This commentary is by Sabine Love, a sophomore at the University of Vermont.
We live in a post-Roe v. Wade America. We in this generation haven’t known anything different. We have always had reproductive rights, but now others are working to control this right to our own bodies, and they may succeed.
By the end of June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court may overturn or hollow out Roe v. Wade. Whether this is overturned completely or not, it will have devastating consequences. That means abortion and reproductive rights protections will largely be determined by individual state legislatures.
As of right now, states are already imposing unconstitutional laws. In Texas, there is SB8, an abortion ban that went into effect in September 2021, making it illegal to have an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, when most people don’t know they are pregnant. This is a violation of human rights, rights to privacy, and bodily autonomy.
The law includes a bounty-hunting scheme, encouraging private individuals to sue anyone in Texas who violates the law. A reward of at least $10,000 will be given to anyone who successfully sues a doctor, health center worker, or any person who helps someone obtain an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. Lawsuits may be filed against a broad range of people, including abortion funds providing financial assistance to patients, health center staff, and even a member of the clergy who assists an abortion patient.
A Texas-style copycat abortion ban in Idaho, S.B. 1309, will be going into effect on the 22nd of this month, with the governor of Idaho making the state the first in the nation to enact a law modeled after Texas’s banning of abortions. This law will grant certain family members the right to sue abortion providers for a minimum of a $20,000 reward. This is an unconstitutional law that directly leaves no exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.
Reread that.
Now tell me why it should be up to the states, or even up to the Supreme Court of the United States of America, to have control over the bodies of people who have the capacity to get pregnant. Everyone should have the right to equality and autonomy, and that right should not be up to politicians to decide.
Force. Control. That is what this is about. The anti-abortion sentiment is not about life; it is about oppression.
There is a bleak landscape ahead. But there is some hope. Since 2019, people in Vermont have been working to advance the Reproductive Liberty Amendment.
The Reproductive Liberty Amendment, previously Prop 5, will be a ballot measure in Vermont’s 2022 general election. If passed, it would amend the Vermont Constitution to protect every person’s right to make their own reproductive decisions, such as whether and when to become pregnant, use temporary or permanent birth control, or seek abortion care.
People should make their own reproductive decisions for themselves; the state should not infringe on that. Protecting personal reproductive liberty in our constitution will preserve this right in our state, no matter what happens in Washington, D.C.
If we pass the Reproductive Liberty Amendment this November, Vermont could be the first state to explicitly protect reproductive rights in its constitution. We can set an example for the nation.
UVM students. Vote. Please. Vote.
As a student at the University of Vermont, a member of the Burlington community, and a woman, I will be voting to protect the reproductive rights of all people in the state of Vermont. It’s important that all of us, including other UVM students, join me.
This is about autonomy and reproductive rights. This is about a right to your own body.
