This week we looked into reproductive justice, and we watched some interesting videos, a documentary by the name “The Abortion Divide” and “Hobby Lobby on Last Week Tonight.” The documentary “The Abortion Divide” by Frontline talks about the fight over abortion and the stories of women who were struggling/having problems with unexpected pregnancies. The documentary was centered on the story of women who went to the “Abortion clinic” located in Chester, Pennsylvania to take out their babies due to one problem or another. These women decided to have an abortion because they believe they won’t be able to take care of the baby or give the baby a good life when it’s born. These women had a hard time making these decisions and had no choice because some of them can’t handle being single parents and really had no one to support them if they keep the baby. Abortion is one topic that easily becomes overlooked, what is sometimes left out in this discussion about abortion are the real experiences and the difficult decisions that women face. At the beginning of the documentary, we see the protesters outside the clinic opposing and trying to stop women from getting an abortion. One of the protesters said, “We pray for their babies and for them, and we also pray for the, for the abortionists, maybe some of them don’t realize what they’re doing.” These people really don’t know how long it took these women to make that choice. A lot of women are being judged and harassed by people just because they had an abortion without even trying to hear their side of the story and why they decided to take that step.
The documentary also shares the stories of those brave women who came to the “Abortion Clinic” to get an abortion. Some of these women took this step due to some personal issues or problems that they cannot control. One of the women named Shaharra said “I don’t want to bring another child into the world, and I’m not financially stable. I’m already struggling with the four that I have and I’m not sure what my other option would be, but if this wasn’t an option, then I know I would be struggling.” This woman believed that having that baby will make her struggle, so why bring in a child and then let them suffer. These are some of the things people need to understand before judging or harassing a woman. Also, some of these women who get this abortion might have been raped or left by their boyfriends and they had to do it in order not to be judged by society for getting pregnant out of wedlock. One other woman by the name of Christine shows us how difficult and emotional it can be to have an abortion after she found out she was pregnant with twins. I believe hearing that made her decisions harder but, in the end, she had to go on with it because of her son who was “More leaning towards Asperger’s and doesn’t like interacting with humans.” She thought having babies would really affect the health of her son Nobel. I think a lot of people need to stop seeing women who go through abortion as being heartless or wicked because they don’t know what is going on in their lives.
In my classmate’s snapshot, Enrique shows some images of women holding signs that said, “My body, My choice and No to jail for abortion. I love this image because it shows that the choice is that of the woman and the body in question is hers and she should not be questioned or sent to jail because she had an abortion.
The documentary “Hobby Lobby: Last Week Tonight” with John Oliver talks about the supreme court’s ruling hanging on the religious right of Hobby Lobby. John Oliver takes us through other ways different corporations can be more like humans/people. The video talks about the belief of Hobby Lobby about using contraception which is supposed to help prevent pregnancy. This is what the owners of Hobby Lobby had to say about it. According to John Oliver, they said that “Obamacare’s contraception mandate conflicts with their Christian faith.” All these till bowls down to the abortion talk, A lot of religious centers believe having an abortion or taking birth control pills is a sin but in the right sense, it is not because everything happens for a reason. Just because one belongs to a religion that does not give him/her the right to pick or choose the laws everyone will follow. After the company challenged the Obama Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) contraception mandate in court, they also felt it wasn’t right for them to pay taxes because it was against their faith. This led to some fundamental questions; Do for profits corporations have religious rights? Do corporations have religious liberties or are they just individuals? Are corporations, as a Person, able to exercise religious rights? The answer is No. However, the Citizens United ruling made it possible for corporations to have the same free speech right as people but then it won’t be easy for corporations to have the same religious rights as people have.
