Opinion: I almost died trying to have an abortion. I fear my students may face the same fate
However, despite their endorsement record, I’m still scared. I’m at an age where I can remember what life was like for women in the years before Roe.
Being of childbearing age in the 1960s, like my friends and I, meant knowing that our bodies and our futures don’t belong to us. Whatever we hope to do with our lives can be compromised by the whims of nature or by a thoughtless mistake or a contraceptive error.
Young people, then and now, are sexual beings. But before Roe, women paid the highest price for sexual expression. In my circles back then, I knew women who had had horrible abortions, sometimes without anesthesia. After a friend had an illegal abortion, she had a pelvic infection and had to be sterile.
It was equally common at the time that young people were unwisely forced into early marriage as their families tried to “legitimize” an unwanted pregnancy. These unions rarely last.
In my sophomore year of college, I got pregnant. This was a decade before legalization. At first, I tried to have an abortion on my own with various home remedies. No effect. During one attempt – which involved an overdose of a drug rumored to be an abortifacient – I nearly died. I’m 19 years old.
I can say without hesitation that without his care, my life would have taken a completely different direction. Today I would not be a writer and a professor.
To my knowledge, no one has suffered the trauma – often enough among my peers – of giving birth to an illegitimate child and then being pressured to give it up for adoption.
I teach them science journalism and opinion writing. Occasionally, a student will ask me to suggest an idea for an essay or op-ed topic. On a few occasions I’ve come up with, “What about speculating about what your life would be like if Roe v. Wade were abolished?”
It seems to be a topic that, based on their age, can spark their interest and form the basis for a passionate essay.
But I was wrong. In the two cases where I recommended the course, the students looked at me as if I was talking about something as far removed from their experience as the War of 1812. One young woman even responded with a question. “That will never happen. “
Another suggested that it wouldn’t be a problem. She was “simply traveling to a state where it’s legal.”
Yet despite these numbers, too many Americans have accepted the smug attitudes of some of my students.
In many ways, my students’ assumptions resemble those of many public sectors. For them and others coming of age post-Roe America, legal abortion is the norm. It’s just there. While they may have brought icons for pro-choice protests or contributed a few dollars to Planned Parenthood, they don’t feel reproductive rights are an issue that needs attention. their consistent interest.
On the other side, Americans who call themselves “pro-life” and act to limit abortion rights have been much more adamant.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday including six Republican appointees.
Whether Roe survives or not, the lesson we all must learn is that defending our rights – whether speech, citizenship, privacy or reproductive rights – requires vigilance. regular sense.