ReproWrites: Thoughts on anti-abortion activism
Last Wednesday, Created Equal, an anti-abortion group based out of Columbus, visited campus. They brought graphic and unrealistic images they claim to represent the reality of abortion.
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Last Wednesday, Created Equal, an anti-abortion group based out of Columbus, visited campus. They brought graphic and unrealistic images they claim to represent the reality of abortion.
In honor of Equal Pay Day last Tuesday, let’s look at how reproductive rights are linked to financial ability. Most people have heard the statistic that women make $0.76 for every $1.00 that white men make. But that figure only represents white women, who typically make noticeably more than women of color. Black women make $0.62 for every dollar a white man makes and Hispanic women only make $0.54 for every white man’s dollar. The wage gap is an important issue, but that’s not the only way employers can influence a person’s finances.
Two things have been in the news that speaks volumes about attitudes toward pregnancy. During negotiations of the American Health Care Act of 2017, Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) expressed dislike for the part of the Affordable Care Act that requires insurance plans to cover maternity care. This means men also end up purchasing insurance plans that cover these services, even if they don’t need them. Around the same time that Shimkus brought that issue back to light, a study was published that stated 52 percent of men don’t believe they have ever benefited from women having access to birth control.
What does the term “pro-life” mean? Some who have identified themselves as pro-life say the term means that they value life at all stages, from its natural beginning to its natural end. Yet, is being pro-birth enough? Pro-life activists seem to spend so much of their time concentrating on preventing abortion that they overlook improving the lives of those born.
People have a stronger reaction to second and third-trimester abortions than they do toward abortions that occur in the first trimester. Due to misconceptions and inaccurate language surrounding these procedures, many people don’t know much about how or why these abortions are performed.
Prior to the release of the new health care bill, President Trump tried to make a deal with Planned Parenthood that said he would allow them to keep all of their federal funding under the new health care bill if they agreed to stop performing abortions. Planned Parenthood immediately shot down his proposal. They recognized this offer for what it was, a blatant attempt to restrict access to abortion.
I will be the first to admit that I use the “abortion only makes up three percent of Planned Parenthood’s annual services" line liberally.
People were granted the constitutional right to an abortion with the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade. Since then, most states have imposed restrictions on abortion that make it more difficult for people to access the healthcare they need. In Ohio, there are several restrictions on abortion that are specific to our state.
In order to have an effective conversation about reproductive rights, it is important to understand the terminology most often used. Reproductive rights are a fairly common topic of conversation, but sometimes the topic is oversimplified or words are used incorrectly. Three terms that are often heard in those conversations are reproductive health, reproductive rights and reproductive justice. These terms deal with similar things but there are important differences between them. It’s important to understand those differences in order to have the most effective conversation.