After finding about the leaked document about Roe v. Wade, I think the first thing I felt was exhausted. I thought to myself, “not again”. There has always been much conflict around abortion laws and there are states that have made it impossible to get abortions, but in my head I always thought at least it’s not a federal offense. There are alternatives, albeit difficult ones, but all hope wasn’t lost. Now, I can’t help but feel hopeless even though I know a decision hasn’t been made yet. The news coming out about how some states representatives want to ban birth control, and enforce many other invasive, oppressive policies to govern our bodies infuriates me to no end. I feel like this leak gave them all the fuel and excuse they needed to claim ownership and encroach upon women’s reproductive rights.

This week’s reading as well as the readings from previous weeks has really taught me so much about abortion that I didn’t know. I had vague knowledge about abortion pills but didn’t know it is the most common method of abortion. Also, I wasn’t aware that women helplines like Aid Access existed. I also didn’t know that abortion procedures (pills or otherwise) weren’t covered by insurance. This was the most shocking to me, and I think it perfectly highlights and summarizes the topic of intersectionality that we have been discussing throughout this semester. It is clear to see how low-income households, women of color, and people with disabilities are disproportionately affected by such policies. I know the issue right now is about how abortion may be criminalized, but I think it’s also important to realize that even when abortion is legally sanctioned, there’s still thousands of women that can’t get access to it. While it may read like a right, the truth is that abortion is still a privilege. Like we saw in Abortion Helpline, This is Lisa, there are a lot of women that cannot afford to get an abortion and are forced to carry to term. Add to that, restrictive state policies that create countless barriers to access, and the threats, harassment, and abuse people going to Planned Parenthood or healthcare providers that provide abortion services face, it’s clear to see the de facto criminalization of abortion. It’s ironic how they hide behind veils of “right to free speech” while completely trampling on others’ rights to privacy and body autonomy.

If Roe v. Wade doesn’t get overturned, that doesn’t mean we can sit back and pretend everything is ok when there’s marginalized communities that will still be affected the same way they would be, even if it was overturned. For women barely making ends meet, for women with disabilities, for women with health concerns dismissed by health professional, access to safe abortion is still that much further. Right to abortion cannot truly exist until all women get access irrespective of their household income and their reasons. Like bell hooks said, “Concurrently there can be no such thing as “power feminism” if the vision of power evoked is power gained through the exploitation and oppression of others”.

These images are a part of a series of 10 pastel works called Untitled: The Abortion Pastels created by Portuguese artist Paula Rego in 1998. In this series, Rego depicts women undergoing unsafe abortion. This was her attempt at advocating for the legalization of abortion, in Portugal. Her work is thought to have been an integral influence in changing the public’s perception of abortion. (Buchanan, 2021)

While there are many amazing arts to chose from, this artwork resonated with me, especially after the recent news about how Roe v. Wade may be overturned. Rego’s art shows the reality of how women (and even little girls) have always had, and will keep having, abortions because of various reasons. Criminalizing abortions will only restrict their access to safe procedures and risk their lives. Most people that protest against abortion demonize it, portraying it as something only “promiscuous” women do. However, like we saw in the movie The Vessel, the reality is very far from it. It is a traumatic experience no women enjoys, but should be entitled to. The least we can do is make sure they get the proper health services and support they require.

Rego’s art aimed to bring light to the terrifying reality of unsafe abortion and how these are real people whose lives we are dictating. It is so much more than whatever moral or religious belief we may have.

It’s been well documented that black women face a higher risk of pregnancy complications than other races. This has always been taken in stride, like something that just happens and can’t be prevented. The truth, however, is that these complications are a result of black women being underserved by health institutions. A birth story taught me what obstetric racism is and how common it is for black women to be neglected and dismissed by health professionals. The fact that someone as affluent and influential as Serena Williams had to go through such mistreatment is a testament to the institutionalized racism in healthcare. While these are not sanctioned by the law per se, such discrimination are common and widespread, making it a de facto practice. These kind of discriminations can also be seen in the case of transgender people. They have been mistreated by healthcare workers and institutions. While most may not deny services outright, their hostility hinders transgender people from accessing the healthcare they need and deserve. I was surprised by how there are little to no repercussions for such discriminatory practices. I had assumed there would be some kind of protection against it but listening to so many similar stories in 12 Reason It should be Illegal for Doctors Not to Treat Trans People, it’s clear that it remains mostly unchecked.

This week’s readings and the film Period show how oppression manifests itself on a medical aspect. They showed us how black women are forced to endure medical practices embedded with racism that dismiss their health concerns, undermine their bodily autonomy and even cause them physical harm. The stories from transgender people shine light on the mistreatment they face from a heteronormative institution that abuses, harasses, misgenders and misdiagnoses, discouraging them from seeking out the medical care they require. Similarly, the suffering of women in rural India highlights how archaic notions of a patriarchal society that remains willfully ignorant and stigmatizes women’s reproductive health, causes women unnecessary harms that could’ve been easily avoided. These are all examples of how certain groups of people are barred from getting the because of systemic oppression.

The format in which these stories were shared helped emphasize that these are real lives and lived experiences. These are not just statistics or discourse topics, these are real people who have been treated unjustly by an oppressive system that mistreats them in every aspect of their lives. The illustrations and the poem were a visual and emotional portrayal of a traumatic experience LeConte went during childbirth. Similarly, the stories from transgender people puts a name on the voices that would otherwise get lost in the background. The film walks us through the real lives of rural women in India , how they live, their hopes and dreams, and their struggles. These formats definitely help set an intimate perspective where one could really empathize and understand the injustice they face. It may not have created a same reaction if we only focused on the academic side.

The Combahee River Collective developed the term “identity politics” when they realized that the women’s movement didn’t really represent black women, Black freedom movement only focused on the liberation of black men and queer black women were neglected on both fonts. This demonstrated how liberation based on one’s identity was more significant and powerful rather than fighting for someone else’s struggles. It is easier to accept the status quo if it doesn’t affect you personally and you have no stakes either way. This sentiment is echoed in Garza’s The Politics of Identity when she highlights how she has witnessed white people’s ideologies of “not seeing color” as a reformative action against the oppression of people of color. For them, it is easy to not hold on to their identities as white people because they are considered the norm, the default, the standard of a Christian American Society. People of color, whose daily interactions are carved by the societal perceptions of their identity, don’t have the same luxury. You can’t say “I identify as a human” when you’re racially profiled because of your race, deemed inferior because of your gender, verbally (and physically) abused because of your ethnicity, sexuality etc. When our political, economic and social systems are founded on disparity based on identities, rejecting “identity politics” not just undermines the effects of oppression, it also obstructs the efforts being made to bridge the gap.

One might argue that identity politics is counterproductive, that separating ourselves based on our identities won’t help us in unifying ourselves. However, they fail to understand that this idea is solely for the benefit of the oppressors, for their convenience and comfort. True equality can only come when we accept the difference in our identities, and understand that these differences do not warrant difference in treatment. If we look at William’s Too Latina to be Black, Too Black to be Latina, we can see that as a kid she never identified with a specific group, but that didn’t stop society from trying to fit her in a specific mold, or consider her a deviant because she didn’t. She had to engage in identity politics at a young age, when she didn’t even know what it meant. Furthermore, identity politics doesn’t mean limiting yourself to one aspect of your identity, it doesn’t segregate us into different groups. Rather, it helps us recognize the intersectionality among the groups and can help unify us on the basis of the multifaceted nature of human identity.

I have enjoyed every single topic we have discussed in this class. I know there’s still so much to learn and it’s hard to pick one but if I had to, I think I would want to read articles that discuss how the patriarchal society pits women against each other in the guise of rewarding the “deserving”, when in reality we all share the same fate.