Abortion Rights Freedom Ride!
Why I'm Going
By K.T. | June 30, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
I was 11 years old the first time I heard the word "abortion." Ruth, a young woman very close to me, had found out she was pregnant while trapped in an abusive relationship, working two jobs, and taking a full course load at a community college. She stayed with a friend because she did not have a place of her own to live in. This woman got an abortion and it seemed to be the end of the world for everybody but her. People tried to explain to me that Ruth made a "terrible mistake." My heart raced with fear when they told me what to expect upon seeing her again. "She might die," they warned, reminding me that she would be eternally distraught and especially prone to suicide. "Could you imagine killing your own child?" they prodded. When I finally gathered the courage to see what I expected to be an emotionally drained and unrecognizable woman on her death bed, I was greeted by the same Ruth I had known for so long, smiling with a book positioned close to her face, like always. She explained why she chose to get an abortion and it made a lot of sense to me. At 11 years old the only part about this situation that confused me was why people were treating her with such disdain. The abortion saved her future and I understood that. She got kicked out of the place where she was staying, but she finished school with honors.
The next time I heard the word "abortion" was in the eighth grade, when I was 13 years old. We had an afternoon debate class where we struggled over several pressing social issues, including abortion. There were prepared sheets we had to study and argue from. I chose to represent the "pro-choice" side, with Ruth in my mind. "What if your mom aborted you?" I was teased. The sheet laid out the position I was to hold, defend, and convince my classmates of. I was arguing for abortion before viability because of circumstances like poverty, rape, incest, fetal abnormalities, or danger to the life of the woman. The notion that abortions should be available simply because a woman does not want to bear a child was completely absent from that debate. I just assumed that abortions were extraordinarily rare, that Ruth was one of the few women that had to get one and I began to hope I would never be in that same situation.
When I started high school, I learned that Ruth's was not an isolated incident. Through reading "This Common Secret" by Dr. Susan Wicklund, I discovered that 1 in 3 American women have an abortion by the time they reach the age of 45. That meant to me that the women in my life were keeping an important experience from me that should never be a secret. That meant to me that the woman who kicked Ruth out for "killing her baby," may have made the same choice in her life. And that made it very clear that abortion was not something you were expected to talk about.
While my freshman health book claimed abstinence was one of three "healthy lifestyle factors," alongside staying sober and exercising regularly, Dr. Tiller was assassinated in his own church. While I was unapologetically approached with lies about abortion and bloody photographs, access was strangled where it is needed most, in poor and rural counties. Today 97% of rural counties have no abortion provider. While Planned Parenthood dropped "pro-choice" for "it's complicated" and NARAL took the word "abortion" out of their name, the most restrictive anti-abortion legislation has been taking over at the state level. There are 5 states with only one clinic left: North Dakota, South Dakota, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Kansas. THIS IS A STATE OF EMERGENCY!
Stop Patriarchy is organizing an Abortion Rights Freedom Ride. These bi-coastal caravans will converge in all 5 states with just one clinic left through a month-long series of protests and education against the anti-abortion women haters and defense of the clinics and providers most under attack while telling the truth about abortion and birth control. I am 17 years old now and I am going on the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride because when I hear the anti-choice movement brag about my generation being "pro-life," I cringe. We are a generation that has been lied to and kept in the dark about the real truth of abortion and what it means to oppose it. I am riding to build a "liberation generation" in defense of abortion on demand and without apology, for every woman, in every state, to secure safety and freedom in the futures of girls everywhere.
I am spending three weeks of my summer on the road for abortion rights because the women in North Dakota and South Dakota have heartbeats that matter, the women in Mississippi and Arkansas and Kansas have futures they deserve a say in, and the future of women all across this nation depend on what ALL of us do to counter these attacks before it is too late. Denying women the right to abortion takes away their right to life. I do not have memories of a time when abortion was illegal but I have heard the horror stories of what this meant and I do know that before Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in the United States in 1973, 8,000 women died each year from unsafe abortion procedures. Today, around the world, 47,000 women die each year from complications of unsafe abortions. If you believe that women should have control over their own bodies and futures, you need to join this freedom ride; you need to fund this freedom ride. We need 10s of 1000s of dollars for this bi-coastal caravan to get on the road and change the terms in society.
There is nothing more important I could do with the last month of my summer. I'm asking everyone reading this to please donate and help make this possible.
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