Opinion: There’s More Than Roe V. Wade

By: Colleen Nakhooda 

When and why did Americans start the conversation of abortion as a public issue? It wasn’t always this way. According to the Organization of American Historians (OAH), up until 1840, a time when transportation was on foot or horses and 80+ percent of Americans were practicing Christians, American women were charged only with a misdemeanor for an abortion in the “post-quickening stage” (between four to six months, when the mother could feel the fetus moving.) The OAH says this misdemeanor was to protect the health of the woman, which was threatened by a late-stage abortion. In addition, only the women themselves could testify to fetal movement, a telling attribute of the privacy and respect a female and her family had at this time regarding pregnancy. According to the OAH’s recent article “Abolishing Abortion”: “Before 1840, abortion was a widespread, largely stigma-free experience for American women.” I do not understand how American women over 180 years ago had more reproductive choice than they do today. How did we go backward in kindness and privacy as we went forward in time and science?

I believe that discovering and discussing the reasons for this shift could change our country for the better. One of the great things about education is gaining perspective, and various alternative ways of thinking and living can come from learning about the past. I look back on what used to be a safe, and respectful environment of reproductive rights in 1840, to a 21st century that criminalizes a public health issue and I am horrified for myself, my daughters, and American generations to come. I feel that analyzing early American attitudes and practices of abortion and presenting them via speakers and articles could release us from the tired, contentious rhetoric of current abortion debates and change the narrative as to whether abortion is right or wrong into an environment of care and respect for the women involved.

I also want to support the current revival of plebiscites–direct democracy! While state governors and courts make decisions out of touch with their constituents, there has been a “red state pushback” from places like Kentucky and Kansas where the people decided one by one to reject governmental superstructure limitations on abortion. So many young Americans were shocked and felt hopeless when Roe vs Wade was overturned, but these plebiscites show that we don’t have to be ruled by the decisions of a centralized government. Plebiscites essentially return the power to individuals, as seemed to be the case at least for abortion pre-1840. I want my generation to be the one that brings back direct democracy for many issues by making plebiscites more common, so let us learn about how these forms of pure self-government are organized and affected so that we have more of a say in how our communities and laws function for us, the people.

Sources:

https://daily.jstor.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Norma_McCorvey_and_-Gloria_Allred_1050x700.jpg

https://apnews.com/article/abortion-ballot-measure-nebraska-0ccae759148162706ab1e2006ecb936e

https://www.oah.org/