Lying in my bed after a well deserved Saturday lie in, drinking coffee and reading the news... So much going on in the world yes but I think a stand out piece has got to be the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v Wade, all the terrifying implications of that. 

I do not live in the states, I'm British, and to be honest as an onlooker, being Black and female especially, I have absolutely zero desire to even visit. I mean if the issues over there with gun laws (or lack of) wasn't bad enough, as if the overt, systemic, structural and grassroots Street level racism wasn't bad enough, this new twist and reversal of constitutional rights has rendered America - (land of freedom?) a place where dystopian dreams really can come true. I mean who knew? Margaret Atwood evidently. Because whether or not you have read or seen Handmaid's Tale, we can all see that this uber conservative and actually borderline totalitarian new ruling is indeed the beginning of the end.

America is one of 4 countries since 1994 to make a reversal of this kind in regards abortion laws and is by far the most powerful (economically and otherwise) country of the 4. Here in the UK, as with most countries actually, we take it for granted that as a basic human right, we women (despite still living in a climate of generalised misogyny) have control over our reproductive rights. That if we conceive and this was not planned, it is a given that because this conception is happening inside our bodies that we get to choose whether to continue with that pregnancy or to terminate it. Because, drum roll... PREGNANCY IS LOOONG AND FUCKING ARDUOUS and never mind the 9 months of actual pregnancy, it takes it out of you for a few years, physically, mentally and emotionally. And that is not even getting started on the raising of said child/ren. Basically, you need to really want that baby to put yourself through all of that. You need to make the right choice for you and your family/partner if you have one, but regardless... No one else actually shares the burden of pregnancy with you. As the woman you literally carry that alone. You and you alone experience the dramatic shifts and jumps in your hormones, the change in your physicality, the fatigue, the sometimes life threatening health issues that 15% of pregnant women experience, that comes of being one of the few species to have a hemochorial placenta, and out of ALL animals, our placenta is the most aggressive of them all making pregnancy not something to enter into lightly.

I can hear the echoes of those few who have voted in favour (and against the majority of American people) of the removal of women's constitutional right to seek and have an abortion, that if women are not prepared to see a pregnancy through, then they (we) should just keep our legs shut... Because sex is obviously only sanctioned within marriage and for reasons of procreation. Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla... These would be the same people who would talk about a woman's culpability if she is raped, who would empathise with said rapist, not wanting one silly mistake to ruin his life. The same people who believe that it is perfectly acceptable to own as many firearms as you want but put a limit on how many dildos you can own (that's not even a joke, check it out here). The same people who force women, girls, victims of rape and incest to carry to term but will not engage in a discussion about protecting the lives of those babies once they get to school against what has become a national epidemic - shootings in schools.

You guys are not pro life. You are basically Gilead and pro the subjugation of women. Because really, what you are suggesting here will mean that women have not only lost the rights over their own bodies but also their education, careers, love life, sexuality in a way that does not apply to men. What you are suggesting pushes us back to a point where if women wish to choose education, career and freedom, they may have to deny themselves the pleasure of any sexual relationship (if they are Heterosexual) because even with contraception, accidents still happen as we all know.

I have 2 beautiful children, have had 2 miscarriages (1 only a month ago) and had 1 abortion when I was 17.

The last miscarriage I had, I have the coil fitted but as I discovered, the effect of the copper in it has run its course and renders it pointless. So, I fell pregnant with it fitted - at 45! Neither me or my partner at that point (we stayed together for 6 months and I ended it not long after the miscarriage) wanted a child, I have 2 children already and a career - he never wanted any. If I hadn't miscarried and lived in America, that would mean I would have been forced to put my body, at this age, through the rigours of an unwanted pregnancy and do it solo, because I ended that relationship due largely to his issues with alcoholism. That would mean a reduction in resources for my own children because, even if I did choose to put that child up for adoption once born, for that 9 months or so, you are not able to be as present or productive. Which may mean a loss of earnings and definitely it affects the amount of time and energy you have to give to any other children you have, especially if you work - which I do. I have to because I am a single parent and actually, because I want to.

My alternative I suppose would be to just be a good girl and have kept my legs shut. And furthermore, perhaps if I'd been a really, really good girl I wouldn't be a single parent because maybe my ex (baby father) would have wanted to stick around. Maybe he wouldn't have gone off with someone young enough to be his daughter... Maybe, maybe if I'd been like super good, and said my prayers each night and pleased God by never having impure thoughts, never masturbating, saving myself for 1 man - my husband - maybe, maybe I would have met a good man that would have saved me from my need to be a woman who works outside of the home. Then I could just keep popping them babies out without any fear of not coping, because I would have a man to look after and rule over me... Blessed be the fruit... Amen. 

There will, unfortunately, be some out there who will have read that last bit and be thinking *damn straight! It is that simple. Save yourself for 1 man and you will not only get a good man but you can then fulfil your biological purpose free of any worries. Abortion is for morally corrupt women who don't comply to [fundamentalist] Christian codes and therefore they deserve any hardships they come across* To those people I say *some people believe in God, some believe in Buddha, some Allah... Others believe in Unicorns, fairies and mythological creatures. Some people believe in science, some simply believe in love. We all have the right to believe what we wish but when it comes to creating laws that govern people's rights and freedom, God, Allah, Unicorns and Fairies should stay the fuck out of it. This is about public health. *

Whether or not abortions are legal, abortions still happen at roughly the same rate. So the women who would want an abortion and seek one does not go down... What does happen is that death associated with abortions goes up. Maybe these same people who are apparently pro life would say that these women deserve to die for daring to take charge of their own bodies. For daring to think, let alone live outside of the box created for them. This is not pro life, this is pro subjugation of women.

I watch on in horror at this recent turn of events in America and I feel fucking terrified because...what is next...? By the time the next series of Handmaid's Tale actually comes out, America may have already started becoming the prequel to series 1... Don't just watch this space folks, fight! Vive la résistance !! ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏻✊🏿✊✊🏼

Below is a clip from HMT, episode 1 of season 2... Extreme some might say, but this is what state control over women's bodies and reproductive rights looks like... This is what happens when women try to assert themselves once things have gone too far. Let's not let it get there eh?