Happy Belated Bday Roe v. Wade!

I’ve been putting a lot of pressure on myself to come up with an amazing blog post to commemorate the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and it has stumped me for a week. How do you capture something like this in words? When I think of Roe v. Wade, it inspires a myriad of emotions and reactions ranging from pride and comfort to extreme disappointment and fear. I love, love Roe v. Wade. I love it like a family member, and maybe that’s because it has directly affected so many of my own family members. To me, it is not a cold, black and white, objective document, it is the faces of my mother, grandmother, high school and college friends, coworkers, neighbors, and even strangers sitting next to me on the bus. How do you being to describe that personal impact? Compound that with the thought that there are millions of other women and men out there who have been directly affected by this court case, and I am astounded.
It floors me to think of what Roe v. Wade has done for countless women and men in this country. The recognition of our autonomy and integrity is something to be both celebrated and criticized. It is a legal acknowledgment that women are also human beings. This should have happened way before 1973, but given the omnipresence of misogyny in this country, Roe is to be celebrated as an achievement.
I get scared, however, when I think of how many people, familiar and not, who will be affected by changes to Roe. We will face a Goliath in the coming years regardless of the decision in November. It has been chipped away since the day it was enacted and the attacks won’t stop anytime soon. I want to scream: it’s none of your goddamn business what I do with my body, or what my mom did with hers, or what my grandmother did with hers! You weren’t there, you have no right. The tears flow freely now thinking about it; about the injustice of the accusations and the blatant hatred directed at me by strangers. I am appalled by the hatred people are capable of harboring towards young men and women they have never met.
Abortion has been one of the most divisive issues of the past century. The rift had existed B.R. (before Roe), but in 1973, the battle had a name. I wish there was a consensus that the fighting is detrimental, and that the arguing and the yelling is going nowhere. I am inspired by groups like Choice USA that are working to mitigate the harmful effects of abstinence-only education by providing choices to young people so that an abortion is the last option (but is still a choice). I am encouraged by groups that are demanding comprehensive sex-education. And I am disheartened by those that still don’t get it.
So on this, Roe’s 35th Birthday, I am going to make a birthday wish: I want to see less abortions. Yes, I said it. Shocker! Both sides might have the same goals! But it needs to be done right. Give young people the information and the education we deserve. It is our right. Until then, Happy Birthday Roe, may you see another 35 years.