“The right to liberty and personal security, I would argue, has been kicked savagely into the long grass”
Before I even attempt to describe my feelings on the unfathomable arrogance of a law, that believes it has the right to remove a woman’s agency of her own body, I’m horror struck at the surge, we will undoubtedly see, in female mortality in the USA. They are quite literally, killing us. Except this time, it’s not at 2am on a shady back street but in broad daylight and crucially, in full view of the whole World and NO ONE is stopping them!
1 in 4, that’s the figure that sticks in my head. After it happened to me, the floodgates opened. Friends, aunts, cousins, colleagues, all started talking about their own experiences of miscarriage. I was moved to hear each recollection, some stories achingly similar to what my own would become, although nothing could have prepared me for the intensity of what was to follow. Initially electing to wait, until my body caught up with my brain, I soon realised I was entirely powerless. For the first time ever, I had absolutely no control over my body (who incidentally decided not to play ball). I was given some pills to help (I suppose in Texas, they’d be called abortion pills now). They too failed to remove the, now dangerous, tissue from my womb. The only recourse was an emergency procedure, under aesthetic. According to several American news channels, post Roe vs Wade (the 2nd) there is now serious concern over whether medical practitioners, in situations such as mine, would hesitate to perform the correct treatment, or even be able to procure the drugs necessary for the procedures. I never thought I’d have to think myself lucky for the experience I had. Had it been 4 years later and on the other side of the Atlantic, well…I’d rather not think about it. My own story is one we’ve probably all heard, if not experienced ourselves. It happens every day, to 1 in 4 of us and by blind fortune, we are living here and not there.
Terrified teenagers, victims of rape and incest, seeking potentially fatal back street abortions, or worse, suicide. Those suffering from organ malfunction due to pregnancy and, yes, maybe the couple who heartbreakingly just can’t afford another baby, without their family falling into poverty. The list of injustices is endless. “The right to liberty and personal security”, I would argue, has been kicked savagely into the long grass. What’s even more alarming, murmurings of support for the new regime in our own Governmental bodies, should have every woman, man, child and dog, up in arms and ready to defend the most basic of our own human rights, right here in the UK. I can’t even believe I’m saying that…but there it is.
