“To know that my reproductive rights continue to be stripped away is gut-wrenching”
Ireland has a long way to go when it comes to women’s rights. There are many issues we’re facing on our little island, but none quite as vast as our sisters across the pond. As onlookers, it feels like America is going back in time, slowly stripping independence and rights away from women.
It doesn’t feel like the USA belongs in the 21st century, especially after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are ‘children’.
Due to the ruling, IVF patients who discard embryos may face criminal charges because the embryo is now considered a child.
Many IVF patients will often discard an embryo if it has genetic abnormalities. Others will discard them after getting pregnant and if the patient no longer needs them.
However, the new ruling means disposing of an embryo could be viewed as illegal.
Women in Alabama are now facing overwhelming uncertainty when it comes to starting a family. Their reproductive rights are slowly being taken from them and they’re waking up in a new, haunting reality in a country they can barely recognise.
Since the ruling, multiple clinics have reportedly halted IVF services because they need to re-evaluate the legal repercussions.
One woman affected by the recent ruling spoke to Her.ie about the heartache so many women now face.
The anonymous writer, born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama shared: “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said ‘there can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love’. It’s a quote I’ve been thinking about a lot since the Alabama SCOTUS ruling on IVF.
“I’m not married or in a position to start a family, but it’s something I look forward to, even dream about. To know that my reproductive rights continue to be stripped away is gut-wrenching.”
“Why is America stepping backward when it comes to women’s reproductive health?”
The writer explained that she wants Alabama to be her forever home, but that dream “might never come to fruition”.
“I want Alabama to be the place where my children see the Cahaba Lillies in May, to have a fish fry in the summer time, and to know the special joy there is of tomatoes and peaches fetched from the back of a truck on a dirt road.”
Every woman should have control over her reproductive rights. As thousands of Irish women have chanted for decades- my body, my choice so why is America stepping backward when it comes to women’s reproductive health?
Women can’t keep being treated as second-class citizens by stuffy old men with too much power in their hands.
“Every person in Alabama deserves to build the family they want to whether that includes children or not,” she adds.
“The fight for equality and justice has been a revolving door for Alabama. It continues to be a mirror for the rest of America.
“If it happened in Alabama, it will happen where you live. My rage and heartbreak will continue to be fuel for the fight to make Alabama free.”
Women in Alabama will continue to use their voices and fight. They’ll protest, start petitions, and call on their Government for change, they will keep up the fight.
But what they really need is for those in charge to view them as valuable beings, and equals to men.
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