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Writer's pictureEmily Reckard
Sep 113 min read

Rights Unraveled: The Post-Roe Reality

I have always felt great pride that I was born a woman. 


This sentiment is reinforced every time I see women in excellence, like when A’ja Wilson scores 40 points or Taylor Swift gains another #1 album. It grows stronger when I see them in professional fields previously unimaginable: Surgeons, Politicians, Engineers, as well as when they enter into motherhood if they so choose. I feel true joy when I see young girls from underprivileged backgrounds in other countries get to attend school. This pride doesn’t waver, however, when I see a woman struggling, because so many women, myself included, understand.


However, there is no denying that although I held onto great pride in the fact I was born a woman, there has been a long-standing reality of oppression against women that still reigns on in a multitude of different forms across the globe for centuries. From the silencing of women in Afghanistan, to the inability to access menstrual products, as well as the reality that in the United States, women couldn’t obtain a credit card without a male until 1974, it begs the question: Was I ignorant to feel this pride when so many of my fellow women continue to face the wrath of the patriarchy, despite years and years of activism? 


It seems I have gotten my answer. After the overturning of Roe v Wade in 2022, at the hands of Donald Trump’s intellectually dishonest Supreme Court picks, I felt that pride I held onto gifted to me from those who came long before suddenly transform into a deep-seated feeling of misfortune. 



The misfortune that I, amongst every other woman, was born with XX chromosomes, so therefore my government had the “right” to take away a form of my bodily autonomy. 


Roe v Wade was something that I took for granted as a woman in America. I was only 18 when it was overturned, and now at 20, I face the reality of what my female ancestors must have felt when they had to resort to coat hangers to"access" care. I came to realize a devastating idea:


I had more reproductive rights as a newborn than I do now at child-bearing age. 


Roe was something so many women had fought for, many of whom never got to witness the fruits of their labor come to fruition, for the betterment of future women and girls in the US. It has been ripped from our hands after claims it was “the law of the land”. 


Now, as a woman (or sadly, a little girl) in the US, we not only have to worry about potentially being raped, but if you live in 15 of the states who have banned abortion with little to no exceptions, you have to worry about if you will be able to even receive any type of abortion access. This leads to vulnerable women crossing state lines, which many of these specific states are fighting to make a criminal offense.


Elective abortions aren’t the tip of the iceberg though, we now have to worry about those who will suffer unviable pregnancies, such as an ectopic pregnancy, being left out to essentially die without proper healthcare to ensure their life is not put into any more danger than it already is. 


What scares me the most is that Roe was just the beginning. Many of us, even after the leaks that showed the Supreme Court was planning on overturning Roe in the Dobbs decision, thought: No way. They wouldn't, they can't! Yet, they did, and here we are. Now, they, meaning the GOP, have hinted about going after IVF and birth control. We have to believe them when they say the quiet parts out loud. Women, of all backgrounds, don't have the privilege to just sit back this election because it could very well turn into us watching our rights continue to wither away. Take action: volunteer for campaigns of democratic figures who support abortion rights, donate to down-ballot candidates, and research into organizations, like Planned Parenthood and HRC, who have been fighting for the rights of women for years. Get involved before it is too late.


Now that I watch women across the country fight for our reproductive rights, I feel that great pride I once held onto returning, and as bittersweet as the circumstances are, I am happy to welcome it. I still am proud to be a woman, no politician nor government can take that away from me.



Photo Credit: Vanity Fair

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