Republicans Are Torching Democracy to Deny Women Abortions
One year after Dobbs, GOP lawmakers in Ohio — and across the U.S. — are frantically trying to keep voters from weighing in on abortion
BY
TESSA STUART
KIERRE MORGAN HAS had an
abortion, but it was the abortion she didn’t have that transformed her into an activist. She was 17 and in denial, at first, about being pregnant at all. Under Ohio law, she needed permission to terminate her pregnancy, and — after considering whether she could use a fake ID — she finally had a conversation with her adoptive parents. They overruled her decision. “Their options were: I could have my daughter, and they would raise her, which was a big ‘No.’ …An absolute ‘No.’ Or I could have her and raise her — which I did. There was no other option.”
Her daughter is 29 now, and Morgan calls her her best friend (“I don’t know if she would say I’m
her best friend,” she adds, laughing), but she would not wish the life they were forced to navigate on anyone. There were times she didn’t have enough money for food. They slept in homeless shelters and “in motels where there was prostitution outside the door, and there was blood inside the motel room,” she recalls. “You just look at it and you say: ‘This is what I wanted to prevent. I did not want my child to go through this.’”
Morgan’s experience struggling to survive after being unexpectedly saddled with a dependent is not the exception for women who find themselves in that situation; rather, it is the rule. For years afterward,
a famous ten-year study showed, women who were denied abortions were less likely to be able to afford food, housing, or transportation than those who accessed abortion care. They had lower credit scores, carried more debt, and were more likely to experience bankruptcy and eviction, among other lasting ripple effects. Her own experience hardened Morgan’s resolve to do all she can to ensure that others don’t end up in the same circumstances. These days, that means volunteering with the coalition of groups campaigning to give Ohio voters the chance to weigh in on abortion laws in their state.
But Republican lawmakers, like Morgan’s parents all those years ago, have decided it doesn’t matter what Ohioans may want for their own futures — they’re in a position of power, and they plan to use it. In a bid to doom a ballot measure that would enshrine the right to an abortion in the state constitution, those lawmakers have called a special election in August in hopes that they can change the rules while most voters aren’t paying attention. And they’re not alone.
https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-lists/best-tv-shows-of-all-time-1234598313/
For decades, anti-abortion activists agitating for the end of
Roe demanded the court return the issue of abortion “to the people.” But exactly one year after the Supreme Court issued its infamous ruling nullifying constitutional right to an abortion, Republicans across the country — including in many reliably conservative states — are confronting the fact that majorities of votes are not backing their extreme anti-abortion agenda. Instead of changing their policies to better reflect their constituents views, they’re working to make it harder for ...
One year after Dobbs, GOP lawmakers in Ohio — and across the U.S. — are frantically trying to keep voters from weighing in on abortion.
www.rollingstone.com
