Ring the Alarm

“Breathe (2 AM)” is often interpreted as an abortion story. The songwriter, Anna Nalick, asserts that the meaning of the lyrics is entirely up to interpretation. She wants listeners to make their own conclusions, finding similarities between their own experiences of hardship and the song’s lyrics. Many have connected the experience — based on the mentions of an unwanted pregnancy, feelings of judgement, and anxiety — with the decision to have an abortion.

A draft authored by Justice Samuel Alito of the United States Supreme Court moves to strike down Roe v. Wade (1973), the landmark decision that protects abortion on the federal level. Alito and allied Justices also move to strike down Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) — a case which upheld and reinforced the right to abortion across the United States.

In this document, Justice Alito claims that:

“It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”

Read the full draft here

If the Supreme Court decides to overturn Roe, laws restriction or protecting abortion access will be determined on the state level rather than protected at the federal level.

The repercussions of this move for Texans, currently dealing with the de-facto ban presented within Texas Senate Bill 8 is that abortion will most likely be illegal.

picture from a pro-choice protest, protester holding a sign decorated with butterflies, the sign reads: Abortion is Healthcare. — Planned Parenthood & Texas Senate Bill 8

Senate Bill 8 outlaws abortion in Texas after 6 weeks, affectively banning abortion in the state.
(6 weeks pregnant = 2 weeks late on a period, and most don’t even know they are pregnant at this point).
The bill also moves to make traveling outside of the state in order to obtain abortion care illegal, and encourages neighbors, community members, and concerned citizens to privately report and sue people they believe to be helping others obtain that care, or having an abortion themselves.
*Planned Parenthood, linked below, has some answers to frequently asked questions related to the Texas Abortion Ban.*
*I also spoke about this restrictive measure in* ***Reproductive Justice***

FAQs for Texas

Out of the frying pan and into the fire — Texans aren't the only ones who stand to lose if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

The introduction of Tennessee House Bill 2416 has caused reproductive rights activists, lawmakers, and many others to question the slippery slope that this decision represents. Many misunderstand this measure as a ban on Plan B, known colloquially as the “morning after pill.” HB 2416 is a restriction on abortion pills, not the emergency contraceptive, Plan B. With this bill, Tennessee has made abortion pills available only in specific cases and with a prescription. Additionally, the bill makes it illegal to order them online or acquire them through other methods.

With other states starting to introduce measures restricting or outright banning certain forms of birth control and contraceptives, conservative lawmakers have painted a precise picture of what life will look like for their unlucky constituents in a world without Roe.

color coded map of the United States based on which states would ensure protections to abortion access if Roe v. Wade fell. — **What if Roe Fell?**

*The Center for Reproductive Rights created this tool to demonstrate where reproductive rights stand, state by state, if abortion is afforded or restricted at a state level.*

Check it out

This interactive map assigns a value to each state (Expanded Access, Protected, Not Protected, or Hostile) based on the state’s legal history with abortion access. It is meant to help users figure out how their state of residence may lean if Roe v. Wade is struck down.

a colorful collection of contraceptive devices and methods

Tennessee isn’t alone — other states may move forward with far more restrictive laws if the right to abortion is overturned. Arkansas, Louisiana, and Michigan are amongst the states who would move to restrict contraceptive access if Roe fell. Many anti-abortion politicians and interest groups view the Plan B pill and IUDs are forms of abortion — both are used to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex, although neither terminate embryos post-conception. It’s an incredibly gross misunderstanding of contraceptive medicine and a demonstration of this nation’s commitment to illiteracy.

With bans like these waiting to be triggered at the moment Roe v. Wade is repealed, lawmakers are considerably and muddily expanding our legal understanding of what constitutes an abortion through misunderstanding science. It is a dangerous precedent, amongst many others being established by this nail-biting moment, that broadens the reach of anti-abortion legislation to attack reproductive healthcare as a whole.

According to Laurence Tribe, a Harvard Professor of Constitutional Law, Justice Alito’s proposal sets a precedent for disaster.

Tribe claims, in this article published by TIME:

“It’s absolutely clear that the Supreme Court’s decision—if it does emerge along the lines of the leaked opinion by Justice Alito—would…open the door to restrictions on birth control, same sex marriage, sexual intimacy, and other forms of intimate personal decision-making”.

All of these freedoms related to sexual choice and privacy are afforded by the 14th amendment. Judge Alito’s draft delegitimizes any rights not implicitly named in the Constitution or “deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition.” This measure extends into our bedrooms and intimate lives, allowing conservative lawmakers to control the sexual behaviors of American citizens. It sets a chaotic precedent for state’s rights that leave previously protected freedoms and liberties up to the whims of local politicians.

TW: Miscarriage, sexual assault, child negligence, child sexual abuse, death, incest, medical negligence, mentions of suicide, etc.

Louisiana is also moving towards legally equating abortion with murder, meaning that citizens who obtain an abortion may be charged and imprisoned. This presents a frightening future not only for those in need of abortion care, but also pregnant people who miscarry in a world where roughly 1 in every 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage.

Already, people whose pregnancies end in miscarriage are being persecuted all over the country.

Mug shot of Brittney Poolaw, an indigenous Oklahoman woman who was arrested after miscarrying in 2020. — Brittney Poolaw, arrested in 2020 for Manslaughter after suffering a miscarriage at 15 weeks

In January 2020, Poolaw was admitted to the hospital and confessed to using illicit drugs while pregnant. She was accused of manslaughter, despite the cause of miscarriage being undetermined by coroners.
*Eventually, her case was dismissed, but not without becoming a topic of contention in the fight for and against reproductive rights.*

Learn More about Miscarriages and Abortion Laws

The case of Brittney Poolaw brings to light political trends and ideals surrounding abortion and pregnancy — that pregnant folk are incubators and the embryos they carry have more rights than the human being carrying them. This misogynistic and barbaric notion is a violation of human rights, and a death sentence for many, as exemplified in the clip featured below:

This clip from Majority Report features footage from inside the Oklahoma State House, where State Senator Warren Hamilton argues that there should not be allowances for abortion in cases of rape, incest, or ectopic pregnancy. Senator Hamilton argues that although these have usually been the standard exceptions, these fetuses are unique human beings, with their own one-of-a-kind DNA and a right to life.

The Senator argued this even after being informed that an ectopic pregnancy occurs outside of the uterus, risks the life of the pregnant person, and is incompatible with life — meaning it is not viable, and will not survive to be born.

This reckless alignment with the concept that life begins at conception stands to endanger the lives of people with the ability to carry children. In the most extreme cases the supposed “rights” of an unviable fetus are placed above those of the person carrying it, and lawmakers are moving — either through ignorance or malevolence — to condemn both parties, living and unborn, to die together.

This debate unveils an unnecessary yet persistent evil festering in our government. We exist in a world where very soon a 12-year-old Floridian may not be able to talk about sexuality and gender on school grounds (Florida HB 1557), but could be forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy that endangers their life. Simultaneously, the parents of transgender children in Alabama will be charged with child abuse if they dare to affirm their child’s gender or seek out gender-affirming care (Alabama SB 184 and HB 322), while their children simultaneously would be forced to continue unwanted and unviable pregnancies.

It is incredibly ironic that life-generating care that caters towards the demonstrated needs of LGBTQ+ children — who are disproportionately affected by homelessness, teen suicide, and more — is illegal on the grounds that LGBTQ+ education is harmful and inappropriate for children. Somehow being forced to endure a pregnancy and give birth as the result of childhood sexual abuse is a more appropriate alternative to abortion, even when it risks the life of the children being forced the endure that traumatic experience.

Much of the anti-abortion debate rests on the premise that the goal is to save and help children. The practice of this theory is imperfect to the point of lunacy and contradiction. Laws that are supposedly being put in place to protect the children conservative lawmakers claim to care about work to endanger children by depriotizing their health, safety, and wellbeing for that of potential-theorietical babies.

portrait of Ellie Flynn, investigator of American Child Marriage — **America’s Child Brides (2019)**

In this investigative documentary, Ellie Flynn takes a look at the epidemic of child marriage in the United States.
In many places within our country, adult men faced with statutory rape charges for sexually abusing and impregnating young girls can avoid persecution and imprisonment by marrying their victims (with parental permission).
Flynn interviews subjects involved in child marriages and critically examines this epidemic, giving the audience a glimpse into an America that we rarely acknowledge, yet fail to admonish.

It’s ironic to think that we live in a country where folks argue for the rights of unborn embryos on the grounds that they are protecting children, while real-life children are abused, neglected, and endangered right in front of them. Perhaps the real aim of anti-abortion crusaders aligns more closely with the goals of increasing our domestic infant supply for eager adoptive parents seeking babies, achieving the eugenic population growth to white supremacist ends, or pursuing literal biblical interpretation to the fullest extent required to enter heaven…but that’s a conversation for another time.

Regardless, these people don’t give a fuck about living, breathing children.

End of Trigger Warning

This is further exemplified by the current baby formula shortage. Across the nation, 40% of baby formula is out of stock. Some are attributing this shortage to recent recalls due to infant deaths, production issues associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, and American trade restrictions. Regardless, parents are scrambling to feed their children with no aid from the federal government.

Twitter-warriors have been calling for a return to breastfeeding, as if that’s the clear alternative. It is (another) failure of the American education system and a massive misunderstanding of reproductive/biological science. Not everyone who gives birth can breastfeed — additionally, it isn’t free, takes a major toll on the body, and may not even supply infants with substantial nutrition. Not to mention the societal shame that exists around breastfeeding otherwise, particularly for breastfeeding parents who exist in public spaces.

The awful irony of the United States is that we are a country that may very well repeal the federal protection of abortion rights while doing nothing to ensure the survival babies that are already here. Examining the current abortion care crisis alongside several others crises leads me to believe that it is not the lives of children that conservative, Republican lawmakers seek to protect. Rather, they are pursuing control over the unruly bodies that they deem outside of the confines of their personal ethics and low on their scale of hierarchy. Those being sexually active and empowered women, people of any gender who decide to or not to give birth, queer and transgender folks — anyone whose self-governance is out of line with the morality of people in power.

Juxtaposing the tragedy of Roe’s possible demise with state legislation surrounding other issues regarding child abuse and endangerment, it becomes clear that real children’s wellness and rights rank below theoretical dogmatism. When taken in consideration with the gross misunderstanding that several lawmakers have demonstrated when it comes to reproductive medicine and science, there is only one conclusion to find:

We are being figuratively fucked by a vocal minority whose lack of critical thinking and knowledge OR outright disdain for any sort of sexuality endanger us all. The vast majority of Americans believe that abortion should be legal, and this has been the case since at least 1995 according to a 2019 study by Pew Research Center. The Supreme Court plans to convene on this issue by June and make a decision then, and the power of the people is all that stands in the way of our majority conservative Supreme Court reversing this cornerstone of our democracy.

There are so many ways to engage reproductive rights activism, and I would like to conclude with resources for those seeking abortion services and looking to enter the fight to defend our personal freedoms.