Freedom is a constant struggle
When my family moved to Massachusetts, my mother couldn’t legally get birth control or even learn about it.
By the time I was in college, the Supreme Court had ensured that married women could get birth control, though unmarried women couldn’t.
By the time our daughter was born, the Supreme Court had made birth control and abortion (within limits) legal. It seemed progress was slow but irreversible. We are now reminded that freedom isn’t free, that rights aren’t permanent, and that elections have consequences.
Many people today can’t remember the time when abortion at any stage was illegal. They never searched an underground network looking for a “doctor” who would provide an unknown substance that might or might not cause a miscarriage, or one who would provide a procedure that might or might not be safe. They never had a dormmate who bled out in the common bathroom after an illegal abortion.
Abortion has never been an easy choice. Neither were some alternatives. Many people can’t remember their high school friends sent to live with out-of-state relatives until they gave birth and gave up their child. They never read a letter like this:
Is there any way possible for me to never become pregnant again? I mean until I die. We have been married for five years. I have had five children and one miscarriage … I have a moral obligation to the five I have. I think I should rather end my life than go through another pregnancy and bring another child into the world where it cannot be cared for properly.
(According to the Guttmacher Institute, 59% of people who have an abortion already have at least one child.)
Young people may not remember the murders at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Brookline, or the murders of other abortion doctors and clinic workers.
They could read The Family Roe, by Joshua Prager. Or they could ask their mothers or grandmothers.
We can be proud that Massachusetts passed the ROE Act, anticipating the Court’s decision, and protecting those rights. There are many ways to support people in other states who have lost reproductive rights—and voting rights. We should do that.
Pat Jehlen (D) is the Massachusetts state senator representing the Second Middlesex district, including Medford, Somerville, and parts of Cambridge and Winchester.
Photo credit: “Stop Abortion Bans Now” by Fibonacci Blue. CC-BY 2.0. Original photo cropped for the Somerville Wire by Jason Pramas.
This article is syndicated by the Somerville Wire municipal news service of the Somerville News Garden project of the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism.
All Somerville Wire articles may be republished by community news outlets free of charge with permission and by larger commercial news outlets for a fee. Republication requests and all other inquiries should be directed to somervillewire@binjonline.org. Somerville Wire articles are also syndicated by BINJ’s MassWire state news service at masswire.news.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE SOMERVILLE WIRE EMAIL NEWSLETTER: https://eepurl.com/hpBYPv
Check out all our social media here: https://linktr.ee/SomervilleWire.
OPINION: R.I.P. ROE?
Freedom is a constant struggle
When my family moved to Massachusetts, my mother couldn’t legally get birth control or even learn about it.
By the time I was in college, the Supreme Court had ensured that married women could get birth control, though unmarried women couldn’t.
By the time our daughter was born, the Supreme Court had made birth control and abortion (within limits) legal. It seemed progress was slow but irreversible. We are now reminded that freedom isn’t free, that rights aren’t permanent, and that elections have consequences.
Many people today can’t remember the time when abortion at any stage was illegal. They never searched an underground network looking for a “doctor” who would provide an unknown substance that might or might not cause a miscarriage, or one who would provide a procedure that might or might not be safe. They never had a dormmate who bled out in the common bathroom after an illegal abortion.
Abortion has never been an easy choice. Neither were some alternatives. Many people can’t remember their high school friends sent to live with out-of-state relatives until they gave birth and gave up their child. They never read a letter like this:
(According to the Guttmacher Institute, 59% of people who have an abortion already have at least one child.)
Young people may not remember the murders at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Brookline, or the murders of other abortion doctors and clinic workers.
They could read The Family Roe, by Joshua Prager. Or they could ask their mothers or grandmothers.
We can be proud that Massachusetts passed the ROE Act, anticipating the Court’s decision, and protecting those rights. There are many ways to support people in other states who have lost reproductive rights—and voting rights. We should do that.
Pat Jehlen (D) is the Massachusetts state senator representing the Second Middlesex district, including Medford, Somerville, and parts of Cambridge and Winchester.
Photo credit: “Stop Abortion Bans Now” by Fibonacci Blue. CC-BY 2.0. Original photo cropped for the Somerville Wire by Jason Pramas.
This article is syndicated by the Somerville Wire municipal news service of the Somerville News Garden project of the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism.
All Somerville Wire articles may be republished by community news outlets free of charge with permission and by larger commercial news outlets for a fee. Republication requests and all other inquiries should be directed to somervillewire@binjonline.org. Somerville Wire articles are also syndicated by BINJ’s MassWire state news service at masswire.news.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE SOMERVILLE WIRE EMAIL NEWSLETTER: https://eepurl.com/hpBYPv
Check out all our social media here: https://linktr.ee/SomervilleWire.
Thanks for reading and please consider this:
BINJ not only produces longform investigative stories that it syndicates for free to community news outlets around Massachusetts but also works with dozens of emerging journalists each year to help them learn their trade while providing quality reporting to the public at large.
Now in its 10th year, BINJ has produced hundreds of hard-hitting news articles—many of which have taken critical looks at corporations, government, and major nonprofits, shedding light where it’s needed most.
BINJ punches far above its weight on an undersized budget—managing to remain a player in local news through difficult times for journalism even as it continues to provide leadership at the regional and national levels of the nonprofit news industry.
With your help BINJ can grow to become a more stable operation for the long term and continue to provide Bay State residents more quality journalism for years to come.
Thanks for reading and please consider this:
BINJ not only produces longform investigative stories that it syndicates for free to community news outlets around Massachusetts but also works with dozens of emerging journalists each year to help them learn their trade while providing quality reporting to the public at large.
Now in its 10th year, BINJ has produced hundreds of hard-hitting news articles—many of which have taken critical looks at corporations, government, and major nonprofits, shedding light where it’s needed most.
BINJ punches far above its weight on an undersized budget—managing to remain a player in local news through difficult times for journalism even as it continues to provide leadership at the regional and national levels of the nonprofit news industry.
With your help BINJ can grow to become a more stable operation for the long term and continue to provide Bay State residents more quality journalism for years to come.
PAT JEHLEN
THE BEST OF BINJ: POLITICS & GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY REPORTING
From the best reporting you will find on the Massachusetts Governor’s Council to coverage of contractors who had big paydays
THE BEST OF BINJ: ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTING
We cover all disasters – from natural, to the man-made ones. Here’s some of our best environmental reporting from the
THE BEST OF BINJ: TRANSIT REPORTING
From the least-traveled commuter rail stop in the state to hundreds of millions of dollars in wasteful contracts exposed
YOUR DONATIONS TO BINJ MATCHED TWICE!
We have an opportunity to make your donation go even further through NewsMatch, a collaborative national effort to support independent,
THE BEST OF BINJ: PRISON & PAROLE REPORTING
Coverage of prisons and parole in Massachusetts from the past decade, including the unparalleled reporting of Jean Trounstine
THE BEST OF BINJ: POLICE & SURVEILLANCE REPORTING
From multiple features on SWAT raids across the Bay State to extensive reporting on surveillance and Fourth Amendment issues