I watched the documentary Vessel and that made me sad, and also optimistic. Sad because there are so many women that have lost their lives, just because the government decided they shouldn’t have rights to their own body. It makes me furious to listen to the arguments pro-lifers have because scientific facts (that support pro-choice) aside, they make it sound as if women have abortion for fun. As if it isn’t physically, emotionally and mentally taxing to women that have to make that decision, due to reasons (that they don’t have to justify to anybody). Also, the fact that in all the protests against Women on Waves in the documentary, the majority of the people were men. Like, why do they get to decide about something that barely affects them? On the other hand, I felt optimistic because these women were resilient. Not just the volunteers of the organization (they were obviously amazing) but the women that sought them out, against their countries laws and beliefs. That must have taken so much courage. The women in the organization were thrown with so many hurdles along the way but they managed to somehow tackle all of it, even through maybe some legally questionable (?) things. But is it really illegal if it saves the lives of countless women, especially when the alternative is letting them suffer?

Also, in the spirit of activism, I want to share something I recently learned in my Forensic Linguistics class. Most of us know about Miranda rights (or at least have heard it in movies and shows). What we don’t know is the language used is so convoluted, and the policies are designed in such a way that whatever you say (or don’t say) can count as a waiver of your Miranda rights. Basically whatever you say will be used in court (even if its a forced confession) and you may not be provided a lawyer. So, if any of you ever get detained for questioning from the police, you should say, “I INVOKE MY MIRANDA RIGHTS”. That is the best way to protect your right to remain silent and to get a lawyer. Anything else has been known to be twisted by the authorities, to serve their purposes.