America is heading down a slippery slope with the lack of women’s rights, healthcare and bodily autonomy being left at the top. The work that generations of women put toward gaining the abortion rights we have today is being challenged.
The Land of the Free is preparing itself to suppress the freedom of just over half of its population. America is, in the year 2022, considering revoking the human rights women fought hard for before the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade in 1973.
At the time, the Supreme Court was made up entirely of men. This was eight years before Justice Sandra O’Connor became the first woman on the Supreme Court, and 20 years before the iconic warrior of gender equality Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was appointed to the Supreme Court.
The vote for Roe v. Wade was 7-2 for Jane Roe. Before women even had representation on the Supreme Court, it was acknowledged that we had the right to privacy to get an abortion.
But now that nearly 50-year-old decision is being challenged again by a case concerning a new law from Mississippi and our new conservative majority of the Supreme Court.
While I won’t fail to acknowledge that both political parties in this country are largely concerned with how they can manipulate people through fear tactics, the far-right Republican party has been working to normalize extremism for years. Part of that movement has been to persistently push for anti-abortion laws (or “pro-life” laws, as the party likes to call them) in states where Republicans already have control.
Of course, this includes Idaho.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 366, the “Fetal Heartbeat Bill,” into law last April. The new legislation bans abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can be as soon as 5 or 6 weeks after conception.
For many women, this is before they even know they are pregnant.
Oh, but wait, there’s an exception. A woman can get an abortion after heartbeat detection if the pregnancy is a result of rape, incest or is a medical emergency. Women trying to get an abortion after rape or incest would need to go through the dreadful process of reporting it and having the case go through the ever-so-slow justice system. By the time that’s through, she might have already had the baby.
This year’s legislative session holds even more amazing, outstanding, awesome representation for Idaho’s population of women. Senate Bill 1309, an amendment to HB366 which would allow family members to sue providers and doctors who perform abortions, passed a senate committee on Thursday.
A press release put out by the governor’s office about HB 366 touts adoption as the solution, and while that may work for some, not all women want to go through the bodily changes pregnancy causes.
Pregnancy can be, and often is, one of the hardest things a woman will do in their lifetime. Despite maternal death or serious injury always being a risk, pregnant women go through huge hormonal changes, weight gain, contractions and a painful birth.
The risks of maternal death are disproportionately higher for Black and Hispanic women than non-Hispanic women, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meaning the stakes are higher for those who need abortion access the most.
Many women also go through being mistreated or have medical complications. The number of women experiencing both pregnancy and childbirth complications increased 31.5% between 2014 and 2018, according to a study from Blue Cross Blue Shield that looked at 1.8 million pregnancies.
“Idaho is a state that values the most innocent of all lives – the lives of babies,” Little stated in a press release after signing HB 366. “We should never relent in our efforts to protect the lives of the preborn. Hundreds and hundreds of babies lose their lives every year in Idaho due to abortion, an absolute tragedy. I appreciate Idaho lawmakers for continuing to protect lives by passing this important legislation, and I am proud to sign the bill into law today.”
No person, woman or not, should be forced by law to go through something that places their own health at risk. A fetus is not a person, it is a fetus. And until it is outside of the mother’s body, breathing on its own, it is a part of the mother’s body. All people deserve bodily autonomy, especially mothers.
Laws banning abortion, or severely restricting access to abortion, are not pro-life. They are pro-control. The future of abortion access and women’s healthcare in Idaho is at stake. We need to take action.
Organizations like Planned Parenthood, Life Choices Clinic and the Northwest Abortion Access Fund are all good places to start, whether you’re looking to support healthcare access for women or looking for an abortion yourself. We all deserve to be healthy and happy.
Anteia McCollum can be reached at [email protected]