A Shocker! An Earthquake! A Stunner! In 2022, six conservative members of the Supreme Court overturned nearly fifty years of precedent in the Dobbs case that overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. The Court decided to let individual states make up their own rules on a highly contentious issue over women’s rights. What made the ruling so remarkable is that the court took away rights and privileges rather than adding to them.
The resulting conflict from the Dobbs decision has been one of uncertainty, chaos, anger, and a battle between the self-identified forces of pro-life and pro-choice proponents. At the heart of the matter is who controls a woman’s body, a fetus or the woman herself with an unwanted pregnancy. It is a contest between a woman’s free agency vs. coercion by the state that holds a woman responsible for a fetus with no choice in her situation if she lives in restrictive state.
As the author of The Abortion Bible, I have been influenced by family, friends, colleagues, and research in the writing of this book on behalf of female independence. My mother became a nurse following World War Two as a professional woman and later received a master’s degree in education. For my mom’s generation, these two professions (nursing and teaching), were generally the only avenues open to women who were ambitious. My sister also became a nurse, and my extended family includes nurses and doctors. I, however, did not inherit the medical gene, being allergic to blood, guts, needles, and hospital trauma. But I have been blessed by my mother’s professionalism and being a role model on what women can achieve, a remarkable woman.
All fifty states have subsequently been forced to take a stand on such a personal and emotional issue. The fallout and recriminations have been profound. Roughly twenty states have passed new laws that vary between an outright ban on abortion to various time limits usually ranging from six to fifteen-week time periods. New restrictions on doctors and nurses in many states have made their practice of medicine harder and susceptible to second guessing. Some are relocating to other states.
While the pro-choice forces were mostly caught off guard by the Dobbs Supreme Court decision, they have quickly mobilized and created a backlash to the Court’s ruling. In many pro-choice states, they have changed their state Constitution or added legislative language to protect the right of a woman to make her own decisions.
Pro-life forces must be admired for their passion and commitment in a fifty-year battle to get a partial state victory in favoring a fetus over any rights of a woman who is facing an unwanted pregnancy. However, they have failed to convince the public of their stand and only succeeded by the appointments of very conservative Supreme Court Justices. It is clear that in the battle for hearts and minds, women want to be the deciders.
Already, the trend lines are clear. So far, every state that gets a vote, (many states do not even allow for a referendum vote) votes in favor of pro-choice for women. More states will be voting on this issue in the near future. It is interesting that in many newly restrictive states with conservative legislators there is a concerted effort to prevent citizens to vote on this issue. They are not in favor of democracy and the people deciding at the ballot box. It is also telling that in all the state legislatures denying women female bodily autonomy, the legislators are overwhelmingly male. Of course, men know best when it comes to female biology and female rights.
In my careers of education and business I have witnessed firsthand the astounding progress of women in all walks of life that I believe, will win the pro-choice war. Women are moving up fast in the ranks of education, business, the professions, and the workplace. With every passing year women have more power, more influence, and higher positions to demand that the “state” stay in its own lane and that women themselves are perfectly capable to determine their own personal situations. Just in the 21st century a sea-change of women running for political office will change the dynamics of the all-boys club across the country. Women are outpacing men in college education degrees and will demand more respect over their own personal choices.
Currently, a majority of women across the country are in favor of pro-choice policies for women. The same is true for a majority of men. For both men and women, these numbers have grown since the Dobbs decision. Those in the pro-life movement are good people but are misguided that a heavy handed coercive “state” will prevail over smart and capable women who believe they know what is best for themselves. Women trust themselves! My Mom told me so!