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OPINION|Overturn Conservative Mindsets—Women's Health is In Sorrow
The InGeLligence Report
Hannah Angeli Mendoza
Overturn Conservative Mindsets— Women’s Health is In Sorrow
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Perhaps the term “Sor-Roe” would be more appropriate for this piece, as we remember the biggest twist for women’s health in the United States of America: the overturning of the Roe v. Wade case, which now puts restrictions to abortion practices in more than half of the entire country.
THE BEGINNINGS OF ROE V. WADE
A woman by the name of Norma McCorvey became pregnant with her third child in 1969, in which she wanted to get an abortion. However, during those times, her home state of Texas deemed abortion practices illegal. Going by the legal pseudonym “Jane Roe”, she began addressing her plight and instituted federal action against Henry Wade (who was then the district attorney of Dallas, Texas) in 1970—until the US Supreme Court ruled the unconstitutionality of abortion restrictions in every state on January 22, 1973, adding that abortions may be conducted when a fetus is less than 24 weeks along, or a gestational age that can be capable of living outside a mother’s womb.
YEARS IS NOT A GOLDEN AGE
What seemed to be a momentous milestone in women’s health, would take its sick turn for the worst.
When the state of Mississipi implemented their “15-Week Abortion Law”, which deemed abortions illegal after only 15 weeks of pregnancy, it incited a serious challenge on the Roe v. Wade case. And on June 24, 2022, almost 50 years after the latter’s ruling, it was ultimately overturned by 5-4 decision vote by the US Supreme Court. This meant that abortion restrictions in each state could now be re-implemented; and as of today, 26 out of 50 states have done just that, with the rest still having laws in place to protect that right despite the ruling.
With this, women have now been deprived of their freedom to make their own health choices, and for them to ultimately live the life that they wish to live. States who have laws that continue to legalize abortion will now have a great influx of patients from those abortion-banned states to conduct the procedure for them.
CONTEXTUALIZING THE ROE V. WADE OVERTURNING IN THE PHILIPPINE SETTING
The Philippines is one of 6 countries in the world where abortion is totally prohibited. Thus, Filipino women with life-threatening pregnancies have no choice but to risk their lives, either through unsafe abortion or through continuation of high-risk pregnancies. (https://pinsan.ph/ about-us/)
That being said, our country seems to share the sentiment of what the overturning of Roe v. Wade means even way before its court ruling. Conservativism, toxic faith in the church, and toxic positivity (“Keep the baby, think of it as a blessing!”) has always been key factors in the barricading of the right to basic reproductive healthcare choices, and this has still yet to change.
Locally, there are even notable nonprofit organizations like the Philippine Safe Abortion Advocacy Network (PINSAN) who, from their collective vision “object to the absolute criminal ban on abortion in the Philippines and recognizes that this violates women’s fundamental human rights, including the rights to life, health, non-discrimination, privacy, and freedom from cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment. (https://pinsan.ph/ about-us/) Allow me to proclaim right here and now that I am a champion of the females.
For every woman who’s ever had (and who may currently have) to carry an accursed blessing of life inside of them;
For the teenage mother who now has to give her child an education before she can ever finish her own;
For the strong woman who survived the hands of her perpetrator, but now has to bear with the life-sized aftermath of the trauma;
For the women living each day with their lives on the line;
For the women deprived of a choice. I stand for this truth—in the hopes that one day, it can set them free.
