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Why Choice Matters
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace:
I'm an American Worker and I'm Tired of Getting Screwed
Rick Kepler
Democracy and Elections:
Consensus Builds for Universal Voter Registration
Project Vote
DrugReporter:
Beaten, Tortured and Sentenced 25-to-Life for Minor Drug Offense
Randy Credico
Election 2008:
Obama's Latino Mandate
Steve Cobble, Joe Velasquez
Environment:
How the Rich Are Destroying the Earth
Herve Kempf
ForeignPolicy:
Arab Americans Should Be Worried About Rahm Emanuel
Remi Kanazi
Health and Wellness:
This Week in Health
Lindsay Beyerstein
Hurricane Katrina:
From the Bayou to Baghdad: Mission Not Accomplished
Amy Goodman
Immigration:
Border Fence to Carve up Nature Reserve
Enrique Gili
Media and Technology:
Glenn Beck Wonders Why He's Resented as a Bigot
Steve Rendall
Movie Mix:
Honeytrap Lies and Women Spies
Rosie White
Reproductive Justice and Gender:
Where Are the Female Arnold Schwarzeneggers?
Marie Cocco
Rights and Liberties:
In Stunning Ruling, D.C. Judge Orders Release of Five Gitmo Prisoners
Sex and Relationships:
Is It Wrong to Talk About Michelle Obama's Body?
Tamura Lomax
War on Iraq:
Theater of War: Portrait of a Homeland Security State [Photo Slideshow Included]
Lindsay Beyerstein
Water:
The Tide Is Changing on Bottled Water
Wendy Williams
The Hyde Amendment passed in 1977 prohibited the use of Medicaid funds for abortions. In the same year, a young Latina, Rosie Jimenez, the single mother of a five-year-old child, was forced to seek an illegal abortion when Texas stopped funding Medicaid abortions. Rosie died as a result of an illegal "back-alley" abortion.
Jimenez, the first victim of the Hyde Amendment, needlessly lost her life, and her fate is a prime example of the tragedy that occurs when women's reproductive rights are restricted or taken away. Jimenez was one of many women who suffered due to an oppressive system that disregarded and undervalued her voice, her needs, her health and her life. Decades later, the Hyde Amendment and increasing restrictions on women's health live on while Rosie and countless others have perished.
Today, in honor of the 33rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, I took a moment to imagine an America where a woman's right to reproductive choice is no longer protected by the Constitution. I thought about a country where abortion providers are forced to refuse women access to health care. I pictured the frightened faces of women -- especially women without economic means -- who are forced to rely on doctors who perform illegal abortions in often unsafe and unsanitary conditions.
Contemplating the overturn of Roe, I thought about how women seeking to make personal, moral decisions about their health would be forced to risk prosecution and potentially their lives. It is horrifying to imagine that this nightmare could be our reality if we allow our reproductive rights to be stripped away.
Like many young people who were born post-Roe, I hold the freedom to make my own childbearing decisions dear. At age 25, I refuse to be a part of a generation that allowed the hard-won battle for reproductive rights to be lost without a fight.
Argued in 1973, Roe gave American women the right to make their own choices about their bodies without government or religious interference. Based on the right to privacy, this landmark decision provided women with a constitutional protection for their human right to make decisions about the lifelong responsibility of bearing and raising a child. Additionally, Roe is based on the same fundamental right to privacy that allows women the right to use birth control. Since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, the Supreme Court has decided more than 30 cases that have directly affected women's reproductive rights.
As the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares to vote on the confirmation of a new Supreme Court justice, Samuel Alito -- who is on record opposing abortion rights -- it becomes increasingly important to commemorate the 33rd Anniversary of Roe. In the years after Roe, anti-choice extremists have worked diligently to chip away at women's access to reproductive health care on the state and federal levels. As a result, women are in danger of losing their hard-won rights because the Bush administration appears to have placed eliminating women's reproductive rights at the top of its to-do list.
Jamia Wilson is a writer and activist based in Washington, D.C.
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