Alabama Governor Ms. Kay Ivey signed her state’s highly controversial near total ban on abortion in May 2019 . The new law is the most restrictive anti-abortion measure passed in the United States since Roe v. Wade was decided by the US Supreme Court in 1973.
The legislation that was passed by a male-dominated legislature earlier effectively bans all abortions in Alabama except when “abortion is necessary in order to prevent a serious health risk” to the mother. It , therefore, criminalizes the procedure, reclassifying abortion as a Class A felony, punishable by up to 99 years in prison for anyone performing such procedure. Attempted abortions similarly will be reclassified as a Class C penalty. What is even more amazing is that the legislation makes no exceptions for victims of rape or even incest, thereby rendering on the victim of such heinous crime further ignominy and the psychological torture of bearing a child produced by a criminal of the most deplorable kind.
As feminists across the globe reacted and responded to this most outrageous law, one must not lose sight of the pro-life arguments in light of recent and modern scientific evidence that does support their position that life does commence very early in the process of pregnancy. That debate on when life actually begins is best left to experts on the field. Surely if it is a crime to kill a newborn baby, it must be an equal crime to kill a baby that is 6-months since inception but inside the mother’s womb. If indeed it is a crime to kill a 6-month fetus, it must be an equal crime to kill a 6-week fetus if indeed life commences much earlier as science would lead us to now accept as an irrefutable fact.
Be that as may be, the debate now needs to shift to the more relevant question as to who gets to decide on matters that exclusively relate to women’s rights — reproductive or otherwise.
Women all over the world must feel outraged that men get to decide on issues that relate exclusively to their bodies. Men should stand aside and not dictate anything to women any more. 25 old, white men have absolutely as much right to determine how and what women should do with their bodies and their lives as 25 old, black women would have in determining how men should or should not undergo circumcision, for example, as a mandatory requirement pre-wedding
This argument is not far fetched at all. Medical science would support the beneficial effects of circumcision (and let us assume that to be a fact even for the sake of this argument). Would men accept such a legislation if women voted overwhelmingly for it? No way in hell.
Same way, it is high time men stand aside and let the community of women (who are as smart and as qualified if not more than the community of men) decide on all matters that relate exclusively to women’s health and women’s rights. Men have no rights to intervene and interfere. And those who do should submit to whatever barbaric rule women choose to impose on men.
And those who quote scripture should well remember that more than 5 million babies die every year globally before the age of 5! And the alleged source of their knowledge stands by and does absolutely nothing about it. They should divert their energies pleading to the source of their knowledge and expertise to stop that mass genocide repeated every year before preaching to women to save their one child whether caused by mistake, error, incest, or rape or some other crime. They have no moral right at all to do so before they can prevent the annual mass genocide of 5 million children that is accepted as normal by the same people.
Unbigotry 