Today is Election Day. Now is the time to enshrine reproductive rights into the Ohio constitution and vote Yes on Issue 1. People seem to assume that voting Yes on Issue 1 will take away parent rights and make abortion legal until birth. Both of these are untrue. For more on the actual measure and how it’s been misconstrued follow this link: Restore Roe: Ohio – Red Wine and Blue
My focus is on the false equivalency that a Yes vote on Issue 1 means you are in support of unlimited abortions. Issue 1 is about equality for women and bodily autonomy. If we control our own bodies then yes, we can choose whether or not to have an abortion. We can also choose to use birth control and can receive life saving care if something goes wrong during a pregnancy. We can protect girls and women who have been raped or are in abusive relationships and not force them to have their attacker’s child. Until women control our own bodies and politicians are out of the exam room, we will never be equals with men.
Outlawing abortion is a big issue for misogynists who are threatened by women. They cloak it under the guise of religion, but it is really about power and suppression. The word “abortion” is never mentioned in the Bible. The closest reference is in Exodus 21:22-25 which determines that a fetus is valued as property and a woman is valued as a person. Jewish law traditionally considers that personhood begins at birth.
The time has come to remove religion from the abortion debate and to see the debate as it really is, an attack on women. You can be personally anti-abortion but still pro-women’s health and equality. Vote Yes on Issue 1.
