STOP REWRITING HIstORY REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS SHOULD NOT BE IN THE HANDS OF THE GOVERNMENT

MAKAYLA POLAK Editor-in-Chief @kaypolak

Women’s reproductive rights. They have been ripped from our hands, taking the right to choose what happens to our own bodies away from us. I’ve lost a lot of respect for our government — the system designed to give us freedom.

June 24, 2022. The day America changed women’s rights — again. Roe v. Wade was overturned, taking away women’s right to safe abortions.

Whether you believe that as soon as there is a heartbeat, it’s a sign of life and has rights, or because the fetus still resides within the womb, therefore is up to the choice of the mother, it is up to opinion. No matter your belief, the focus should be on women who had no choice in getting pregnant, now being forced to have children that are products of rape.

A woman that is forced into intercourse, who is violated, tormented and dehumanized is now forced to carry and birth a child they did not plan. There is not a single ounce of choice in that situation. Some states have allowed to make the exception for circumstances of rape. Missouri is not one of them.

In America, 1 in 6 women are victims of attempted or completed rape. 1 in 6 women might have to live the rest of their lives with a child of rape.

Rape in itself is traumatizing and follows women around everyday. If by chance a woman finds out that she is pregnant after the event, there is a possibility that she may not want to keep it. There is nothing wrong with making this choice.

Our state hates women. There’s no other way to say it.

Missouri implemented a trigger law before the overturn, resulting in many doctors having to exile practice effective immediately — the first state to do so. Women were immediately forced to continue to full term with their pregnancy, whether it was a result of rape or not.

Just over 50 years ago, Roe v. Wade was passed, allowing women to have an abortion by choice depending on a number of factors. It wasn’t passed to abuse the right. It wasn’t passed to maliciously hurt other people.

It is a simple concept of letting women decide. If a person is anti-abortion, then they don’t think about the option of having one. If they are pro-abortion, then they weigh the options and decide what is best for them.

It’s simple, respect a person’s choice, even if it’s something you wouldn’t do.

Taking a look at the cost

Having a child is a life altering event that not everyone is able to take on. On average it costs $12,980 a year to raise a child. Not everyone can supply that money.

In the state of Missouri, annually, it costs $10,041 for childcare. That roughly breaks

ABORTION EXCEPTIONS FOR RAPE OR INCEST with exceptions without exceptions down to $837 a month. The minimum wage in Missouri is $12 an hour, meaning that working 20 hours a week would only cover the cost of childcare with some change.

There is even more to add to the cost if there are medical conditions with the child. Even asthma can cost an extra $3,259 a year. That is just asthma alone, imagine what the cost would be for other medical conditions.

There are obvious solutions to this, including finding a job that pays more and working more than 20 hours a week. However, his option is not available for every woman in the U.S.

I haven’t even mentioned the cost of childbirth, clothing, food, education and the list goes on. There are so many costs that go into having a child, and parents are expected to cover it.

We need a solution to help future parents raise their children through tough times. Although there are options to help with the financial assistance with raising a child, you usually have to go through a lengthy process to be accepted for these options. Still, there is a possibility that a person may be declined for the assistance they need.

Birth control is not the solution

Birth control seems to be the solution and the unfortunate wave of the future, but people need to know the facts behind birth control.

For women without medical insurance, a single birth control pack can cost nearly $50. This is what women consider the cheapest form of birth control.

Many women do not have access to health insurance or assistance that will help cover the cost. A cost that could result in hundreds of dollars.

An implant or an IUD is estimated to cost $800 - $1,000 for women without health insurance, and in some cases, it could cost even more.

This is not a viable solution to the problem at hand.

Taking away abortions and not letting women have the choice is depriving them of their life in some cases. If a woman were to become pregnant by rape or incest, she is now forced to bare and birth that child.

In what aspect can a person justify this as humane?

We are falling down a dangerous path by taking away women’s rights to abortion. The protests and the outrage is justified.

At the end of the day, no matter which side of the argument you stand on, all we need to do is respect each other’s views. We are already politicizing women’s bodies, and though I wish it couldn’t get worse, it can. So please, for the sake of not only women, but all people, stop going back in history and just continue writing a new one — a better one.

ABORTION EXCEPTIONS FOR SEVERE HEALTH RISKS with exceptions without exceptions

ABORTION EXCEPTIONS FOR THE PATIENT’S LIFE with exceptions without exceptions with exceptions without exceptions

ABORTION EXCEPTIONS FOR FATAL BIRTH DEFECTS

Miaa Basketball Teams Ranking By Conference Tournament Seeding

POSTSEASON

CONTINUED FROM A12

“To get to Kansas City a couple years in a row now, we’re trying to get our program to a consistent level where we’re fighting for championships,” Meyer said. “Obviously, finishing tied for seventh isn’t probably where we want to be moving forward, but you have to look at where we’ve come from and how our program has grown, to put ourselves in a position to go down there and hopefully make a little run.”

While achieving another bid into the MIAA Tournament, the Bearcats finished with a .500 win percentage for the 2022-23 season, marking the first time they have ended the regular season .500 or better in back-to-back seasons in 15 years.

The last time this was achieved was the 200607 and 2007-08 seasons. In the 2006-07 season, the Bearcats made it to the second round of the MIAA Tournament.

In the 2007-08 season, the ’Cats won the MIAA Tournament and made it to the NCAA Tournament. They won their first NCAA Tournament game before falling short against Emporia State in the second round.

Meyer said it’s special to be able to do some- thing that hasn’t happened in 15 years.

“Just taking what we’ve built here the last few years and just continuing to build off what I think is kind of the culture that we’ve established,” Meyer said. “Just to be able to see it happening is really neat, and then just not be satisfied with that and continue to build on it next year.”

The first round matchup will be Northwest’s second meeting of the season with Newman (1017, 7-15 MIAA). The Bearcats defeated the Jets 6753 when they clashed Jan. 14 in Wichita, Kansas.

Meyer said the key to defeating Newman — the No. 1 team in the conference in 3-point percentage (35.7%) — is getting back on transition.

“They’re playing a lot faster,” Meyer said about the Jets. “So, we got to do a really good job in post defense on her, and we got to make sure you stay home and take away their shooters.”

Atwood, who is set to make her second appearance in the tournament, said having a positive mentality is going to help the Bearcats in the tournament.

“I feel like we know we’re capable of beating anyone, and we have to believe that,” Atwood said. “So, just going in there and having a mindset every game — no matter if we’re playing a lower seed or higher seed — and just the understanding that everyone at the tournament is good, and that includes us.”

TOURNAMENT

CONTINUED FROM A12

The MIAA Tournament March 1-5 is set. Ten out of the 14 teams in the conference will fight for a chance to add hardware to the trophy case after the conclusion of the championship game at 1 p.m. March 5. As the No. 1 seed in the tournament, Northwest has the first round off before its first game at 12 p.m. March 2.

The Bearcats will either first play eighth-seeded Washburn (14-14, 11-11 MIAA) or ninthseeded Missouri Western (13-15, 9-13 MIAA). The Ichabods and Griffons split the two meetings in the regular season between the two squads. Northwest swept both teams in the regular season.

Should the Bearcats advance past the quarterfinals, fourthseeded Emporia State (21-7, 15-7 MIAA) or fifth-seeded Lincoln (17-9, 13-9 MIAA) will be waiting for them in the semifinals at 12 p.m. March 4.

Even with the uncertainty of who will be the next opponent, McCollum said he doesn’t expect it to be an issue.

“For us, it’s always been pretty easy because we don’t change a ton of things,” McCollum said. “We just change the little minute details, and, you know, when you don’t change per opponent, I think that helps a lot in these tournament settings to where you rely on your fundamentals, and you rely on your habits, rather than on some gimmicky scheme.”

Districts

CONTINUED FROM A12

If Chillicothe upsets Lafayette and moves on to face the Spoofhounds for the district title, it would be the third contest of the season between both teams. Junior guard Derek Quinlin scored 24 points to lead the Spoofhounds to a 54-46 win Jan. 24, and five Maryville players scored in double-digits for a 70-49 win Feb. 23. Maryville has only played Lafayette once this season. The Fighting Irish gave the Spoofhounds their only Midland Empire Conference loss of the season in 72-57 fashion Jan. 5. Stoecklein said that if the Spoofhounds get the chance to play Lafayette again, they are going to be ready.

“After we played Lafayette the first time, the boys were really disappointed with the outcome of that game,” Stoecklein said. “They are really looking forward to recorrecting some things the first time if we do end up facing Lafayette.”

If the Spoofhounds win the Class 4 District 16 Championship, they will face the champion from District 15 in the first round of the state tournament bracket March 6.