I write these words not to make some grand statement, nor because I’m looking for social approval. I write these words because I believe my friends and family deserve to know where I stand. Which, I know, typically isn’t like me, but I guess you could say I’m a little heated as of late.
I won’t pretend that I’m a bleeding-heart political persona—I’m the least politically inclined person I know. I’m not nearly intelligent enough to sensibly argue about politics, and I’m typically not interested in doing so either. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t have a political opinion. I mean, it’s the 21st century, how could anyone not? And here’s the thing: you don’t need to be a history buff or have a law degree or a thriving political vocabulary to know right from wrong. And what the United States Supreme Court did on June 24, 2022, is wrong.
A majority of the court argues that a woman’s right to an abortion is not necessarily a constitutional right, hence their decision. Well, I’m sorry, but I didn’t realize that a woman’s decision over what she does with her body, especially in regard to her potentially carrying a child, needed to be constitutional. It’s her body. No one—no one—has authority over that. And yeah, maybe I’ll sound like a broken record, but why do we still have a bunch of aging old bags making laws about women’s bodies? Clearly, their experience has not led to the development of strong decision-making skills.
I’m sure I’ll catch a metric fuck ton of flak for this, but here’s a ludicrously hot take for you: the Constitution is an outdated and outmoded piece of paper that should not be the basis of modern lawmaking. This is a document written over 200 years ago by a bunch of angry white dudes in the throes of war. The last thing, I think, any of the founding fathers had in mind was women’s rights.
And yes, the Constitution has been amended and updated to accommodate for modern developments over the years, but in the face of such blatant disregard for women and their rights, I think it begs the question as to why we still allow this one piece of parchment to hold so much bearing over pretty much every decision politicians make. Political nuts seem to love reading things like the Constitution to the letter, without ever considering the social, emotional, economic, and/or psychological ramifications of making decisions based purely on logic and reason.
I get it, being emotional can lead to rash decision making at times. However, the opposite can be just as harmful. Blindly ignoring human emotion in the face of such important choices, I argue, will always lead to disaster, as it so clearly has here.
Seriously, when did it become commonplace for those in power to take away and strip citizens—women and people of color, in particular—of their rights rather than empower and embolden them? I suppose you might argue that’s always been the case. Maybe it has. I like to err on the side of optimism, though, and hope that those in positions of authority will actually do right by us all. But lately, holding fast to that state of mind seems less and less viable.
You might then ask, “Well, if we don’t use the Constitution, then what?” Like I said, I’m not well-versed in politics, so I’m not sure I really have any answers. But how about we start by not letting decrepit old men and religiously inclined sycophants make rules about women? Seems like a sensible starting point to me.
I’m just tired. I’m so tired of all this shit, and I’m tired of not knowing what to do about it. I’m sick of feeling like the only thing I could ever possibly do in such cases is just write down a few words on a few pages and hope it brings some comfort to some people. I don’t even know if any of this will mean anything to anyone reading. But, again, I think at least my friends and family deserve to know where I stand for a change, whether they agree or disagree.
Although, if you disagree, then I have to ask, rather bluntly: what the fuck is wrong with you?