How Long Until We Stop Caring About Roe v. Wade Again?
One of the landmark achievements of the 20th century was killed off by public apathy. It won’t be the last right we lose.
I was asleep when the United States of America lost Roe v. Wade. It happened overnight, in a decision so casual that it barely deserved the name. The state of Texas had instituted a six-week abortion ban and the Supreme Court had until midnight to strike it down. They declined.
A six-week ban is a total ban on abortion. The “six weeks” is measured from the last menstrual period, so it looks like being a few days late, too early to know you’re pregnant. The law in Texas is a total abortion ban, and therefore, it is legal for states to totally ban abortion, and therefore, the federal right to abortion — formerly secured by Roe v. Wade — no longer exists.
I knew I had reason to be worried, but I wasn’t sure what I could do by staying up. So I went to bed, and I woke up with one of the landmark achievements of the feminist movement wiped out of existence. I woke up in a country where it is legal to keep me pregnant against my will. I repeat that sentence to myself over and over, and yet the loss still feels incomprehensible. I’m not a person as far as my government is concerned.
