This has been an interesting weekend in the US. The country's Supreme Court on Friday overturned its 49-year-old Roe v Wade decision that effectively allowed abortion.
The first time I read about Roe v Wade I was horrified, that a country's highest court could allow abortion (during the first two trimesters of pregnancy) was unthinkable. I was young and idealistic, and had led a fairly sheltered life.
But as I've grown older, and learnt that life is, for the most part, hardly ever fair, I've often found myself thinking about that court decision.
Abortion is a tricky subject, very divisive if the situation in America is anything to go by. The arguments advanced by both sides make sense.
The pro-life quarter, most of whom approach the issue from a religious perspective, argue that life is sacred. I agree with them. Thou shall not kill, is one of the Ten Commandments.
But the pro-choice side would argue, what about a woman's right to choose? What if someone has fallen pregnant as a result of sexual assault and doesn't want to live with a constant reminder of the attack. What if a woman's life is in danger as a result of their pregnancy?
Again, very reasonable arguments.
I know I wouldn't want to carry the child of my attacker to term. It's not fair to the child but what about me? Someone would say, but you can give the child up for adoption. To which I would reply, but why should I endure carrying it for nine months in the first place?
What I find disconcerting in this debate is just what limited options women have. We are basically slaves of our biological makeup. We can't just have sex and walk away like the men do. There's always the constant danger of falling pregnant. STIs are a debate for another day.
The family planning options available to women come with a bucketful of side effects.
Society dictates that you cannot get rid of unwanted children, ie have an abortion, but allows men to sire children and walk away from them. No one chases after men to take care of the children they sire and abandon but everyone will blame a woman for 'letting herself get pregnant'.
In fact, a woman who goes after a man to take care of his child(ren) is vilified. So why not let them kill these children in the first place in a safe place and everyone is happy at the end of the day. The men can keep their precious money and the women can go on with life unencumbered by children, or at least, with a number of children they can comfortably raise on their own if they so wish.
That said, I often wonder, in a world where there's so much stacked against women, what can we do to ensure we don't further disadvantage ourselves? How can we learn to stand up for ourselves in a sexual relationship so that we don't walk away with unwanted baggage?
Basically, if you are in control of your life, you can avoid killing, because that's what abortion is, and you can avoid unwanted baggage. Women need to be empowered to be in that position of control. The question, then, we should be asking ourselves is, how do we go about entrenching this in our psyches from a young age?
