Last Friday, the League of Women Voters of the US issued this statement regarding the reversal of Roe v. Wade:
“Today’s ruling strips women and those who may become pregnant of their bodily autonomy and will have devastating — and immediate — consequences across the country. While the Court’s opinion was expected, its harm is extreme and real. When women and those who can become pregnant can no longer make reproductive decisions for their own bodies, they are no longer equal individuals in our democracy. This harm will exacerbate societal inequalities and fall disproportionately on people of color and low-income communities already facing egregious obstacles to health care.
“The decision foreshadows the erosion of other well-established Constitutional rights including marriage equality, access to contraception, and the right to engage in private, consensual intimate conduct.
“The dissenting Justices get it exactly right: Today’s majority opinion is an assault on the constitutional guarantee to equal protection of the laws and the right to due process. With this decision …, [numerous] historically marginalized communities have no guarantees that their civil rights will be protected.
“The League of Women Voters stands in our power with our reproductive partners and all persons who fear the dangerous consequences of this decision. We will use our anger to fight in the legislatures, in the courts, and in the streets. We call on our elected leaders at the state and federal levels to act swiftly to restore bodily autonomy to all people.
“Women hold the power to create a more perfect democracy. We will not stand by as constitutional rights are stripped away, one by one. Women’s rights are human rights, and we will continue to fight until the right to abortion is restored. Our lives depend on it.”
I ask you to look closely at your wives, daughters, sisters, girlfriends, and other loved ones. Envision them pregnant as the result of rape or incest. Envision them carrying to full term a fetus with no brain or with other defects rendering them unable to live outside the uterus. Envision them dead due to complications. These scenarios are not imaginary. Without the right to abortion, these outcomes are foregone conclusions for millions of pregnant human beings.
In the upcoming elections, members of all political persuasions will have opportunities to vote for candidates who support Constitutional protection for everyone, including pregnant people. Please vote.
Janet Parks, President
LWV of Bowling Green
