This week was a nice week. I like how many people through artwork can express what they are feeling. From writing, to drawing, to painting, to photographs, there are many mediums people can use to express something. I feel like artwork is very beautiful because of the story and message it is delivering. There are many artists who are well known for being active and spreading awareness and making movements. For example, when I was looking for an artist to share an artwork I came upon Monica Mayer who I have never heard of. Her movement was very powerful in my opinion because gave a voice to those who felt like they couldn’t speak up. She made it so people can come together and realize they aren’t alone. But also, she made it so that people can open their eyes and realize what changes are necessary to make. Her movement made it so that people can feel safe in expressing their thoughts and feelings on things in a way where they won’t feel like they will become a target for expressing themselves. Many artists have done work pieces that speak very loud and have been impactful in history during their times. This is why I liked this week’s assignment because it allowed us to share other artists with one another and learn about new people.

Abortion Hotline let me know that how abortions could be something unaffordable in the states, so that women have to call for funding. States seems making things related to abortion unaffordable for these poor women. Plan B is like $40 -$50 dollars and only 2 kinds of plan b selling-$40 or $50.   “When somebody can’t get abortion pills on their own terms, that is a human rights violation. It doesn’t matter what kind of obstacles there are, whether it’s legal, financial, logistical, personal, private, preference—it doesn’t matter. Abortion should be available on your own terms, however you need it, whenever you need it, and in whatever way you need it.”

It makes me very upset also the most important is only women have to take the responsibilities, and the person who causes them pregnant is disappear here. I only see women seeking helps and women can’t afford it but it is unfair that in these cases, another genders can be invisible even they share part of responsibility to it.

READING REFLECTION 13

IMANE CHAABA

First, I want to start with the”Abortion Hotline” This is Lisa video that captures a significant subject in the abortion world: funding. Most women are not capable of affording abortion expenses and their only solution is to call help organizations like Lisa. Still, sometimes it is just too much for the company to handle all unwanted pregnancies just because women are not allowed to use federal money for abortion. Women are suffering in silence from the lack of money, poverty, mental issues, and other physical and psychological problems.

The supreme court’s new suggestion that was pointed out in the article is very interesting. It got me thinking of how after all these years, now is the perfect time to think about switching rules and banning things. Abortion is one of the most contentious problems nowadays. The draft opinion seems to be well studied and organized in hope for a decision to be made. But u, in this case it is very difficult to change a decision made in 1973.

In the video “Abortion Hotline, This is Lisa,” the viewer gets to see what it’s like to be on the receiving end of these phone calls where women are asking for financial help for abortions. “Approximately one in four Medicaid recipients seeking an abortion carry unintended pregnancies to term because of the Hyde Amendment.” It is so frustrating when someone will project their anti-abortion views on women, but they don’t care about all the children living in severe poverty. If these women call for assistance and say, they can barely afford to have the procedure done, raising a child won’t be any cheaper. In The Ms. Magazine article, Rebecca Gomperts states, “Because if you can prevent abortion, you can keep people poor. And when you keep people poor, you can control them. Poor people have no voice in most places. In any normal-thinking democratic country, you would think, I can decide that for myself, and somebody else can decide that for themselves as well. But the reality is with the way that religion in the U.S., it has been used to restrict people’s rights.” I think this is something important that everyone should think about. The right to an abortion is a human right, and they’re trying to strip that away from us. “When somebody can’t get abortion pills on their own terms, that is a human rights violation. It doesn’t matter what kind of obstacles there are, whether it’s legal, financial, logistical, personal, private, preference—it doesn’t matter. Abortion should be available on your own terms, however you need it, whenever you need it, and in whatever way you need it.”

The video “Abortion Helpline, This is Lisa” shows how they are an institution that helps financially and provides services to women who want to have an abortion in a safer way because it is a somewhat complicated process and everything increases depending on the months that the woman has. They do it through a foundation that collects money for aid.

In the article “Roe v. Wade” it is mentioned that the issue of abortion will be an issue that will not finish being debated because it has many pros and cons. Telemedicine abortion is supported by the Dutch doctor Rebecca Gomperts. Which is used to help girls and women who in other hospitals are denied an abortion to unwanted babies. This has created so many opinions because some are against the fact that an innocent baby is being killed, others that it can affect the mother in terms of her health and others that yes because if they are the product, for example, of rape, the girl or the woman yes. You do not want, you should not have it because it will remind you of that painful moment in your life. A viable fetus is said to start from 24 weeks, which is equivalent to 6 months. Some even claim that a fetus can survive to 22 or 23 weeks.
The documents show that the Supreme Court could overturn Roe v. Wade. They have an article that protects the freedom of pregnant women to choose abortion without excessive government restrictions. I think this is good in a way because many raped girls will not bring unwanted children into the world and also being both children, the mother is inexperienced. However, with legal abortion, many women who did have consenting sex abort simply because they do not want responsibility, to continue an active sexual life without the commitment of being mothers.
In the documentary “Vessel” it is observed how they are in favor of it being legal because each woman does what she wants with her body.

The Abortion Divide felt like a very neutral documentary to me, so much so that I was sitting there watching it thinking which side is correct? (But it was just presented so well that I felt like if I already hadn’t chosen a side and was uneducated on the issue I feel like it would be conflicting) However, I already have my opinion and I do think that women should be entitled to what they want to do with their own bodies, at the end of the day it should be their choice. There was even a section that noted a lot of the protestors who were against abortion that would stand outside the clinic were white, old men, aka the complete opposite of the people who typically go in for abortions. I was very baffled to find out people stand there all day everyday protesting things that have nothing to do with them or their own bodies, worried about what other people who they don’t even know what they’re going through are doing. It felt somewhat relieving to see that the abortion clinic had escorts outside, because I can’t imagine how overwhelemed someone who needs to an abortion already would feel, and how much people protesting their right to do that outside and almost pressuring them into feeling like they’re making the wrong decision would shake them.

A bizarre thought I had while watching the documentary was, if religion didn’t exist what would be the opposing sides argument? It seems like to me it’s all rooted in religion, but then (assuming I’m going by the religious anti-abortion opinion just for a second) what about the people who are non-religious? They should be free to get an abortion without worry of people bombarding them with the fact that what they’re doing is ‘wrong,’ ‘evil,’ ‘inhumane,’ and every other negative connotative word in the book.

Something that I thought was great was with one of the patients in the film, she explained she wanted to have an abortion because she knew she couldn’t support the child, and that she wouldn’t be able to handle being a parent. That type of awareness is very powerful, because there are already so many children in the world who are suffering.

It will always be a wonder as to why people could not just do “the right thing”, but a question I have been asking for who knows long is, “What is the right thing? do we actually know what it is, or we just pretend to?” Like the issue of the “Hyde Amendment”, Mr. Henry Hyde probably thinks he is doing a just word by having federal funds seized in accordance with safe abortion. There is a saying that, “what might work for me, might not work for you”. Some individuals may not get the abortions for one of many reasons and indeed learn to love the decision of not going through with the procedure of medical termination, whereas it may hell for other individuals. Using the documentary as a reference, a woman states that so many children live in poverty, without efficient and accurate care. If kids are going to end up living regretfully and sadly, would it not be better to give the mothers the option and right to take action in preventing calamities like this, that in instances, many foresee. 

The Supreme Court voting to overturn abortion rights is considered very serious as its decision most likely is going to affect the chances of the entire nation. It is depressing, to even think of the notion that, future of many young and middle-aged women lies in the hands of the decision makers in the country who are not completely considering how vital the situation is. The only stance of argument used in opposing legal abortion is that “It is a taboo”. 

I’m really satisfied with the information I’ve left with learning about gender studies this semester It was a wonderful semester discussing different kinds of topics and learning new things. It’s odd how much oppression women have gone through. I appreciate the women in my life, or I cross paths with understanding just a little bit of the things they deal with from the information given to me in this class and prior knowledge. 

Roe vs Wade was a 1973 decision that benefited pregnant women’s liberty. So that’s a good thing as time goes by things get regulated it’s not a free for all. The problem is the government is trying to overturn that right almost 50 years later. That wicked time fly’s. I think it’s a big form of oppression toward women. I don’t know exactly who’s making decisions but I hope it’s not men to be honest… because we are not the ones with the uterus or physically carrying the fetus … but we are responsible for it.  Whatever it may be, I really want the voices of women to be heard. If we have the technology to complete such operations safely and under regulation there is no need to take that right away from women in today’s time. 

Understanding the other side of the conversation a life sadly shouldn’t be taken. When it’s regulated by the time span of the first couple weeks that seems okay and safe. In general, it all falls down to being responsible from have sex to being pregnant and the decision someone makes while being pregnant. 

This past week has been hard. At first, I had to turn off the news app on my phone to avoid headlines about Roe v Wade being overturned. I hate the fact that I feel like I have to avoid such a sensitive yet important topic. The video we watched this week really helped me understand that even when abortion is legal people still struggle so much to get the funds for these services. It must be such a difficult job to continuously ask people if there’s any way that they can make up more money in such a short time period- or not be able to offer them assistance at all. I felt the same frustration reading the articles Prof Waychoff provided. The fact that no draft has ever been disclosed publicly is alarming, that the supreme court works under such discretion that the public has no say until it is finalized… Of course the basis of this decision is rooted in the US’s historical “traditions” in controlling womens bodies and forcing them to bear children under any condition. It is barely a sigh of relief for certain states to legally allow abortion procedures, because it doesn’t account for however many states choosing to take away a womens right to her reproductive decisions. Once I moved onto the second article about Aids Access and how Ms. Gompert makes it her number one goal to provide contraceptives, I had a genuine sigh of relief. She empowers me to believe that there is a sliver of legal hope in this amazing company shes created.

This week’s reading, “Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights, draft opinion shows,” highlights how the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is based on the elected representatives’ views and opinions not based on what is good and just for Americans. As the article states “The immediate impact of the ruling as drafted in February would be to end a half-century guarantee of federal constitutional protection of abortion rights and allow each state to decide whether to restrict or ban abortion.” Returning the power to the people and elected representatives will cause the majority of states to be able to illegalize abortion. Being able to safely have an abortion is a protected right. Although it is heavily debated whether it is morally right or not, it is still a right that the federal government decided necessary to protect. The issue of abortion is an issue of human rights.

The MS Magazine article about Rebecca Gomperts goes deeper into the impact and repercussions of illegalizing abortion. Emphasizing that illegalizing abortion is a form of oppression meant to keep people poor and have more control over them. Again, having access to getting an abortion safely is a human right just as having access to health care. People’s health status, poverty rates, and safety seem to not be considered when the government is deciding to overturn Roe v. Wade. But in a way they are, the government is aware of the dangers of illegalizing abortion. They are using these dangers to further oppression. Illegalizing abortion will give the government more control over the people in need and add to their struggle.