Vendor Writing

ROE IS DEAD!

May She Rest in Peace

BY JEN A., CONTRIBUTOR VENDOR

Considered settled precedent for 49 years, Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that recognized a woman’s right to make reproductive decisions about her own body, recently evaporated into the penumbra of its constitutional foundation.

Though it is extremely rare for Supreme Court precedent to be overturned, writing for the Court, Associate Justice Samuel Alito proclaimed, “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start.” His opinion went downhill from there.

I, for one, am happy to see it go. Dogeared and emaciated by constant attacks from so-called religious groups, the Roe baby has finally been taken off life-support and not-so-respectfully laid to rest. It never seemed enough that if a woman thought abortion morally wrong, that she just not have one.

In his concurrence to the Roe decision, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the Court intends to move on in subsequent sessions to reverse other precedents like, Griswold, that made access to birth control legal in the U.S. The Court is now issuing blatant threats against women’s rights. They’re coming for us and not even trying to pretend they’re not.

So what are women to do when the Supreme Court seems hell-bent on denying us any rights to our bodies? If precedent and laws that can be overturned at their whim are not enough, our only recourse to protect ourselves is with a constitutional amendment.

We need to bring women’s rights out of the penumbra of the fourteenth amendment into the full sunlight of the Constitution. Only then, will our human rights be respected and protected.

Women have been used and forgotten throughout history. I don’t even know the maiden name of my paternal great- grandmother. No one thought it was important enough to write it down. Our own Constitution was crafted by men who considered women as little more than property. How has this disrespect gone on for so long?

The Supreme Court decision to strike down Roe demeans every American: female an male alike. It takes a woman’s agency and leaves her exposed to grave bodily harm. In Tennessee, a girl as young as nine or 10 could be forced to carry the fetus of her father or her brother to term. I wonder who exactly Tennessee’s laws are meant to protect. It certainly isn’t that young girl or the deformed fetus she’s infected with.

At the end of the day, ladies, there is much work to be done. Watch over your sisters. Band together for support and protection. We must fight on. Don’t allow our daughters to believe they are nothing in the eyes of the law. I’m sure we’ll get to our promised land in due course. It’s just too sad to believe we won’t.