“An 11-year-old girl in Alabama was raped and is now pregnant because of that rape and not only is she not allowed to get an abortion but if she leaves the state to get an abortion, she still gets punished if she comes back,” said Jolene Gibson, a 20-year-old who is actively posting about the “Heartbeat” Bill that has been passed in Ohio, Georgia and now Alabama.
The “Heartbeat” Bill outlaws abortions after 6 weeks of pregnancy and women who receive abortions after this time can get up to 99 years in prison, and possibly the death sentence in Georgia.
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“The main problem with abortion and these laws are that no one will ever agree on whether a fetus is a living human or a clump of cells. The sides can argue for hours about it as I’ve seen today on Facebook,” said Brooke Unlenhop, a 21-year-old Democrat. “People need to realize that you can be pro-choice but anti-abortion, or against abortion for yourself.”
This bill also puts women under investigation for miscarriages and stillborns, meaning that if a judge sees fit they will imprison a woman for the loss of her fetus.
“Heaven forbid a miscarriage happens, that’s something that can’t be controlled,” said Jessie Goben, a 21-year-old who has moderate views. “A representative said they could take an ectopic pregnancy and put it in the womb. That’s impossible and frankly idiotic of the rep.”
Ohio is even considering making birth control and contraception illegal for women to obtain, which poses a number of risks considering a lot of women take birth control for health-related issues.
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“What worries me is the potential domino effect this will have across the entire country,” said 22-year-old Sean Johnson who is using his platform to fight back against these laws. “With the appointment of Niel Gorsuch and Bret Kavanaugh (an alleged sexual assailant himself) to the Supreme Court and of course everyone’s favorite circus act in the White House, this gave conservatives the traction they needed to finally fight back against Roe vs. Wade.”
Arkansas is currently in the process of passing a bill that would allow rapists to sue their victims for pursuing abortions.
“After someone has been a victim to rape or incest I find it completely out of place for anyone to dictate what that person’s consequences should be,” said Mercy Kowalski, a 21-year-old Republican. “That person is already experiencing emotional trauma and should be allowed to make there own decisions. While I wish women rather look into adoption rather than abortion I know that it’s not always that simple and they are trying to do what they believe is best for them in their current situation.”
A lot of people are considering these bills to be a war against women and some are even comparing it to the Handmaid’s Tale.
“Two things: one, just if I haven’t been clear: women are in danger and THIS is the reason we need feminism. It has nothing to do with men (besides the ones that made these f*cked up new laws/bans). It literally has to do with the fact that we are losing control, we are losing the rights to our own bodies. What kind of 1984, Fahrenheit 451 bullsh*t is going on? What are they going to do next? Tell us we can’t vote? Women are in danger. Women are in danger. Women are in danger. I don’t know how many times I have to say that but I’ll keep saying it and I’ll keep fighting for the rights over my own body or I will die trying,” said Gibson. “And two, the government is so up in arms about a lump of cells ‘dying’, where’s the same outrage when some kid open fires on his classmates? Where is their worry for kids then? All over America, there are sick kids, depressed kids, mentally ill kids, abused kids, poor kids, kids stuck in the criminal system and kids stuck in the foster system, where is the love for them? Who protects them?”
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The “Heartbeat” Bill in Georgia says that a woman cannot get an abortion after the sixth week, which is a few weeks after a missed period and when most women find out they’re pregnant.
“Georgia’s bill bans them when the “heartbeat” is detected which usually happened before women even find out they’re pregnant so they don’t even have the chance to think about getting an abortion. I am very much for having the choice to do what you want for your own body and life and these laws completely get rid of that right,” said Unlenhop.
It is even illegal for women in Georgia, Ohio and Alabama to get an abortion outside of the state.
“Women in these states will be caught between a rock and a hard place. Their options, should they become pregnant regardless of the circumstances, are to be forced into having the baby or go to jail for attempting to leave state, miscarry, or carry out a back alley abortion. It should go without saying that any of these options can be dangerous. Childbirth itself sees a number of maternal fatalities, as does the latter two options. What these closed-minded lawmakers don’t understand is that abortion restriction doesn’t reduce abortion, it simply leads to unsafe practices like back-alley abortions, drinking dangerous chemicals, or even falling down the stairs, all of which have occurred due to anti-abortion policy,” said Johnson. “According to compiled data by the FBI, in 2017 more than 4,000 women were raped in the state of Ohio alone. Considering the lack of consideration for rape cases in this bill, this would be detrimental to countless women who are now forced to carry their rapist’s child for fear of facing more jail time than their actual rapist. In the end, women are put in a precarious position, one that threatens their lives and health, and I cannot think of any greater crime.”
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States are trying to bring these bills to the Supreme Court to overturn Roe V. Wade.
“I might not be pro-choice, but I still don’t find it right to force a woman into a pregnancy if she’s not ready. I find it wrong to make life long decisions for other people when you don’t have to walk in their shoes,” said Kowalski.
People think their voices won’t be heard, but that’s not true if there are enough voices.
“We need to get out and vote. So many people forget that it actually holds meaning these days. We need more level-headed men and women in power, ones that don’t hold extreme views and will actually do the research get expert opinions and discuss before passing something off,” Goben said.
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