Yall know my channel is full of simple, non-controversial topics so I thought HEY!
I should totally make a video about abortion.
Ah man, where do I even start?!
HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM.
The majority of Americans believe in the legal right to an abortion - particularly before
28 weeks of pregnancy.
And since 1973 that’s been the law thanks to a landmark supreme court case called Roe
v Wade.
You’ve probably heard of it.
Fast forward to 2016 and Roe v Wade is being EFFECTIVELY overturned.
I don’t wanna make anyone panic but - actually everyone should panic.
In many parts of the US, abortion has been made so difficult to obtain, that it’s effectively
the same as if it were illegal.
I know what youre thinking: how does that happen?
Aren’t our rights protected?
No.
As it turns out.
Our trouble began in 1992.
While 3 year old me was hoarding fruitloops in my oneside, the Supreme Court ruled that
states could pass restrictions on abortion.
BUT, those restrictions couldn’t present an “undue burden” to obtaining one.
Now the question is: what is “undue burden”?
What does that even mean?
States were given a lot of leeway for their own ~interpretations~, and went on to pass
nearly 1000 abortion restrictions.
Here’s the state of abortion in the US right now, as of today.
25 states have mandatory medically unnecessary ultrasounds, and 3 states require you to look
at them while the doctor describes the image in detail
33 states have mandatory “waiting periods” 20 states have bans that could outlaw abortion
at 12 weeks.
13 states have near-total bans on abortion 11 states are funding “crisis pregnancy
centers”, which set up shop next to REAL health centers and deliberately mislead and
lie to people about abortion 34 states have barred financial assistance
for the poor, federal funds are also barred because of the Hyde amendment.
44 states have laws regulating irrelevant things like the width of clinic hallways
What this means is that abortion clinics across the US are being closed faster than you can
say “GET OUT OF MY VAGINA”!. 87% of US counties now have NO abortion clinic.
In 5 states, there’s only 1 clinic.
As many as 240,000 women in Texas have already attempted to end a pregnancy on her own.
Did we just travel back in time *snap* 100 years?
Back when 5,000 women died every year as a direct result of abortion being illegal?
The days of coat hangers, back alley abortions, and black market drugs?
That is where we’re headed, and for some areas, that’s where we are.
Don’t worry though, this story gets way worse.
2 months ago a self described “warrior for babies” opened fire at a Planned Parenthood
in Colorado, killing 3 people.
To which some responded like this.
What makes this extreme mentality terrifying is that if a person is ignorant enough to
think a grown person and a blastocyst have the same sentience and thusly the same rights
- that person just might not see a moral problem with killing the grown human being.
They call themselves “pro life”.
However, they’re anything but that.
If they cared about life, they’d care about female death.
Certainly they wouldn’t use violence.
Yet, since 1977, nearly 7000 acts of violence have been reported at abortion clinics.
182 arson attacks.
42 bombings. 17 attempted murders.
And 8 completed murders.
Anti-choicers are also NOT trying to end abortion.
Policies known to reduce the abortion rate: sex education, condom access, birth control
access, emergency contraception access.
Yet these politicians have fought to block literally all of those policies and are instead
funding abstinence-only programs shown to INCREASE the number of unintended pregnancies.
Now I am not good at math yall, but something here doesn’t add up.
This movement doesn’t give a shit about life, about babies, definitely not about women.
So what’s really going on here?
The real motive of the self described “pro life” movement is a politicized attack on
sex and more specifically, on female sexuality.
The underlying belief is that sex is ONLY for procreation.
It’s a “woman’s duty” is to have babies.
Women who have sex for pleasure have broken the rules, she’s sinned, and must face the
consequences of her actions.
Consequences being pregnancy and childbirth.
The irony is that nearly 3/4s of women who have an abortion are already mothers and can’t
afford another child.
Let’s contrast this with the reproductive justice movement, otherwise known as pro choice.
The underlying belief of pro choice is that people have a right to control their own body
and their reproduction.
The “right to life” does not mean fetuses (or anyone else) has a right to survive off
of your body against your will.
Philosophically, the right to our own body is so imperative, so central to our understanding
of ourselves, that people will take drastic measures including putting their health and
lives on the line in order to preserve their autonomy.
EVEN when governments try to take it away - this has been the case all throughout history.
This is why the reproductive justice movement asserts that not only should abortion be legal,
but it also needs to be safe and accessible.
This reduces the overall harm to individuals and to society.
Now look, the pro choice movement can’t compete with doctored photos and crocodile
tears.
But it’s important to understand that this is just propaganda - and it’s propoganda
that’s made effective by the fact that a lot of people are scientifically illiterate
and easily manipulated, emotionally.
The only conclusion a halfway reasonable person can draw about the pro life movement is that
they’re seeking state control over women’s bodies and lives in ways that are medically
unnecessary, patronizing, and invasive.
It is a deliberate attack on women, and by extension, anyone who can become pregnant.
It’s a deliberate attack on women who are poor - who are disproportionately women of
color.
Without reproductive choice, gender equality cannot and will not be achieved - and that’s
exactly their point.
This is where we come in sex plus fam.
THIS YEAR 469 seats are up for grabs in the election.
469!
That’s a lot!
Crucially, most of these seats belong to the politicians who have been passing all these
restrictions.
Obviously electing a good president is imperative, not just in terms of leadership and veto power,
but also because as many as 4 Supreme Court justices may need appointed during this president’s
term.
But the Senate has to approve the President’s appointments.
This election is NOT just about the President!
The Senate and the House of Representatives are JUST as important.
JUST AS IMPORTANT!
This is our chance to get the vote out at all levels of government - because that’s
where this is happening - that should be the #1 priority this year.
The #2 priority is to support those who have been fighting in and out everyday on the frontlines
trying to maintain our rights.
I’m going to put a bunch of links down below, please check them out, please support them
in any way you can.
I’m sure you have plenty of thoughts and flamewars to start!
So don’t waste any time, get to it down below.
If you want to keep in touch with me this election year, subscribe for more videos.
Yes I did just say please subscribe...I am the YouTube devil.
I’ll go sit in timeout now.
I love yall, be well, and I’ll see you next week with more Sex Plus!