My initial reaction to the leaked document about Roe v. Wade was that I felt heartbroken. I was genuinely so upset because I felt hopeless, and like any time women take a step forward, we’re dragged 100 steps back against our will. After crying on and off, I felt nothing but anger, especially after reading other women’s stories online about their abortion experiences and their thoughts on the injustice it would be to take the right of abortion from us. It takes a lot of courage to share your story online, but I’m thankful to every woman who has done so because it’s helped me understand people’s pain in different situations. Whether a woman doesn’t want to birth a child or can’t have one because of medical reasons, or whatever the reason may be, women should have the right to decide what they will do with their own bodies. And I believe that what I do with my own body is my own business, and if I choose to share my story, I’m allowed to do that too, but that does not entitle others to share their opinion on my body.

While reading the “Brief History,” I learned that the ban on abortions dates back to times of slavery. If these women had children, they would be considered property of the enslavers. This makes the recent news even more disturbing. In “Helpline, This is Lisa,” some really upsetting stories were shared of women who could not afford to pay for an abortion and called a helpline for funding. “Abortion funds nationwide struggle to fill the financial gap for people affected by the Hyde Amendment.” It’s very cruel that abortion can seem like an option only for the wealthy. In the Ms. article, Rebecca Gomperts talks about her work to provide women with safe abortion medication. In my eyes, she is a hero, willing to dedicate her time and life to helping people. She’s ready to fight for something she wholeheartedly believes is a human right. Aid Access was created because the request for help from women in the U.S was overwhelming. How wild that we are meant to be “free,” but that doesn’t seem to apply to women, or at least it doesn’t apply to the non-wealthy ones. Since it was founded in 2018, Aid Access has cared for 30,000 people. It is legal for Gomperts to prescribe abortion pills as it’s also legal for them to be shipped from India to the U.S. She mentions, “one of the problems in the U.S. is that there’s so much legal injustice anyway. Many people are in jail despite their innocence because they are forced to admit to something they never did because they know they don’t have a chance to win a court case. So all these things are intertwined with each other.” And I agree entirely with this statement; the system seems to be designed against us, we’re constantly set up for failure, and I’ve had enough of it.