May 10, 2022
I wanted to write a response to the leaked Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) draft opinion but needed time to process the anger and write something that gets to the heart of the matter. I told my father back in the ‘80’s when he accused me of only caring about one issue - abortion rights:
Dad, don’t you get it? As a woman, if I can’t control my own body, I don’t have any rights.
That principle applies to every body. The decision to seek an abortion is one of the most personal-- and often most painful -- health care choices a person will ever make. As LWVUS president Deborah Turner wrote regarding the leaked SCOTUS draft:
All people deserve access to quality health care, including abortion, and the privacy to make reproductive choices. As an organization that believes in the power of women to create a more perfect democracy, we will fight to preserve the individual rights of women to make their own reproductive choices.
More than anything, I feel lucky. Lucky to have been born and raised in Connecticut, a state with a long history of being progressive, beginning with the abolition movement to Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965, the contraception and right to privacy case that paved the way for Roe v. Wade, establishing the right to abortion.
I was also lucky to have a mother who did not want me to grow up as she had, ignorant about anything to do with sex or the workings of her own body. Rather than discuss such a delicate topic, she handed me the book “Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex: But Were Afraid to Ask” by Dr. David Reuben. She said, “let me know if you have any questions”. I devoured it.
Not all of my friends were so lucky. Many grew up in households where sex wasn’t discussed due to the family’s religion or the view that “if we don’t talk about it, it won’t happen”. And a few were reminded that if they “got into trouble” and became pregnant out of wedlock, they would be kicked out of the house and disowned. Once Roe v. Wade became the law, our reproductive lives would be no one’s business but our own. For more than a few of my close friends, this ruling symbolized a life-changing moment.
We were doubly lucky – not only did we suddenly have the right to choose, but we also had access to healthcare, translating our legal rights into reality. But as I would learn over the years, Roe and the autonomy that it guaranteed was never completely safe from those determined to control women’s bodies.
Beginning in the 80’s, with the election of Ronald Reagan and the rise of the so-called Moral Majority, anti-abortion organizations became emboldened to escalate their assaults from taunting patients outside clinics to committing violence against the doctors inside. I boarded a bus to Washington D.C. for the first of many times, joining thousands of women to protest and remind the powers that be that we were never going back to the dark times when women died from illegal abortions or were forced to carry unwanted or unsafe pregnancies.
And every time we did that, we felt heard, and we felt empowered. Until we had to do it again, and again, and again. Each time Roe survived, but barely. And now, here we are with a majority in the Supreme Court determined to take away that right. If this decision stands, the right to an abortion will depend whether or not you are lucky enough to live in a state that respects your bodily autonomy.
And now, I feel lucky to live in a state where the Governor will soon sign a law that protects the right to abortion for Connecticut residents as well as the rights of pregnant people coming from other states seeking one.
But bodily autonomy must be a fundamental right guaranteed to each and every American, independent of personal luck or any Supreme Court decision.
I’m tired and angry that endless protests and voting for pro-choice politicians over the years isn’t enough to protect Roe. But we must press on and channel our anger into action.
The simplest, most accessible action we can take is to vote. Vote as if our lives depend on it—because they do.
While we can’t change the makeup of the current Supreme Court, we can elect and hold accountable pro-choice lawmakers with the power to protect the right to abortion and make reproductive rights the supreme law of the land – invulnerable to the sweeping reversals of the Supreme Court.
The League’s position on reproductive health has been unwavering and we must stand fast against regressive policies and decisions that would turn back the clock on rights we have already fought for and won. It’s time to act and mobilize all voters who may have taken the right to abortion and reproductive health for granted; complacency is a luxury we cannot afford.
If our country is to live up to its values of freedom and democracy, we must protect the right to choose.
Laura Smits
President, League of Women Voters of Connecticut
