ugh another anti-abortion critique

the myopic, overly simplistic emphasis on protecting a fetus at all costs with no support for measures that improve maternity leave and access to healthcare, no consideration of paying parents a living wage, no talk about addressing food security or housing instability, little interest in expanding equitable public education, no effort to alleviate systemic violence that hurts families -- none of the resources folks need to properly raise a child.

the state does not support comprehensive sex education (or even sex ed that has to be factually accurate), creates hurdles to accessing contraception (and healthcare in general, depending on your insurance status), and diverts funds from title x reproductive health clinics to crisis pregnancy centers that prop up misleading, down right untrue stories to women who get unexpectedly pregnant. recently a bill was introduced to ban abortions in georgia after 6 weeks when the beginnings of a heart beat can be detected - most women don't realize they're pregnant this early.

our state has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the country, a rate that's gotten worse in recent years and affects black women disproportionately. women who want to be mothers are dying, and it's largely preventable.

i understand that some feel a sense of moral urgency when it comes to abortions, how can you stand by when countless babies are murdered each year? that kind of rhetoric is dangerous though and it obscures the reality that women with limited resources face. planned parenthood isn't an evil organization harvesting fetal tissue for a profit, but if you believe that, if you aren't willing to see that clinics like this make people feel safe and heard and cared for, then you're critiquing a caricature.

my family and my religion raised me to believe that all life is sacred - so we don't eat meat. i would never ever eat meat. i grew up in small town georgia where that's about all you can order at most restaurants, i was regularly scrutinized and left out for being vegetarian. killing animals for our own consumption is a moral issue and YET i would never support legislation that stopped other people from eating meat. i know that we all make decisions we're willing to live with based on the way we were raised and our values now, and i could never understand the complexities of how others' relationship with food, i would never want to infringe on their right to exercise their autonomy. we live in a country that protects personal liberties, we take pride in our commitment to individual freedoms. all i can do is be vegetarian and hope i can pass those values on to my future family, but i'd never shame others or try to control what they eat. that's their choice, and reproductive health decisions should work the same way. don't have an abortion if you are morally opposed to it but our government has no place in legislating who can and can't have abortions. that's for individual people and their healthcare providers to sort out.

i've been done with the self-righteousness of anti-abortion advocates believing that they're protecting our most vulnerable when they're really working towards punishing and controlling women. assuming that they know what's right better than the women in these circumstances, better than doctors who have trained tirelessly to treat patients. there are a lot of ways to help people raise children, a lot of ways to reduce abortions rate, a lot of ways to support new moms, but this is NOT one of them.

"The legislation, introduced Thursday in the Georgia House by Kemp’s allies at his behest, would punish anyone who performs abortions with up to 10 years in prison and a fine of as much as $100,000... If it passes, the new limits would only take effect if two other things happened first: The U.S. Supreme Court would have to overrule the central holding in the landmark 1973 ruling, which established a nationwide right to abortion. Then, the General Assembly would have to pass a joint resolution signed by the governor."

https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/georgia-governor-backs-bill-ban-abortion-roe-wade-nixed/tNrljHZ16PfLzgeiww8rMN/