Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
In the U.S. the dispute over a woman’s right to abortion has been overturned in recent history. Many states immediately put into effect pre-ban laws against abortion, with most punishments resulting in a harsher sentence than current laws against sexual assault, which many argue is a “war on women.”
In Chicago, citizens still have the right to safe and secure abortion, despite the overturning of Roe v. Wade. During a press conference after the results of Roe v. Wade was publicized, J.B. Pritzker made clear his expressed stance on the importance of this decision.
“As long as I am [the] governor of Illinois,” he continued, “and as long as we have a pro-choice legislature, abortion will be legal in this state.”
In an effort to protect the youth of the city of Chicago, the Parental Notification Act was also repealed before the legality of banning abortions in other states. This decision to repeal an act that made it unable for minors to receive abortions without parental approval was to “protect the most vulnerable youth – such as victims of rape, incest, and domestic abuse – from being compelled to notify their abusers.”
But despite this call to fight for women’s rights, Illinois may not always be a pro-choice state if the wrong people are elected into office.
Other states base their abortion laws on recent events and use the argument of “personhood” against those supporting abortions. Texas state law recently misused the term personhood in regards to recognizing fetuses at the point of conception as an identifiable life.
For many women, the act of conceiving and carrying a child is the most intimate thing a person does. As it states, the U.S., despite its advancement in medicine and technology, has the highest maternal mortality rate. However many of the people banning abortions either before the 24-week pregnancy period or after do not make up more than half of the demographic of women affected by an unwanted pregnancy.
Of those that voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, only one of the Supreme Court members was a white woman. For those that do not know, the U.S. Supreme Court does not have a term limit like the nation’s presidents.
Seeing the change in other city’s happening swiftly after the passing of abortion bans, Chicago reinforced its stance through Mayor Lori Lightfoot officially signing an executive order stating that the city will not participate in the support of enforcing anti-abortion bans in other states. Applying to those that travel to Chicago for abortions from other anti-abortion states.
In the U.S. it is reported that women have significantly more trouble paying for medical care compared to women outside of the United States. Of the women between the ages of 18 to 49, half reported having trouble paying for healthcare, and it would stand to reason that part of that amount would find it increasingly hard to care for a child in the future with the additional financial responsibility of child-rearing.
The U.S. despite banning abortions does not have the proper safety net to possibly reach out to every young woman found in a dire situation and a child on the way. The past years of citizens suffering from the lack of money and food during the pandemic have made that abundantly clear.
Author Angela Garbes surmises a mother’s undervalued stress that amounts to more than just struggling to take care of her child – caring for herself.
“I really felt like I was watching the pleasure and the color drain from my life,” she said. “I felt like someone who was ‘just a caregiver.’ And while I knew that that was valuable work, I had to confront that that wasn’t enough for me.”
During the time of lockdown, although she could afford to send her daughter to daycare she, like many others, was forced to homeschool her child. With daycare canceled Garbes had to drop working on her personal project to pick up the slack and properly care for her child, made more stressful by the U.S. lack of stated — subsidized daycare or paid parental leave. Often the country will expect children and to some extent future citizens to be whole financial and socially cared for by their parents, external circumstances, or otherwise.
In Garbes’ words children can not be raised within the isolation of only those related to them, it is a social responsibility to care for children if the government wants to enforce the consideration of even a fetus as a citizen.
“They need adults who are not related to them, who have a certain patience and bring something different to their life,” Garbes states. “We were not meant to raise children in isolation.”
Written by Brielle R. Buford
Edited by Sheena Robertson
Sources:
CNN: Study of wealthy nations finds American women most likely to of preventable causes, pregnancy complications
NPR: Raising kids is ‘Essential Labor.’ It’s also lonely, exhausting and expensive
Newsweek: What Are the Penalties for Abortion, Rape in Texas Amid Claims They Are Similar
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Jon Chiang’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of mliu92’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License