’t enforceable until six months after Gov. Kay Ivey signed the legislation, so the earliest this law could take effect would be November.

The ACLU has already said it will sue, tweeting, “This bill will not take effect anytime in the near future, and abortion will remain a safe, legal medical procedure at all clinics in Alabama.”

Even though this law has yet to take effect, many women around the nation are angry. This year has turned out to be an attack on women’s rights.

Just about every week there has been a new anti-abortion bill on the table. Georgia’s governor last week signed legislation to ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy — which might as well be a full ban. Lawmakers in Kentucky, Ohio and Mississippi passed similar measures in the preceding weeks.

The anti-abortion bills are a war on women, and it is time to fight tooth and nail. We’ve got to fight like hell. We have come so far and still have a long way to go. We as women need to continue moving forward. We cannot go back — that is not an option.

We cannot let abortion rights fade from consciousness as these extreme laws become America’s new normal.

There are ways we can help to fight back against extreme abortion bans across the country.

1. Donate to organizations

Besides nationwide organization like Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and the ACLU, there are many smaller reproductive-rights organizations that provide support to women seeking abortion in their states.

Here are some organizations to donate to:

2. Volunteer as a clinic escort

You can contact your local Planned Parenthood . You can also visit the websites for the National Abortion Federation and Abortion Care Network — both have maps that show you all the abortion-providing clinics in your state so you can contact them to see if any clinics are seeking volunteers.

3. Speak up

If you can’t donate to organizations or volunteer, you can still join the fight by vocally expressing your disagreement on the attacks on women’s abortion rights. We need to continue to talk about this issue — with friends, family, co-workers and fellow members of our communities.

It’s time to stand up and speak up.

We cannot let these lawmakers silence our voices and violate our rights.

Our bodies, our wombs, and what we decide to do with them is OUR choice.

We need to unite and make noise. We need to be heard.

We need to fight for women’s right to choose. Thought Catalog Logo Mark