Kant’s take on moral philosophy involved what he called “categorical imperatives”. The second of these is known as the Humanity Formula and states that humans should never be treated as a means to an end, but always as an end in themselves. Rational beings do not exist only to be used as tools. I would venture to say that any logical and decent person would agree with that.
Unless, apparently, you are applying it to women.
In high school civics class, the topic of abortion came up between the students. I don’t remember how, and I don’t recall the teacher participating in the discussion more than to mediate when it got heated. I remember a particular boy that felt very strongly that abortion is equivalent to murder. I asked him if the health of the mother was equally important to the health of the fetus. He balked at the term “fetus”, telling me that “it’s a baby, not a fetus.” I asked him again and he told me that of course her life is equally important, as all lives are “precious in the eyes of the Lord”. “Fair enough.” I said and then asked him if abortion should be allowed in the case of certain death for the mother. As teenagers we didn’t understand the complexity of these questions, but when he told me that no, an exception should not be made, even if the fetus would also die, because that would be “God’s plan”.
That was the first time I was met with the reality that the “pro-life” movement is not about “saving babies” so much as it is about controlling women. It doesn’t matter if the mother will die, it matters that she does not have a choice.
I have personally spent years warning people, especially men, of the dangers of abortion bans. Women have spent decades before me doing the same. Even before the Dobbs decision, maternal death rates were abysmal in red states, particularly for Black women. (1) Women’s rights groups screamed from the rooftops trying to make anyone listen to the stories of very real women who were suffering and dying instead of buying into the hyperbolic horror stories and propaganda that seem to infiltrate the minds of “pro-life” individuals. It has only gotten worse since Roe was overturned and state-after-state enacted draconian laws under the guise of the “sanctity of life”. (2) A high-and-mighty way to keep women in their place, at home, raising babies, with their power and dignity stripped.
Of course, there are women who will tell you that they agree with these anti-abortion laws. That fetuses are entitled to the same rights as anyone, even if it means stomping all over the rights of their mothers. I believe these women truly feel that conviction. It isn’t an act. It is a deeply held moral belief, and they are entitled to their decisions regarding their own bodies and the outcome of their own pregnancy. My only question is why those choices are not extended to the masses who disagree. I won’t venture into the internalized misogyny, centuries of indoctrination about the role that women should play in society, and politicized religious influences behind these opinions. Maybe another day.
Today I want to focus on one story. A woman who went to the hospital after experiencing a medical emergency, was found to have multiple clots in her brain, and later declared dead. She had a 5-year-old son who lost his mother that day. She had family and friends who were left to mourn her death. It is a nightmare scenario for anyone. Unfortunately, instead of being able to begin the process of honoring her life and healing from this unexpected tragedy, they were forced to relive the trauma day after day.
You see, this young lady, Adriana Smith, was 9 weeks pregnant when she passed away. Because of Georgia’s anti-abortion laws that ban termination of a pregnancy when a heartbeat is detected, the doctors left Adriana on life-support to keep the fetus alive. To be clear, she did not give consent to be kept on a ventilator for the remainder of the pregnancy. Her family did not give consent, either. (3)
In the state of Georgia organs cannot be donated after death unless the donor consented, or the family consents if the donor’s wishes are unknown. (4) Thanks to the heartbeat law, a woman’s uterus can be used as an incubator without her or her family’s wishes being considered.
If this sounds like a plot straight out of The Handmaid’s Tale, it’s because it is. (5) Hilariously, the recap of that episode, provided below, was written in 2019, a few years before Roe was overturned. Reading the viewer’s opinions on the episode, and the show in general, it is clear that the plotlines were so absurd that it was often infuriating. How could we have known that 6 years later, we would be here?
Feminists have been painted as hysterical fearmongers since at least ancient Greece (6), so it is no surprise to those of us who have been arguing with misogynists since high school that no one listens when they are warned of the dangers of legislators cosplaying medical professionals and religious zealots infiltrating every level of government. Women (particularly women of color) have been warning everyone that there will be countless deaths as a result of abortion bans. Not only from underground, unsafe procedures, but from sepsis caused by fetal tissue that cannot legally be removed after miscarriage (7), from pregnancy complications that require abortion to save the mother’s life (8) and even mental health related fatalities (9).
I hope this is not the first time you are being faced with the reality of our situation as women in America, but if it is, I invite you to read and re-read Adriana’s story, pour over the citations listed below, and go down the rabbit hole of the history of reproductive rights and the countless women who came before us who fought for those rights.
The fight is not over, and it is time that the next generation stands up to say that we will not be reduced to hosts, merely existing to get pregnant and have babies. We are valid, we are powerful, we are deserving in-and-of ourselves and not simply because of our proximity to men or our desire, willingness, or ability to give birth. We are not hysterical, we are not overreacting, and we are not going to put up with this.