Whether our friends know it or not, Roe vs. Wade was the glue that held it all together. It actually made it possible for women to have a say over there own reproductive organs. It made us "equal" in more ways then just one. For years I have watched and listened to the debate over right and wrong as to the use of my reproductive organs and finally became comfortable with my body and choices I made for it. Roe vs. Wade saved a lot of lives in the years it was law.
Abortion is not an easy choice, as some people might think. I can still remember back to when I was still in high school and the gossip was rampant about a woman who did "back alley abortions." I forget her name, but I still remember snippets of gossip about "Mrs. Somebody" who, for a price would perform an abortion supposedly on her kitchen table. Some one pointed her out to me and she just looked like a normal everyday woman. No appearances of a "baby murderer" to me.
Time passed and abortions became more common. I cannot spout dates and laws, but I do know that at some point the "procedure" became legal. Of course, there were steps that had to be taken and it seems to me that maybe the father even had to give consent. I did know a girl who had one and when it leaked out she was shunned and eventually moved away. But of course, my memory of that is not clear. Time has passed and a lot of things have changed, but apparently, the need to put limitations on what a woman can and cannot do with her body has not.
What you do in the sanctity of your home, with your body is none of my business. Apparently, it is the business of the Supreme Court and the judges that set on the high bench and decide what some law that was passed many years ago. What lofty goals they must have! How they can set on the highest court in the land and pass judgement on a lonely, scared little girl in a back alley abortion clinic is more than I can understand. I am sure there is a story that brought her there.
The sad part of the whole thing is there is no right or wrong to this ordeal. My God knows the paths I have walked and the places I have been. He knows the decisions I have made and why they were made. I have been divorced 5 times. Divorce is wrong. Hope they do not decide to set my divorces aside because that could get damn messy!
The fact of the matter in this is that women have now taken a back seat to the functions of their own bodies. It is not a man over woman victory here, it is a statement that basically says, "Do as we say. We are better than you at deciding what you do." Many years ago when I campaigned for gay rights, which will probably be the next right to fall, there was a speech that went like this:
