On the Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt Ruling

[Content Note: War on agency.]

I've got a new essay up at BNR on the SCOTUS ruling in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, and how the ruling is about so much more than just abortion access:

The Supreme Court, with one day remaining in this term, handed down a long and nervously awaited decision on Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt. The decision is a huge win for women (and other people who need access to abortion, like trans men) across the nation.

...The decision was an incredibly important win for choice — and a powerful commentary on how the nation values women. Our health, our safety, our autonomy, and our lives.

I was born the year after Roe v. Wade was decided, and from the time I was old enough to comprehend even the most cursory facts of abortion law, I understood, even before I could articulate it, that whether my government allowed me control over my own body and the agency to make decisions about my own reproduction communicated how much I was respected and valued as a full human being.

My very first public act of political resistance was leading a walkout in my 8th grade confirmation class in protest of a minister who wanted to show us a graphic anti-abortion film. I was officially labeled a troublemaker, and the minister told me I would be pregnant or dead by the time I was 16. I was neither.

I have always understood intimately that abortion law is not, and has never been, just about access to abortion, but also about how we value women.

There is much, much more at the link (including my familiar argument about how we oblige pregnant people to sustain life in the way we oblige no other people), so head on over to read the whole thing!