I had my first colonoscopy last week (welcome to my late 40s!). All was fine, I don't have to do that again for 10 years, huzzah etc. When I was doing the work-up with the lovely anesthesiologist, he asked if I had any surgeries in my history. I said yes, I had a D & E over a decade ago. "An abortion," he said. I was taken aback. It wasn't his delivery, which was matter of fact and without judgment. It's just that, though the fetal extraction procedure is no different in medical terms, the operation was deemed medically necessary because of a miscarried pregnancy that wouldn't naturally eject from the body.
Sure I was heartbroken about the loss of the baby that Mike and I wanted so very much, and that means something to me, but what struck me more, and has only been amplified in this particularly tumultuous week, is how fucked we all are. How in danger. How slippery the slope is and nobody is safe, even if those in the protected states think we are above it all.
I want to be clear about what I'm saying here: abortion should always be legal for any reason. Nobody should stay pregnant against their will and it's a matter of health between a woman (or a transgender man or non-binary person who can become pregnant) and their doctor. Period. A lot of people don't believe the same for whatever their reasons, and that's their right to believe, but it shouldn't infringe upon anyone else's rights, or on the security and privacy, the autonomy that should be guaranteed, in one's own body. My experience with the anesthesiologist threw into the stark light that, in other states right now, women like me can be investigated and arrested for getting the procedure I got (or for miscarrying at all), even if it was for the same reason I got it. The people who would eradicate legal abortion do not make distinction for intentions or feelings. It doesn't matter if the mother's life is at risk (again, I don't believe it has to be a matter of life and death in order to justify an abortion, nor would I be ashamed if I aborted a pregnancy on purpose. I'm just using an example of how extreme it gets). They'll stop at nothing to be in control and even if we think we're safe in these protected states, that's an illusion and what's more, even if we are indeed safe, we should care about the eroding human rights for everyone. It's that simple. The right to an abortion goes, what's next? Everything's fair game. This is why we're scared and angry. This is why we fight.
Happy Mother's Day!