Any Nation That Protects Bodily Autonomy for Women Is Better Than the US
It is disgraceful that women are forced to face jail or death over complications due to pregnancy
I recently commented that America does not treat women well. Predictably, I received a response from a person who was so punch-drunk on patriotism that he couldn’t comprehend the basis for my observation.
“That seems like an odd thing to lead with. I’m curious, if not America, what society does treat women well in your opinion?”
The answer to this is so obvious, it’s stunning that it’s not part of the general conversation. In fact, it’s infuriating that loudmouthed, indifferent, and entitled people are so convinced that our country is the “best” that they don’t even perceive the agony that’s inflicted on our fellow citizens every single day.
It’s generally considered “impolite” to mention the people who are needlessly forced to suffer in our society. We don’t help them, we ignore them. That attitude has to change.
Intoxicated on the lie of exceptionalism
One of the main issues we have in the United States is that conservatives are so indoctrinated with their own delusional sense of superiority that they are blind to the problems their policies create. I suspect that this is a side-effect of self-righteousness. If you are mature and you take responsibility for your mistakes it’s impossible to be self-righteous.
Without fail, the people I most respect in the world are those who are constantly uncertain whether or not they are doing the right thing.
Without fail, the people I’ve met who have been responsible for the most pain and misery are those that insist they are always right.
I didn’t bother to answer the response to my comment, but I’ll answer it now. In the United States of America, conservatives have robbed women of their human right to bodily autonomy. This is something that’s been maliciously stolen. Today, American women potentially face incarceration for a miscarriage, and death as a consequence for reproductive complications.
The legal system of the United States of America maliciously punishes women. This is an unacceptable human rights violation, and it needs to be corrected immediately. Denying this reality doesn’t make it go away.
There are no justifications for these abuses.
We must end all violence against women
I have a wife, two daughters, a sister, and a mother. It infuriates me to contemplate that a conservative Supreme Court that doesn’t seem to understand the concept of unenumerated rights has recklessly put all of their lives at risk.
People in our society don’t have any right to maintain the reprehensible belief that women never get attacked. Women get attacked with appalling frequency.
Conservatives become triggered when you address the deplorable state of violence against women by raising awareness about “rape culture” or “toxic masculinity.” They are more committed to singing the false praises of patriarchal systems than recognizing the inherent failings of these philosophies.
Anything they don’t like or which contradicts their belief, they deny. They never learn. They never improve. They never come up with a solution.
It happens and I’ve seen it
Two years ago, an 11 year old girl was raped and murdered in my community. Generally, my county votes Republican. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of that violation of basic humanity. The sense of impotence you feel when such a crime is committed in your vicinity taps into a primal rage.
When people tell me that they stand for appalling laws that create further rounds of violation after an already brutal and life-altering attack, I find myself having to use harsh language. “You’re telling me that if this child had survived and gotten pregnant, you’d make her carry an unviable pregnancy to term even if it put her life at risk? You’re saying that you support death sentences for children who are the victims of rape?”
“Well, that wouldn’t happen.”
“It does happen. I’ve personally seen the consequences of conservative brutality. You feel entitled to ignore and deny facts and that’s unacceptable.”
“This conversation is making me uncomfortable.”
“As uncomfortable as being forced to endure an ectopic pregnancy? I doubt it. Why do you think your feelings are more important that the physical suffering of the women who have to live by the vindictive beliefs you’ve turned into law?”
Conservatives are forcing women to suffer and die
The ignorant, controlling people who force us to live under the constant threat of offensive legislation insist they are entitled to wallow in their worldview of denial. As a society, we have to adopt the mindset that conservatives are not entitled to infringe upon human liberties without ever having to face the consequences of their cruelty.
They can’t be allowed to pretend human suffering is not a result of their actions. It is.
I would prefer to live in a humanitarian society that cherished maternity. Women should have access to universal health care. Women should have access to birth control. The government shouldn’t be allowed to threaten a doctor for performing a procedure that might save a woman’s life.
In the United States of America, women die because they are denied access to reproductive healthcare. Many other countries treat women with much more respect and dignity than they receive in the United States. This is a fact.
“Well, what about Saudi Arabia?”
One of the responses I often get from defiant conservatives who refuse to recognize the consequences of their horrific beliefs is to say, “Well, what about Saudi Arabia?”
“What about Saudi Arabia?” I reply. “I’ve never lived there. I’ve never been there. I’ve certainly never gone to a hospital there.”
“Well, I submit that women in the United States are treated better than women in Saudia Arabia?”
“Have you ever been to Saudi Arabia?”
“No.”
“Are you a woman?”
“No.”
“Then you don’t know what you’re talking about do you?”
The whole concept of justifying the abusive behaviors of the United States by finding something “worse” is both dishonest and illogical. It reminds me of a thief trying to justify himself by saying, “I robbed you, but I didn’t murder you. You should be thankful. Other thieves are much more brutal than I am. In fact, you should be grateful that you had me.”
The objective of a country that claims it’s “exceptional” shouldn’t be to cherry pick human history for examples of civilizations that may or may not have been worse. The objective is to be a leader. The objective is to actually achieve a humanitarian society, not bully people with vague and unsubstantiated threats about how other places are worse.
Criminalizing reproductive healthcare is unsustainable
There are days when I become infuriated over the normalized levels of ignorant, incompetent, and cruel ideologies in the United States. Okay, so you’re going to prosecute women for having miscarriages. How’s that going to work? Are you going to investigate every miscarriage? Who is going to pay for the police? Are you going to arrest women and incarcerate them? Who is going to pay for the prisons and the guards?
Okay, so you’re going to deny women lifesaving reproductive healthcare. That means a mother of four has to die if she should happen to suffer the misfortune of an ectopic pregnancy. She has to die based on your laws. But who is going to raise her other four kids? Who is going to pay for that?
We need to control this narrative
This kind of discussion is completely absent in our society. We constantly allow cruel and delusional people to defiantly lecture us about their horrific and impractical beliefs, and otherwise intelligent people insist they have some sort of a right to be taken seriously. Then you have random people become perplexed when you mention that the United States is far from being one of the “best” countries in the world. It is, in fact, a cruel and exploitative country that imposes human rights violations on women, and that’s just one of the things it gets wrong.
“Well, what country is better?”
“Any country that protects a woman’s right to bodily autonomy is better, and there are a lot of them.”
“Well, why don’t you move there?”
“Because decent people don’t abandon human beings who are subjected to mistreatment. We stand and fight for them, and even if somebody is forced to move to escape direct abuse, they will continue the fight. This injustice shall not be allowed to endure, and no decent person will rest until the right to reproductive health care has been restored.”
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In South Carolina,a young black girl had a miscarriage and they locked her up for murder. Then had her on house arrest with an ankle bracelet to monitor her. Where was the outrage? And this is why I struggle with the church, why wasn’t anyone there to help her. I remember the people in Jesus’ day that brought the woman to him to be stoned for adultery. Where was the man? She didn’t commit it by herself. In most of these cases, what happened to the man that impregnated her. Where is her support?
I moved to Spain from America last year and I can tell you, I am treated better here by men in general and by the health care system. During a regular gynecology exam here, you are given an ultrasound on your ovaries and breasts. Both of those are treatments you only get in the U.S. if you have symptoms of something wrong. They care about women enough here to do screenings BEFORE cancer symptoms show up.
I also don't face the open harrassment and hatred that I had to deal with any time I left my house in Los Angeles. I can walk down the street alone at night safely here. It's a whole other world, truly.
There is a lot more about your essay to say but I feel like that's where I can contribute the most.