By Sophia Ludtke ’20, Commentary Editor
What happened in Alabama?
On May 15th, Governor Kay Ivey signed a bill placing a ban on all abortions, even if the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest (the only exceptions are instances where the mother’s life is in danger).
The governor is quoted as saying that the ban “stands as a powerful testament to Alabamians’ deeply held belief that every life is precious and that every life is a sacred gift from God.”
What is happening around the country?
Alabama is not alone in passing abortion-restricting legislation. In fact, other states, including Ohio, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Georgia have passed “heartbeat bills,” which allow abortions only until a heartbeat is detected. During this approximately 6-week-long period, many women have yet to realize they are pregnant.
In some states, there is a deficit of operating abortion clinics. For instance, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, and West Virginia each currently have only one abortion clinic. These clinics are often inaccessible to those who don’t have the means to travel, therefore disproportionately blocking certain populations.
Why should we be concerned?
While these bans are state-specific, they are being passed with the ultimate goal of challenging Roe v. Wade, a Supreme Court case with national implications. Since Trump’s nomination of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court now has a conservative majority, meaning that Roe v. Wade could potentially be overruled.
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While the moral and religious debates surrounding abortions are particularly complex, a simple fact remains true: women will not stop trying to get abortions even if a ban is passed. Thousands of women die of health complications associated with abortion every year, and these numbers would only increase if restrictions or a total ban on abortion were passed.
There are numerous reasons why a woman may choose to have an abortion: a woman may lack the economic means to raise a child, the child’s birth could be physically or psychologically harmful, or perhaps a pregnancy is the result of rape or failed birth control. Even if the government were to take away a woman’s right to choose, these sound reasons why a woman may want an abortion will not disappear, and women will continue to seek out abortions, however unsafe.
Rather than instituting a ban that could have devastating repercussions resulting from unsafe and illegal abortions, effort should be made to reduce the number of unintentional pregnancies. Sex education should be expanded, institutions should make birth control more widely accessible, insurance should cover family planning services, and money should go towards preventing sexual violence and abuse.
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Interested in hearing the voices of others who are concerned about the Alabama abortion ban and its broader implications, I reached out to some of my peers to get their opinion. Here are their responses:
It made me happy to see how my Instagram was flooded with messages against the bill, because there’s so much value in numbers and it shows how social media gives people a platform to be politically engaged. At the same time, I think it’s important to move away from oversimplified messages/responses that can be prominent on social media, like just saying “Elect women,” because messages like that ignore how much race and class factor into how somebody is affected by the bill, and reduces the issue to just men versus women when really not all women are going to be affected the same.
-Sophie Gilbert ‘19
“I think that it is unfair for anyone (regardless of gender, race, age, etc.) to restrict what someone else is allowed to do with their own bodies. Despite my own opinions on whether or not I would choose to have an abortion, I think that I am in no position to withdraw someone’s choice regarding their personal situation and body.”
-Emily Swope ‘22
The Alabama Abortion law is a clear attack on Roe v. Wade, the goal being to bring a lawsuit to a conservative Supreme Court in hopes of overturn. This law is an egregious attack on women’s rights and completely demeans a woman’s value in society. The very fact that the law stipulates that rape or incest is not an exception for abortion, and even further penalizes the woman being violated with a significantly longer sentence than the rapist is a complete breakdown in the concept of justice.
The Alabama legislature enacting this law has belittled a woman’s value in the face of conception by valuing unborn life more than existing life. Finally the Alabama law compares mass genocide to abortion in stating: “6,000,000 Jewish people were murdered in German concentration camps during World War II; 3,000,000 people were executed by Joseph Stalin’s regime in Soviet gulags; 2,500,000 people were murdered during the Chinese “Great Leap Forward” in 1958; 1,500,000 to 3,000,000 people were murdered by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia during the 1970s; and approximately 1,000,000 people were murdered during the Rwandan genocide in 1994”(The Alabama Human Life Protection Act). This is not only disgraceful and offensive, but dishonors the memories of all of the people who lost their lives in these horrific genocides.
-Kaitlin Weiss ‘21
When I heard about the Alabama abortion ban, I was horrified. The idea that people who are still children themselves would have to carry a child to term is frightening. I hate that people are valuing clusters of cells over actual living, breathing people, and a lot of the legislators voting on this bill could never be pregnant themselves. I’m scared for anyone who wants or needs to get an abortion, but the people I’m most scared for are young girls. If a 12-year-old wanted to adopt a baby, no one would let her because she’s still a child. If she tried to get an abortion somewhere like Alabama, she would be forced to carry to term. A child can’t be expected to raise a child. And no one ever wants an abortion, it’s a last resort a lot of times. I thought that I didn’t have to worry about this. I thought I could spend my time dealing with other issues, but now we’ve added back one more thing to fear.
-Penelope Jennings ‘22
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