On Tuesday, January 23, 1973 we danced in the halls of our dormitory.
We were women and we could do anything, make decisions about our bodies and our lives. The Supreme Court said so! It was going to be so great! Until it wasn’t…
Am I the only one who feels like we’ve gone back in time? Will Sister Mary 2nd Grade tell us to practice getting under our desks and covering our heads with our arms in case of nuclear war? Will my friend Terry’s big sister die because (for reasons I wouldn’t understand for another decade) she put a coat hanger up her vagina? Would we fail to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, fail to achieve equal pay for women, fail to keep semi-automatic weapons out of the hands of those who don’t want to use them for ‘sport’ (or anyone who thinks there is some ‘sport’ that involves semi-automatics)? As the Supreme Court of the United States of America prepares to takes our country back in time, I apologize to my daughters, nieces, and granddaughters.
To my daughters, granddaughters, and nieces. And to the rest of America.
Barb Taub 
I can’t bring myself to write this post.
I am heartbroken. Again. For my sisters everywhere. As a world, we are retrograding.
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I’m furious at those who have claimed control over women’s bodies. And I’m ashamed of my country and my generation for letting it happen.
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I wish I could vote in your country. Seriously.
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Be glad you don’t have to!
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No abortions – but school shootings help to keep the number of kids down.
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Because who cares about babies after they’re born, right?
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I am devastated. Is this the beginning of curtailing personal freedom to control what is now an overpopulated world?
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Well, as Catterel says above, we can always count on gun violence to keep the child population under control…
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i am devastated too, but not done with fighting it, now at the ballot box.
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PLEASE urge everyone you know to vote. (If they’re in Chicago, urge them to vote early and often.)
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oh, i am, trust me. i’m in detroit, but love the chicago quote)
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I’ve come out in goosebumps after reading this. The ‘You don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone’ has struck so often recently with people being led blindly into decisions that are going to hurt them. I believe the overwhelming majority are sensible, kind and want to do the right thing – they need to see they have a part in the process and exercise it. Nil desperandum, Barb (or try not to, anyway…).
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At this point, it’s all down to getting people out to vote.
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Unbelievable! Going backwards fast. But after the country voted in Donald Trump, nothing surprises me anymore.
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I cried that day and I’m crying now…
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Me too. 😢
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I spent yesterday in a state of abject sadness and searing anger. The decisions of the past two days have been horrible enough, and I fear what’s coming. They’re not done, and won’t be until women and LGBTQ people are sent back to the Middle Ages and anyone who wants to carry a gun anywhere they want is free to do so on every street in America. I’m just sick over it.
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I couldn’t agree more. Grab a box of kleenex and tell everyone you know to vote.
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Its a shame for America. I saw today on Youtube some states which want to help. But we will see women die from trying to abort by themselves…
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It’s a sad and horrifying day. And one filled with shame.
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We haven’t failed. Abortion is still available in the US in many states. Now the decision will be given back to the people, as it should have been in the first place, instead of with old white men. Vote and be active in your state and it won’t be a failure. I believe in seeing the half full glass and filling it again.
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Being available in many states isn’t good enough. Every woman in every state has to live with the knowledge that someone else gets final say over her body and her decisions.
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I’d go anywhere else if I could. I wouldn’t get an abortion but I believe we all have the right to choose for ourselves. I hate what’s happening here. I always said the universe doesn’t go backwards, it expands but now I see I’m wrong. The lunatics are running the asylum.
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It’s like some kind of alternate reality… We’re back to fighting a cold war, women are told they don’t have decision-making rights over their bodies but they’re free to carry semi-automatic weapons, and school children practice active shooter drills.
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But Barb, when our elected officials don’t listen to us – what is to be gained by voting? Those who support that party which loves to limit freedoms for women, or for anyone other than a straight white man (this is becoming my theme), will not change their minds – this victory for them will empower them to continue, to gain, and to grow. This is my fear. I will vote – against that party. And I will continue to be sad that I am voting against rather than for, which is what I’ve been doing for the most part for several years now.
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Voting is all we have left. (Unless that’s the next thing to go…)
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I doubt they’ll take away men’s right to vote. But you’re right, voting is what we have.
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When you don’t vote, someone else’s vote is twice as powerful. It may seem like too little, but if you don’t vote, soon you won’t have the right to vote. Don’t think they are done with us. They aren’t. Worse is yet to come.
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You are right. I will vote, but it often feels so futile, and I get weary of always voting “against”.
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Amen!
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Right on Barb. You’re right. It was good until it wasn’t. And yes the next generation must exercise their votes.
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And please, please remember the vote you DON’T cast makes other votes all the more powerful. Not voting IS a vote — for someone else’s choice. Yes, I remember. I was there. Those still young enough, get out there and get our nation back.
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I feel for you, Barb, I really do. What a terrible step backwards. Some of the misinformed and downright callous things I ‘ve seen said about abortion and women on social media in the last few days beggars belief. I can’t imagine what it must be like to have daughters and granddaughters who might be affected by this, and it worries me that what happens in the US usually happens in some shape or form here in the UK.
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I am grateful to the states that will continue to allow safe and legal abortions, but poor women are not likely to have the resources to go to other states.
I am flashing back to my college days when I had an untouchable abortion fund–$300 set aside for a round-trip bus ticket to New York State (where abortions were legal) and the cost of 2 nights in a cheap hotel. We’re talking early 1970’s and $300 was a huge sum for me. I often ate french fries and only french fries for lunch and sometimes only a can of tuna for dinner. But I never touched that $300.
I was careful, used birth control (obtained from Planned Parenthood), but just in case…
Now women in certain states will be back to that…set aside that money for a bus ticket, ladies, even if you or your children are hungry.
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