My Body ≠ Your Body

Posted by Eliana Yang in English 1 - Giknis - A on Friday, May 29, 2015 at 9:28 pm

For the final part of my English You and the World project, I decided to help out the American Civil Liberties Union send in a petition to Congress of 25,000 signatures to protect insurance coverage for abortions. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a non-profit organization that, in its words, works to “defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States.” My contribution was to get at least one hundred signatures onto the petition from my community. I went around my different classrooms to gather emails and names, and I emailed my family members and friends. When I finished, I felt satisfied and happy to look at the number of signatures go from 23,500 to almost 24,000 (though not all were my work). I felt that I had contributed to this, and I had actually made a change instead of just sitting around and complaining about my issue.

I focused on women’s rights and reproductive freedom for my You and the World project (and more can be found in my first and second blog posts). The topic is one that I’ve cared about and followed for many years. I think that it is unfair that getting an abortion for an unwanted pregnancy is becoming more difficult with each passing day. I think that it is unfair that it is mostly male politicians in our country who control the rules of what happens to my body. I think it is unfair that some people are trying to ban birth control or make it so difficult for women to get access to it. All of these things anger me, and that is why I chose reproductive freedom for my project. Some people argue against abortion because it is “murder” and wrong. If I put myself in their shoes, I can understand why they think that, honestly. Nobody in his right mind would think, “wow, abortions are so nice! They are such pleasant procedures.” However, I believe that every woman everywhere should be able to decide what to do with her baby. Bearing a child and being a mother are such big things that no woman should have to go through if she doesn’t feel ready or able. I think that abortions are actually kinder for the babies since usually the mothers feel they would not care properly for them.

The hypocrisy in the political world of reproductive freedom is jaw-droppingly frustrating and leaves me speechless. Many of the male conservatives (male: gender of the human race who will never be able to become pregnant) who are solidly anti-reproductive rights have been known, in their personal lives, to think otherwise.

Another thing for these politicians to keep in mind is that birth control and abortions are also in the male population’s favor. Yes, unwanted pregnancies ultimately affect the woman more, but the women are not getting pregnant on their own or with each other - and hopefully, their male partners would stick with them through an unwanted pregnancy (which, presumably, they wouldn’t want any more than the women).

Maybe this all sounds very negative, like it’s all going downhill. Things are not great right now, but there are some very powerful and admirable leaders and organizations out there that are trying to turn the tide. Organizations and people are creating petitions, marches, and strikes to raise awareness about this topic. Planned Parenthood and the ACLU are both powerful organizations that work hard to protect women’s rights. Planned Parenthood gives women access to birth control and abortions for free (and many other things), and the ACLU fights politically for reproductive rights. There are things that are being done right now to help this, but the conservatives are strong and the direction of legislation in most states is going more anti-reproductive freedom. This is why I chose this topic - I want my generation of young women to know exactly what we’re up against, what the current issues are, and what we can do.

(This is the petition for which I gathered signatures.)

Annotated Bibliography