Dear #3rdWaveFeminists and women of America: Once upon a time (in my lifetime), women were the property of their father and then their husbands. Upon marriage they ceased to be Miss Mary and became Mrs John Doe. They had no help if their husband beat them. It was their ... 1/
... their fault. They were not allowed to work outside the home without their husband's permission. They could not get credit in their own name and so, therefore, could not buy property, own a car, or go to post-secondary education. Birth control ... 2/
... was only prescribed, by some doctors, if husbands agreed. Men could legally rape their wives. Women spent their lives either pregnant, giving birth, or cleaning diapers and then raising children that men werent expected to do help with and called 'hen-pecked' if they did. 3/
When abortions first came available, wives again had to have their husband's permission. Single women could work but their wages were drastically lower than that of men (who had to support families). This remained true even if a wife was widowed or separated and was the ... 4/
... sole provider for her children (a fact that continues to this day). Women were handicapped with little post secondary education, long periods of absences from employment giving birth, smaller wages, lack of access to credit, and harsh attitudes that gave her husband ...5/
... rights (like property owner over them). So when we stand up and fight over the right to abortions, we assert a freedom to life itself: our lives. It's not just one pregnancy or raising one child. It's the right to choose the trajectory of our lives. 6/
I turn 60 years in 2018. These changes have only occurred within the last 35 yrs. That is a relatively short period of time for the old men who want to turn back time for us and for the young ones who think their life will be simpler if they can just 'own' us once more. So... 7/
