Our Constitutional Right to an Abortion is No Longer a Right; Are Contraceptives Next?

 Several years ago, one of my kids, who was a teenager, asked me if I could help out a friend. At this time, this friend identified as female. This person was also sexually active (the two of them were the same age) and recently, this person had sex with their boyfriend. Unfortunately, the condom their partner wore leaked, and this person was terrified of becoming pregnant. This person DID NOT want to be a teen mom! They planned to finish high school and go to college. They had dreams to chase after.

 

So my oldest asked me if I would help them to get emergency contraception (EC). At the time, I was not well-versed with the law about this sort of thing, but I did know that ECs were available for free at clinics. However, I was wary of opting to help out, because I didn’t know if it was legal to do so. I didn’t know if it was legal to help a minor obtain emergency birth control. I also did not want to interfere in what should have been something that their mom would need to be responsible for. (At this time, the mom and I were friends.) So, in the end, this person got the EC they needed from someone else.

 

But that has always stuck with me. And I was thinking about it a lot yesterday, when I learned that, right after the overturn of Roe vs. Wade last week, one of the next things the Supreme Court was going to tackle was the availability of birth control. There are comments that contraceptives would be either banned, made illegal, or restricted in certain states. ("Biden, other critics fear Thomas’s ‘extreme’ position on contraception" by  Meryl Kornfield, Timothy Bella and Amy B Wang; The Washington Post; June 24, 2022; https://wapo.st/3y0xRPv)

 

As someone who uses a contraceptive for health reasons, I certainly hope this won’t happen! I have read other stories from people who use birth control pills for health reasons, as well. These are the ONLY things that are helping us to manage our health issues. The Supreme Court has no right to interfere with an individual’s healthcare like that. And they shouldn't. They don't know what is best for our bodies but we do and so do our doctors.

 

But the bigger issue is this: What’s going to happen if teenagers, people who are not yet adults, lose out on access to emergency contraceptives? The rate of teen pregnancies will go up, that’s what! These teens will be forced to quit school in some cases and take on the rigors of a domestic life that, up until then, they had the freedom to have control over. By taking away their access to these emergency contraceptives, or even contraceptives in general, the Supreme Court would remove that freedom. They will ultimately force all of those teenagers to STAY pregnant!

 

Then again, maybe not.

 

I have a bad feeling there are going to be deaths resulting from a lot of botched abortions now that access to a SAFE and MEDICALLY-SUPERVISED abortion is no longer allowed (depending on the state you live in). There could be deaths among women, members of low-income families, and teenagers too scared to reach out for help as well. And their blood will be on the hands of every single member of the Supreme Court!

 

When one of my sisters was in her teens, and attending high school, she shared with me a story of how one of her friends had recently discovered that she was pregnant. Terrified, she had one of her friends push her down a flight of steps. Such an action could result in accidental death (she could have broken her neck), but, thankfully, she survived the fall. She also terminated an unwanted pregnancy.

 

I can’t help but think we’re all going to go back to the dark ages of such things happening again, and a lot more often. There will be impregnated individuals asking others to push them down the stairs or going on carnival rides that could end their pregnancy, having their boyfriends kick their stomachs, using dangerous herbal tinctures to terminate their pregnancies and even the very dangerous wire hanger forms of abortions that take place in secret locations. (Many women have died from such unsafe procedures.) This is all going to be our new normal in light of abortion no longer being a constitutional right. Apparently, the Supreme Court feels that every single person who can get pregnant should get pregnant, but NOT EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE PREGNANT! Pregnancy is hard, dammit. So is childbirth. I know. I went through it twice. I’d like to know if the men on the Supreme Court would still feel the same way about forcing pregnancies on people if THEY had to go through the nine months (or longer) of pregnancy themselves.

 

And sure, people say, “Well, you can always give the baby up for adoption.”

 

First, giving up a baby you gave birth to is heartbreaking and traumatic.

 

Second, do you even care about the hundreds of kids already waiting to be adopted??

 

It seems that these days, we (those of us who aren’t wielding such abusive power from the seat of the Supreme Court) must take action to help each other out.

 

I was elated when Governor Brown announced that abortion will stay legal in Oregon. However, I know that other states aren’t following suit. And I worry about the people in those states who are in need of access to either emergency contraceptives or an abortion. Thanks to the jerks of the Supreme Court, a lot of people won’t have that access anymore!

 

Then I came across another article on this issue. There are people out there stocking up on emergency contraceptives, in order to help out those who need them. Not only this, but there is a website where you can order abortion pills for free. In light of the stocking up, though, some stores took steps in limiting the supply of pills shoppers were able to buy.

 

As the parent of a teenager who is going to start high school in the fall, I am glad there are people doing this. And you know what? I’m going to start doing this, too. I talked with said teenager and we had an honest discussion with each other about the realities of what life would be like in high school as far as growing up and dealing with raging hormones is concerned. We agreed that my obtaining ECs was a good idea. I also found out that it is NOT illegal in my state to offer said ECs to a person under 18. So it looks like I will be turning into “that mom” that has the much-needed source of help for a teenager who may face an accidental pregnancy. 

 

In light of how little regard we women now have with the Supreme Court, and how very little valued our rights as citizens of this country are concerned, I am hoping I will not be the only mom who will help out a scared teenager if that help is needed. All of us need to help each other out, even when we have to do so in secret, behind locked doors, and in ways which are now deemed "illegal" to do so.