Abigail Ramirez is a freshman journalism major at MU. She is an opinion columnist who writes political and social commentary for The Maneater.
After passing Texas Senate Bill-8 (SB-8), an incredibly extreme “heartbeat bill” that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, the Texas legislature reignited the debate of who has the right to decide the constitutionality of abortions in America. Aside from the typical arguments between pro-life and pro-choice advocates, there is one aspect of these decisions that must be changed, no matter the outcome: who gets to vote on these issues.
In the final vote counts of SB-8, there were women in both chambers of the state legislature that voted in favor of and against the bill. However, that is not what is important here. In the Texas State House of Representatives, the ratio of women to men is about 1 to 3, and in the State Senate, about 1 to 2. However, if both men and women were represented equally in both chambers, both ratios would be one to one, and voting on such an issue would be fair.
In the Texas and national legislature, women are incredibly underrepresented, and therefore are unable to have any real leverage in a vote that decides what they are able to do with their own bodies. To uphold the American rights to ‘life and liberty,’ cis men should not have any power in deciding what women can or cannot do with their bodies.
In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson set forth that “all men are created equal.” More importantly, when the government is no longer able to protect citizens’ rights (life, liberty and happiness), the people are allowed to alter or abolish the current system and create a new one that can effectively protect Americans. That being said, it’s incredibly ironic that a patriotic state like Texas passed the SB-8 Bill, as it blatantly takes away women’s liberty to choose and bodily autonomy.
First, while Jefferson and the other founders did not explicitly include women in the phrase “all men are created equal,” it was meant to be implied and put forth as years progressed. In the final voting for the heartbeat bill, it is clear that women and men did not have an equal vote. In a larger scope, Texas’ decision to create such a strict law — one that has the potential to overturn Roe v. Wade — is completely unfair and unrepresentative of women all across the country, both politically and in terms of gender. In a 2019 Pew Research Center study, researchers found that 70% of women in the U.S. do not think Roe v. Wade should be overturned. However, in the conservative republican demographic (including both men and women), 61% believe that Roe v. Wade should be overturned. Similarly, a higher percentage of conservative men believe that the case should be overturned compared to women.
So, in a place like Texas, women’s rights and desires of keeping Roe v. Wade are virtually silent. With predominantly conservative federal courts and male-dominated legislatures on both the national and state levels, the American government cannot and does not properly represent the people or protect their rights. It is the right of the women to demand a change in governmental power or legislation regarding abortion rights and who gets to vote on them.
For more reasons than legal precedence and constitutionally, it is unethical for cis men to have any power in choosing what women are able to do with their bodies, including getting an abortion. Now, there is nothing saying they are not entitled to their own opinions — pro-life, pro-choice, neither, both, who cares? However, it is one thing to think something, and another to act on behalf of women based on their own opinion of something they will never have to undergo.
An abortion is a woman’s choice and a woman’s experience. Only women should be able to vote on issues that concern only their bodies, not cis men.
In fact, cis men choosing what women can do with their bodies is just a strung out, silent version of male domination and control over women. Really, maybe that’s what it’s all about. Sexism continues to prove itself to be a systemic problem in our country, and this is just one example. Cis men feel the need to control women’s bodies and make decisions for them. Male supremacy is being weeded out, so they’re clinging to what they can. In turn, they are taking women’s rights to their own body away.
Unfortunately, if SB-8 holds up in the Supreme Court and Roe v. Wade is overturned, it could mean the slow destruction of all women’s rights. Many do not realize how much of a cornerstone Roe v. Wade was for women’s rights. It was more than just abortion rights; it was giving women power back to their own lives.
For centuries, women have been pawns in a male-dominated society, forced into the cult of domesticity and expected to follow the whims of husbands, bosses and virtually any other man in their life. While Roe v. Wade did not erase that history or stereotype, it represented the first step toward real autonomy for women. If the court case is overturned, that is really what it is taking away: women’s liberty to choose what they want to do with their bodies and life.
The only way for America to stay true to the Declaration of Independence is to only allow women to vote on the issue of abortion on the federal and state levels. That way, we are not only properly represented, but we also have a voice.
Cis men need to step aside and realize that abortion is a woman’s experience, and that while they’re entitled to their own opinions, they do not have the right to choose on behalf of women. It’s simply wrong.
The National Organization for Women Foundation (NOW Foundation) is a nonprofit group dedicated to achieving total equality for women, whether that be in terms of economic, reproductive, political, marital or racial justice. They are affiliated with the National Organization for Women, the largest feminist grassroots group in the U.S. https://now.org/now-foundation/about-now-foundation/
Edited by Sarah Rubinstein | srubinstein@themaneater.com
