The question is not, and has never been, when or whether a fetus counts as a person. The question is if women do. And the answer, clearly, is no. We do not.
Not that women are the only sacrfices of the inaptly named “pro life” cause, but those who see women as less than human certainly think no better of trans men, nonbinary people, and gender-nonconforming folks. Women are the target; they’re the collateral damage; everybody suffers.
America has the worst maternal mortality rate in the industrialized world and it’s only getting worse. In part this is due to the inaccessibility of health care, but another major factor is that our society considers the lives of women less valuable than the potential women’s bodies have of breeding more life.
If women were human beings in America, the abortion debate would be a moot point. Because everyone would understand and agree that a woman’s body belongs to her, and the choice of whether or not to use that body to sustain and grow the life of another is hers and hers alone. The same way no one can be forced to donate bone marrow or kidneys or even blood. Even corpses cannot have their bodies harvested to save other lives without permission.
Living women can, though. Our bodies are not our own. Our lives are secondary. We are not people. Not until we die, anyway. Then we finally have the right to decide whether our bodies should be used to bolster other lives. Women have to die to become human beings in America.
And with safe abortion access vanishing, a lot more of us are going to.
Nicole Wagman, Mechanicsburg, Pa.
Ad Choices