,
17 tweets,
3 min read
Read on Twitter
I think I've been awake since two and I have to get up in an hour and a half. I'm just so fucking pissed about the abortion thing. Why should my civil rights depend on my ZIP code?
If a fetus is legally a person, at what point on a pregnancy does a woman stop being one?
If abortion is illegal, then where do you draw the line as far as a pregnant woman's own behavior? Is she legally allowed to do things that may be risky, like skiing? Driving? Skydiving? Rocky Mountain climbing?
If a woman chooses not to take a physician's advice about something, like induced labor or having a c-section, can she then be legally compelled to comply on the basis that her fetus's life might be at risk? What if she needs chemo? High dose antibiotics? Antidepressants?
See, that's the thing about the legal right to abortion. It's not just about abortion. It's about all kinds of medical privacy and personal decision making. Get used to answering these kinds of questions, because if Roe goes down, we'll have to.
In fact, if Roe goes down, we'll need to legally address the fact that we just made pregnant women, by force of law, walking wombs who exist only to produce a baby in nine months and are otherwise expendable.
If abortion is illegal and a woman has a miscarriage, should she take her lawyer with her to the emergency room? Don't scoff. It already happens in El Salvador.
In fact, since anything she may say to the doctor may later be used against her at her murder trial, should ERs be staffed with on-call criminal attorneys to protect her rights while she's there? Arguing that she has any, I mean.
I can hear the dialogue now. Doctor: "Were you in an accident? Did somebody hit you?" Lawyer: "Don't answer that."
THESE ARE NOT HYPOTHETICAL QUESTIONS, PEOPLE. I have bipolar disorder and half the medications I take render my womb a toxic waste dump. If I happened, against all odds, to get pregnant, would a judge issue an order for me to stop all medication for 9 months?
Again, not hypothetical. A woman in Wisconsin was ordered into inpatient drug treatment for the duration of her pregnancy, even though her tox screens were negative, because she refused to take Suboxone. If they can order you to take something, they can order you not to.
Her name is Alicia Beltran and she is a human being. Look her up.
I'm going to be 50 in a few months. The odds of my quickening at this point are very low but not nonexistent. Abortion has been safe & legal in the US since I was 4 years old, and I may get to watch a safe medical procedure be legislated out of existence just as I hit middle age.
What's almost as sad is that I'm ranting about it at four in the morning. Well, listen, people, there's plenty y'all can do about it. You can educate yourself, for one thing. Start here: advocatesforpregnantwomen.org You can vote, for another.
You can say to your state senators and reps, "No, I won't let you strip pregnant women of their legal personhood by giving fetuses 'rights.' Pull that trick and you lose your job, and you'll never work in state government again."
Meantime, you can stock up on Plan B, Cytotec and methotrexate. Because we're probably going to need them in the short term.
Oh, and I almost forgot: Abortion in Ireland is safe, legal, on demand and FREE. Good night, now.
