Abort the Notion of "After-Birth" Abortion.

      In last month's blog, I discussed the vast importance of the upcoming November election. In this month's post, I want to discuss one of the main issues that should be of major concern for most voters, a woman's right to her own bodily autonomy. But first, I want to share a short story with you to give you some perspective and food for thought. When I was sixteen-years-old, I was living in Southern California and working at a local Jack in the Box restaurant, flipping burgers and making fries and shakes. I was just a high school student, living in my own very naive world. I befriended a co-worker named Jim, who was seventeen at the time. I enjoyed working with Jim, he was silly and had a great sense of humor. 

     Shortly after our friendship started, he confided in me that he'd gotten his fifteen-year-old girlfriend, Amy, pregnant. I asked him quite candidly what the two of them were going to do? Jim admitted he was unprepared to be a father. And Amy at fifteen, was still a child herself, completely unprepared for the difficult task of being a mother. Jim indicated they were absolutely leaning towards getting an abortion. We spoke many weeks later and Jim indicated that Amy's mother wanted them to "Do The Right Thing!" She wanted Jim and Amy to get married and have the baby. And that's what Jim and Amy ultimately did. They got married, had the baby, and then the bottom fell out from under their lives. They were completely unprepared to be parents, or husband and wife for that matter. 

     About a year later, I heard that Jim and Amy were divorced and the baby was being raised by Amy's mother. Four lives had taken a dramatic turn for the worse. I've often asked myself, should Jim and Amy have gotten that abortion? The correct answer is, it's none of my business! What I think is right for me, may or may not be right for someone else. Jim and Amy made their decision, all the while being coerced by Amy's mother, but made their decision none-the-less. And that is my point, we should all be allowed to make our own decisions when it comes to choices in regards to a woman's bodily autonomy. It was bad enough that Jim and Amy were coerced by Amy's mother, but can you imagine being coerced and regulated by the United States government?  

     But that is where we are. With the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and send it back to the states, women throughout the country are now being coerced by the government to carry a pregnancy to term, regardless of the circumstances. Here in Texas, the Kate Cox story immediately comes to mind. Kate, married with a husband and two children, was at the heart of one of the most contentious court cases since the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Kate received a fatal fetal diagnosis from her doctors. Continuing her pregnancy would be a severe risk to her health and ability to have children in the future. In December of 2023, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that she could not get an abortion in the state, even though her fetus had zero chance of survival. Kate, the plaintiff in Cox v. Texas, was forced to travel out of state for the necessary health care she needed. 

     "I wanted to be here, close to home," Kate said. "I wanted to come home, cry on my own pillow, hold my babies, be near my doctors." It's sad and absolutely barbaric that the Texas Supreme Court thought they knew what was best for Kate, overruling her wishes and the advice of her doctors. "There's nobody that loves and wants a baby girl more than I do!" Kate spoke emotionally about her experience. "I never thought I would ever want or need an abortion, and it's what's needed for my health." 

     So sadly and tragically, this is the state of the nation. If you're a woman living in a Red state, you're screwed. The state owns your body and your freewill. If you're a young girl, abused and raped by your step-father, guess what, you're having your baby too! For the sake of power and control, the Republican Party has decided that THEY ALONE should decide what a woman does with her body. They alone are the experts. They alone will choose. I, like the Harris/Walz campaign, come from a very simple place. I'm not pro-abortion, I'm pro-women. Giving birth is often the most dramatic, painful and gut wrenching experience a woman will experience. I was physically present when my wife gave birth to our two sons. She knew in advance that her cervix wouldn't dilate during each pregnancy. She would be forced to undergo a Caesarean section for both our children, being brutally cut open at the lower abdomen. We both wanted children and it was a decision we made together, she and I, along with our doctors. But no woman should be forced to experience and undertake that kind of pain and agony because the state she is living in wants to control her uterus. 

     Unfortunately for Republicans, the decision to control a woman and her body has come with grave consequences. Guess what Republicans, women are pissed! And now you are realizing that winning elections becomes extremely more difficult when you've alienated most of the female population. So how do you attempt to win the consequential votes you've lost? You lie. You gaslight. You fabricate stories. The most ludicrous and outlandish con job by the Republican Party is that "Democrats are allowing women to have after-birth abortions!" The scare tactic is very simple: Gaslight America into believing that Democrats are allowing the murder of children after they are born. Sadly, some uneducated Americans are buying this bullshit and believing it hook, line and sinker. 

     Donald Trump has repeated this blatant lie over and over. It was downright refreshing to see ABC  moderator, Linsey Davis, call out Trump's lie during the second presidential debate, reminding all Americans that killing a baby after it's born is and always has been illegal in every state. But unfortunately the lie continues on right-wing news outlets and social media. Keep perpetrating the lie and perhaps voters will believe that the government controlling a woman's body is a good thing. My hope is this, most Americans can detect bullshit when they see it and won't fall prey to the blatant misinformation campaign. As a country with compassion, let's allow women and their doctors to make the necessary health care decisions without the government regulating a woman's uterus. And perhaps, as a collective nation, let's vote to abort the Republican legislators who want to destroy a woman's right to choose. I'll see you in Roevember. Let's vote them out!