I’m embarrassed to see that my home state of Ohio is once again attempting to completely remove women’s choices with their bullshit “heartbeat bill” banning all abortions after 6 weeks. It isn’t the first time they’ve tried it, and with any luck it will be voted down as unconstitutional, but it’s terrifying for women and rape survivors.
Before you start assuming I’m a heartless bitch who secretly wishes to murder newborns (or eat them, since I am an atheist), allow me to explain. Most women don’t even know they’re pregnant at 6 weeks, so this law completely removes their choice (which every woman should have). Also, many medical conditions that endanger the life of the woman are yet to be seen at 6 weeks, including ectopic pregnancies. Way to give a shit about women’s lives.
But let’s talk about something that’s equally important: the mental health of sexual assault and incest survivors. This bill allows no exceptions for rape or incest, and that’s just abhorrent. It’s disrespectful to sexual assault survivors like myself. When I was raped 15 years ago, I was lucky enough not to get pregnant (probably because I was on the pill, lucky thing I was smart). If my rapist had impregnated me and the law forced me to carry the pregnancy to term and live with that pain every day, I wouldn’t have been able to handle it. There’s a good chance I would have killed myself or spent the rest of my life in a very deep depression. But please tell me again how the cardiac movement of a fetus is more important than my mental health and ability to persevere beyond a terrible crime that I was a victim of. I’m dying to hear the logic behind that. There is no logic unless you honestly value fetuses more than women’s health: physical and mental. Illness isn’t just skin deep; forcing a rape survivor to bear the child of her rapist is essentially state-sanctioned torture based on antiquated religious views.
The men who think up these bullshit laws are misogynist pigs who only wish to control women and punish women for having any kind of sex, whether it’s consensual or rape. Is it any coincidence that our own president is a rapist? I’m so fucking sick of living with a government that protects rapists and gives zero fucks about women unless we’re making a sandwich or giving a lap dance. This war on women has to fucking end already. It’s 2018; give it up. You’re not going to get us back in the kitchen as subservient housewives like the 50s again. It’s over. Get the fuck over it and give us some fucking consideration already.
Musings of a Dog Mom 