abortions are healthcare, and education about safe sex and when/why abortions actually occur (stacy isn't banging chad every other weekend and getting an abortion on the side) is comically necessary at this rate. women are going to die because old men in government think women can control menstrual flow at will, or such nuggets of intelligence as:
“If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." -
Former Missouri Rep Todd Akin, 2012
we all know how Missouri has continued to feel about abortion based on their trigger law that just got pulled!!!!!!
i was curious about abortion statistics after
shnowshner mentioned focusing on unwanted pregnancies and what can be done, and googled thusly. i googled "abortion statistics 2020" at first wondering if 2020 is too skewed of a year for obvious reasons, but i still found a great chart covering a span of about 40 years, from the state of Michigan:
roe v wade was originally passed in 1973, so even without knowing what this graph might have looked like for the 10 years prior to where it begins, we can see a general decrease in the number of abortions in people aged less than 20 years and those aged 20-24 years old, while people aged 30+ are maintaining a rather impressive rate of little to no variance at an already very low rate. people aged 25-29 seem to be getting abortions at a similarly unchanged rate like the 30+ group, but their numbers exceed that group by nearly a factor of 4. to me, this confirms mostly that women over 30+ simply aren't getting pregnant as often as the group still 5 years their junior, which makes sense to me given basic female biology, social trends and traditional trends of when women are getting pregnant to start a family.
what was interesting of course was how
every group, even the 30+ folk had an obvious increase in abortions beginning around the year 1987. dubious at first that i could find a reason why this was the case, i then googled "michigan history 1987" and confidently clicked on the wiki result that showed up:
kinda flabbergasted to find such an obvious correlation, but hey, the numbers don't lie. what does it mean when the number of abortions goes up when the state no longer provides the funding for these procedures? why does it matter whose money is being used for the abortion if the woman is aborting anyway? with a little more research i might be able to find other stuff about similar legislature passed that year regarding sexual health that could help me presume answers to these questions, but instead i stumbled upon the legislature regarding sex education for the state of Michigan, which was written in 1976 and last revised in
2004. to spare y'all another large screenshot, you can absorb this section:
(6) Before adopting any revisions in the materials or methods used in instruction under this section, including, but not limited to, revisions to provide for the teaching of abstinence from sex as a method of preventing unplanned or out-of-wedlock pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease, the board of a school district shall hold at least 2 public hearings on the proposed revisions.
with all the modernity of the world so many horny teenagers aren't even being TAUGHT about contraceptives still, which include condoms!!!, and they're meant to what, control their hormones and not ever have sex? they're not prepared to make mistakes regarding sex, they aren't taught the full meaning of becoming pregnant or impregnating someone because
the religious alt right does not care about the individual, they care about increasing their base. let the bodies hit the floor after falling from their mother's torn wombs, praise god.
the first amendment is supposed to protect each citizen from a government influenced by any individual religion, but that doesn't stop SCJs from lying under oath and allowing their pockets to be lined by whichever fascist party has the most money. worst of all overturning roe v wade is so blatantly anti-woman that it makes me pretty dejected considering that half "my" country thinks that women are lesser-than or simply not fit to live a life of freedom the same way a man does, and that half of the country includes women themselves.
it shouldn't be up to "my state" whether or not i'm allowed to seek an abortion if i have fetal demise, an ectopic pregnancy, or the doctor tells me on my 12 week scan that my baby is missing several crucial nerves and they would die a few months after birth (this happened to my sister). women aren't getting abortions FOR FUN, and it's that simple
fake fact that drives much of the dismissive, pro-life rhetoric i've encountered in my life. the only uterus i have EVER wanted to control is my own, and that seems fair and just. every other form of reasoning is snake oil and misogyny, don't let them suck you in. as for changing the political landscape to reflect what should be common sense, that requires a lot of time and effort, and while it is worthwhile, i think social politics influence change just as much as the ballot does, so the more open and loud and
intolerant of bigotry & fascism you are, the better !!!