United States: Abortion Restrictions Or Bans.

This is a topic that quite literally fills me with rage. The United States is the new Canada, however in our case, provinces and territories are prohibited constitutionally from regulating abortion. 

But I have to take the emotion out of it to be at least credible: in a country like the United States where states are sovereign to such a large extent, federal abortion legislation needs to be in place in one form or another so that a hodgepodge of state legislation does not create second-class citizens who happen to be women. 

In the wake of overturning Roe v. Wade, twelve states have already banned abortion and others have imposed restrictions. Even legally, this is a mess: some laws brought in by legislatures have been declared unconstitutional by the courts, while in other states the same type of legislation was declared by the courts as respecting that state's constitution. Go figure.

But in the main, legislatures as the duly elected representatives of the people have the power to pass legislation regulating or outlawing abortion, and it's perfectly legal. I say to people that if you like what they did, and now I'm speaking to women, vote all of them back in. But if you don't, mobilize and vote all of them out. This battle takes me back to ERA in the 1970s and 80s, and we all know how those efforts turned out.

What confounds me is how men are so easily not troubled about passing legislation that affects women exclusively and dictates both their rights, to the extent that they exist, and their obligations. And then there's at least the plurality of women who allow all of this to take place without political consequences for those legislators. Women have the power in the end. They need to drop the subconscious victim mentality and coalesce into a political powerhouse. There are more women than men that vote. So, THEY should be calling the tune on abortion, its access, its restrictions and obligations, period.

The last thing we need to see is a return to secret or unprofessionally-performed abortions. Women will quite literally die in those so-called procedures. That's why the fight has moved on to pill-induced abortions. To women, I say, take control and determine for yourselves state positions on reproductive health and abortion services. In short, don't get politically rolled by men, whether they happen to be pro-life or pro-choice. Seize the issue and quite literally make all the political decisions in your state. After all, you are the voting majority in most states.