Roses & Ruin

Chapter 14 (Lexi)

My body. My choice.

        These are scary times in America, especially for people of color, lgbtq+, and women. Or even worse, a POC lgbtq+ woman. Slowly over the course of my life I've somehow watched my country backslide into former more prejudiced days, instead of moving forward as a truly free and progressive country like we are advertised to be.

And maybe this topic is especially sensitive for me based on my upcoming circumstances and how completely out of control I feel about them. How I lost my right to choose for myself when Vitaly re entered my life. 

It's scary to know your autonomy, your anatomy belongs to someone other than yourself.

I'd like to think of myself as a strong woman. I'd like to think that I could stand up to my father or my brothers when they threaten me with their power. 

Maybe that's why seeing my internal conflicts being projected into my external surroundings has me feeling so passionate about this, but, last night was a great tragedy for those communities I mentioned before and others like it. In light of the Roe V wade law being overturned in some states it stirred up a lot of issues in America that we cannot ignore. 

        For those who don't know it. Roe V. Wade was a landmark decision of the U.S supreme court in which the court rules that the constitution of the United States generally protects the liberty to choose to have an abortion.

Now, no matter your views on abortion itself, that doesn't matter when addressing the point that a federal government wants to take away a woman's right to choose. That her body somehow has regulations, as though we are property of the state. 

To remove one's choice is one of the most dangerous backslides in this false-progressive country. Because when does it stop?

        If America can make abortions illegal in some states again, then who's to say they don't take a woman's right to vote away again. Who's to say that they don't make gay marriage illegal again. Who's to say they don't segregate people of color again?

People say 'oh that wouldn't happen', but the fact of the matter is that a dystopian novel is just a few misplaced laws devastating a country into past historical mistakes, and how the people handle those issues in modern day America... Like what we're facing here.

        It's easier for a teenager to buy an AR-15 deadly weapon than it is for some women to find a safe way to terminate a pregnancy. Especially with extraordinary circumstances like a woman who's been raped, or suffers a medical issue that threatens the mothers life if the pregnancy continues. Nope. They don't care.

That's how threatening a woman with her own power is viewed to be. A gun seems less threatening to those ignorant and self important people who think freedom means the right to violence. Living breathing people being killed off instead of the right to choose to terminate before there is a person created. 

And many peoples argument against abortion stems from a religious beleif. Church and state is meant to be separate in America, but it has increasingly become a factor in the decision of all people. Even for those who don't practice the same religion, share those same beliefs, or rather rely on science for their answers.

That isn't to say all religions in general is solely the problem. It's just been a widely used counter position to the 'pro life' community versus the pro choice.

        Last night was tragic for women everywhere because during a Women's rights Rally that took place in Texas a 'pro life' extremist drove his car into a crowd of women for the sole purpose of killing them. It was the town of Pflugerville, Texas, which also happens to have a predominantly black population.