The month of May has felt like a battleground. May began with a leaked draft to overturn Roe V Wade, and the topic of pro-choice versus pro-life took over the internet while women and men alike banded together in outcry. In Texas, a woman was arrested and charged with murder after the hospital reported her to law enforcement. While the case was dropped, it left a bitterness of what could occur if Roe V Wade were to be overturned. States are drafting anti-abortion laws in anticipation of a change in their favor, and other states, such as Ohio, have an abortion ban at 6 weeks. For those unaware, when an OBGYN is determining the age of gestation, they look at the first day of your last period. Knowing you must wait until After your next period was supposed to start and end, by the time a person finds out they are pregnant, it's already 6 weeks or beyond.
13 states have already enacted "trigger laws" such as Louisiana's "Abolition of Abortion in Louisiana Act of 2022" stating "Fully recognize the human personhood of an unborn child at all stages of development prior to birth from the moment of fertilization." If Roe V Wade were to be overturned these laws will immediately go into effect, leaving people vulnerable to incarceration with a murder charge. Even if they were to travel to a safe state, once they come back home, they can still be charged.
This has deeply angered me time and time again, when this conversation rears its ugly head and the talk of controlling a woman's body is treated as though we are nothing but objects made for men's pleasures and to just procreate? As if we've not our own desires and wishes? As though we don't have lives we wish to live? If Roe V Wade is to be overturned, not only would unsafe abortions skyrocket, this would open the door to banning contraception as well, with the IUD being the most prominent I have seen being spoken against.
Now what angers me the most this month is not just this appalling possibility but, the reality we currently live in as yet another school shooting occurred in the United States. We are in the 5th month of the year and the United States has had 27 School Shootings so far with a total of 216 mass shootings in general, according to the Gun Violence Archive. This week, the teachers at my children's school sat with their respective classes and talked about their feelings. In the 3rd grade class, the Uvalde school shooting came up with each student sharing their fear, and worries. These young 8 and 9-year-old children are scared to go to school, afraid that they're next! My own children tell me, "Don't worry mom, we practiced how to hide." How can this be okay? These governors want to proclaim to the public how much they care for the children of The United States of America yet, you don't want to protect them? It's easier to villainize parents than it is to reform gun laws.
When looking at world statistics, the United States aside, Mexico follows the states with the second-most school shootings at a whopping 8. What happened in Uvalde should have never occurred. An 18-year-old should not have been able to easily legally purchase two AR15-style rifles and ammo. There should not only be a background check but, a waiting period, psychological check, literature, and film that should be watched about the dangers and how serious it is to own a weapon, and to go through a course like you would for driving that include gun care, how to properly store, etc. You should have to work hard for a license like to own. No, this wouldn't stop crime but, hopefully, with regulation, we can mitigate these types of incidents. Get out and vote! Pressure your government and protest! Use your voice to enact change for the betterment of the people and not the loud few!
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