40 years and still not allowed to regulate our own bodies

In the landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade of 1973, it was ruled that women had the right to make the decision of aborting a pregnancy under the Right to Privacy. While such a universally known case might be thought to be the voice of authority to end the debate of pro-choice vs. pro-“life”, the issue of abortion has remained a debated political issue for years and years. Ten years after Roe v. Wade, Joanne McQueen of Butler County NOW wrote a letter to her US Senator about a woman being reserved the sole right to make the decision of abortion.

In the return letter from Senator Howard M Metzenblum, he thanked Jo for her feedback and said he agreed that the right is solely that of the woman. What really strikes me about this letter is how closely it mirrors what many present-day Democratic senators say about abortion, and how they will take any effort to preserve the right to abortion. This means that in over 40 years, there has been staunch support (and of course opposition), but there appears to be little action taken.

wgs-401-blog-post-2 The map below is from 2013 and shows the number of restrictions on abortion by state. 2013 is exactly 40 years after 1973, the release of the Roe v. Wade verdict. The image is appalling and leads me to believe that women are still seen as property that the government wants to regulate.

abortion-restrictions-by-state Posted October 10, 2016