By: Dani Langevin- June, 2022
Why does the unborn child need to be protected? And why, if we are working to protect them, does our government forget them once they’re born? Case in point: an unborn child must be protected from murder. However, if this child is raped at 13 by a family member and it results in a pregnancy, then they are not protected. They are going to be forced to have that baby. How is this protecting our children?
At the point of which I am writing this, Roe v. Wade is still the law of the land, but its days are numbered. This is a column I wrote back in September of 2019 with some additions:
Why is it that policy makers, the majority being white, straight men, believe it is their right to tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her body? Most likely it is because the chances of them being raped are next to nothing and getting pregnant are zero. Their justification is that they are protecting the life of the unborn child. Well, it’s not theirs to protect. A fetus is not a viable human, nor has it ever been so it doesn’t fall under the jurisdiction of a citizen. And if you are saying that life begins at conception then EVERY child conceived in America should be protected by the US Constitution regardless of their parents’ status or where they were born. I believe any parents who conceive a child in America should sue for citizenship of their children. If you really want to protect the life of an unborn child, then protect all who begin within our borders.
What of the woman who is the victim of a rape or child who is the victim of incest (rape of a child)? Who will protect them? Oh, but they’ve already been born, they don’t need protecting, right? Pro-lifers are so concerned about the unborn child that they forget that there are over 31 million children living in poverty (Columbia University). What are they doing to help those children? And what about school shootings? Protect the unborn child but allow them to be shot up in what is supposed to be the safest institution in America next to churches to the tune of over 300 children murdered. What are they doing about that? Not much, as most of them support the NRA.
If Roe v. Wade is reversed, crime, teen pregnancies, poverty, and high school dropouts will rise along with healthcare issues. The majority of women who rely on Planned Parenthood are living in poverty. Take these support systems away and you’ll see more children born into that very life. Mark my words, crime is going to go up in about 15-18 years along with poverty and the need for social systems to help all of those children born to unwed mothers. And then the Right will call the poor and minority groups out and say that it’s their fault. They’ll say they’re sucking on the teats of the system when they are the ones who put them there in the first place by denying them the ability to decide their own destiny. The right will continue to blame these unwed mothers and their children for the crime, poverty and sucking of the system to stop funds from going to where they should be. They are clever but oh so transparent. I can guarantee you that those who are making the laws will make sure that their mistresses will all have access to abortions.
Roe v. Wade was passed in 1975, however, several states had legalized abortion in 1970. Fast forward 18 years, and these states saw a measurable drop in crime; some as much as 50% (Levine et al. 1996). Planned Parenthood saw the value in giving women choices and support. It does not only provide abortions to those who are victims of poverty or violent crime, it provides STD testing and treatment, birth control, wellness exams and advocation for reproductive rights. That’s why it’s called Planned Parenthood. Isn’t that what everyone wants, a “planned parenthood” where every child is wanted and can be provided for?
So, why destroy a system that assists with that? Do some men want a get out of rape free card? This will give them the ability to rape at will. I am in NO way saying all men rape. The majority do not, but it certainly makes it easier for those fence sitters. The fact is, they all have the ability to do it and all women are potential victims twice: by their rapist and by the law.
The reversal of this fifty-year precedent will force women and girls of all economic levels to carry a child they do not want. Let me reword that: Women and girls of certain economic levels. There are women who have the financial means to go anywhere for medical procedures and no one would be the wiser. I wonder how many of them are crying pro-life with baby skeletons in their closet. I digress. Forced pregnancies are cruel, sadistic, detrimental to women’s physical, mental, and emotional health not to mention being completely unconstitutional. It is the legal re-raping of women. No female should be forced to carry full term-ever! In any circumstance, especially in the cases of rape and incest. The term “unconsensual intercourse” has been used. A euphemism used by men for rape to make it sound less violent and invasive. It’s a disgusting term.
If this comes to fruition, will the government cover the costs of medical care throughout the pregnancy and birth? It shouldn’t be the baby receptacle’s responsibility. I refrain from using the term “mother” especially if the woman has chosen not to be one. She has been reduced to a baby receptacle; a pez dispenser of sorts for tiny beings. What about the rapist? What will his consequences be? Rape again with impunity? What lifetime costs will he pay?
Why is so much effort being put into the unborn child?
Well, they cost nothing to those who advocate for them. It sounds good on the surface: protect those who can’t protect themselves. If you were to protect the young girls who are being raped and molested, that would cost money. It would require time and effort and empathy from the right. They don’t want that and yet they are fighting to create an army of children that they will ignore when they’re born, refuse to help the mother, refuse to fund healthcare, preschool, daycare, and other programs that will give them a head start and then say, “See, they can’t even help themselves.”
Then they’ll use this to defund these programs and wonder why crime and poverty are so high. And if they’re shot and killed in school? Even better. The problem was taken care of for the Right. Scream it’s mental health, not guns and let more families bury their babies.
America: land of the free home of the white and wealthy. Forever claiming to protect family values while denying medical care to those most in need, providing unpaid maternity leave and no paternity leave and sending our children to be fish in a barrel. Places like Bulgaria, Estonia and even South Korea take better care of their families with an average of 60 PAID weeks of maternity leave. Some superpower you are, America. Where are those Christian values you scream about?
If women of poverty are forced to give birth to a child that they don’t want and don’t want to carry, will they get time off to recover from doing so? What services will be provided? Will she be paid for time off? Doubt it. Let us not forget that many of these “women” will be girls under the age of 18 who have been victimized once by their rapist and again by the law that is telling them, the life inside you-created from violence-is more important than yours.
According to one study done by the CDC in 2019, 3 million women have experienced a rape-related pregnancy. Three million! That means, there are three million rapists. Will the government force three million women to have unwanted children? Why is this acceptable? There are over 135,000 children waiting to be adopted. Now, there will be 300,135,000 who will be waiting to be adopted. Let that sink in.
But, then again, they’ll be born. They are not the unborn. They don’t matter especially if you are a child of color, poverty, or LGBTQ+, then I imagine the right will be kicking themselves for not aborting them. I wonder if eugenics will have a new rise and come with in utero tests to get rid of babies they believe will be born LGBTQ+. Sterilize members of the LGBTQ+ community. Tell women of color they’re being tested for “bad blood” and act surprised when they lose their babies. It can, has and will be done again all under the blanket terms of “National Security” and “Protecting the American Family.”
Sound far fetched? The law reaching into my vagina and uterus is even more so. Let’s have a little quid pro quo, shall we? Boys of a certain age should be required to get vasectomies AND attend sensitivity training until the age of 18. If they don’t pass, they cannot have children. The vasectomy is not my idea, but I think it’s a great one. If we can force a woman to have a child, it’s only fair that certain men not be allowed to have any if they can’t behave as fully evolved human beings.
But, that won’t happen. Men will find it invasive. Leave their bodies alone. ◊