When I was 20 years old, I was raped in London at the beginning of my junior year abroad. Lucky for me, the kind custodian of the YWCA where I was staying for a few nights, suggested that I go to a nearby hospital the next morning and ask for a morning-after pill. That’s what abortion pills were called back then, and in the 1970s they were available on an emergency basis in some British hospitals. I tell the story of my sexual assault and how I was able to acquire an abortion pill in my memoir, Brassy Broad: How one journalist helped pave the way to #MeToo. These memories resurfaced once again with the news that Roe vs. Wade may soon be overturned by a heavily politicized Supreme Court and the likelihood that once this landmark ruling falls, a ban on medication abortions may soon follow in many states. As this New York Times article notes, abortion pills will probably become the next battleground in a post-Roe America.
As someone who was able to avail herself of the morning-after pill when she most needed it, I dread the thought of living in a post-Roe America. Not only did I avoid an unwanted pregnancy as a result of being raped by a virtual stranger, but easy access to a legal abortion also saved me from having an unwanted child when I was in my 20s. I had just broken up with my boyfriend when I found out I was pregnant and I knew I was in no position to have a baby. The previous year, I had reignited my journalism career by moving to Miami and taking a job as a staff writer at The Miami Herald, and I was not prepared to throw that away to raise a child with (or without) a man I didn’t love. Again, I was lucky: because of Roe vs. Wade, an abortion was easily accessible at a nearby clinic and it was performed by my own gynecologist. It cost me $150, a small price to pay for my carelessness in not using birth control at a time in my cycle I thought I was safe (a day or two after my monthly period ended).
I have never regretted either decision — to take the abortion pill the morning after I was raped, or to get a D&C when I wasn’t ready to be a mother. I have since given birth to and raised two wonderful sons, and I’ve also been fortunate to have a richly rewarding career. And now, a few far-right justices, who never should have been appointed to the Supreme Court in the first place, are going to take that basic human right away from a younger generation of women who deserve the same right to choose how they live their lives as I had. I can only hope that the recently leaked draft of the court’s ruling to overturn Roe vs. Wade energizes Americans (the vast majority of whom support abortion rights) to such an extent that they hand anti-abortion Republicans a resounding defeat in November. It may take some time, but if Roe vs. Wade is overturned, we need a Congress that is willing to make abortion legal again and safeguard the freedoms that I was fortunate enough to take for granted.
The blog is also posted on my website.
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