From My Perspective: My Body, My Choice

Yeah, this one should prove to be a little controversial, but maybe that’s what we need. A calm, explanation and an opportunity for dialogue that helps. Here’s to hoping…

So as almost everyone knows, there was a leak last week from a Supreme Court Justice that indicate a possible overturning of the infamous Roe v. Wade ruling from 1973. Immediately, there was an uproar from women feeling they were losing their right to a choice.

Personally, after doing a little more research into the history of that ruling, I’m not sure it ever should have been a ruling in the first place.

Now before everyone gets upset and all up-in-arms over that statement, please let me explain. It’s not the ruling itself I disagree with, it’s the fact that the federal government was ever involved in such a choice. In fact, it’s very similar to what I consider the overreach of the federal government in any medical situation. It’s really not their place to be involved in the choices, medical or otherwise, that I make. But the fact of the matter is, they are involved.

The reality is this: overturning of Roe v. Wade doesn’t take away a woman’s right to have an abortion. It takes it out of the federal government’s hands and makes a woman responsible for paying for her own choice. Yes, there are states that won’t allow women to have an abortion, no matter the circumstance. I find that very sad.

But equating it again, a state taking away the right to choose, even in the cases of rape, incest or for medical reasons, is similar to the federal government or state excluding people from events for receiving a vaccine for medical, religious or other reasons.

I do have a medical exclusion from receiving the COVID vaccine. It could cause huge adverse reactions, including death. I can’t take it, yet I’m being excluded from particular venues and shows I would normally be able to teach at because they require proof of vaccine, and they will allow no exemptions of any kind. That’s okay, that’s their choice. I don’t have to agree with it, and I don’t.

Now I know there are states where I can teach, and states where I can’t. Is it disheartening and inconvenient? You bet it is. Is it the end of the world? Not necessarily. It just means I need to go where those mandates don’t exist.

If the Roe v. Wade ruling is overturned and someone lives in a state where it won’t be legal due to their state laws, someone will have to choose to travel or move to another state where it is legal. Inconvenient? Yes. Impossible? No. Costly? Probably. Still your right to choose? Definitely.

To clarify, I am pro-choice. For me, my choice has always been to be pro-life, but I understand there are circumstances where that isn’t or shouldn’t be the case for every woman in the world. That said, I’ve also never had to personally encounter rape, incest, abuse or a medical condition that would have left me with a choice to consider ending a life. I’m fortunate that I’ve never had to make that choice, but if I’d had to, it would have been a choice I made for me and my body, and everyone deserves the opportunity to choose it for themselves.

For those of you who screamed “my body, my choice,” when it came to the choice of whether you should be able to have an abortion, let me remind you that should also be the case for anyone over the last two years who has chosen not to receive a vaccine, or any other medical procedure.

Let’s break that down a little, shall we? If it’s your choice to end a life, for whatever the reason, and essentially that is what abortion is, how is that any different than someone who chooses not to receive a vaccine, or seek various unorthodox medical treatments? If it’s all about saving lives, shouldn’t we all have our own say on what we choose for ourselves?

When the vaccines came out, and even before when we had to isolate, shut down and so on, it was so we could “save lives.” Many of those people who proclaimed “my body my choice” for abortion, suddenly didn’t believe in the same premise when it came to vaccines.

Now this next question might raise some hackles, but I’ll ask it anyway. This isn’t for those who have had to abort due to medical or rape or incest, but rather to those who have continually used abortion as a birth control method and had the government, a.k.a. taxpayers, pay for those procedures through various government funding options: what makes the life you are ending any less valuable than mine, yours, or any other individual on the planet? I really invite those of you in this predicament to think about that.

In the end, we all want the same thing here, a choice. And whether we agree with those choices that others make, or not, that is, or has been the beauty of living in a country where we have the freedom to do so. So while it is my body, and should be my choice, the same goes for the rest of the world.