As anti-choice bills fly through the legislature, we are counting on Gov. McCrory to stand up to the anti-choice leadership in the legislature and make good on his campaign promise to not support any new restrictions on abortion access.
As my friends and I realized recently, there are few shows or even books that can give insight into the college years and the elusive “20-somethings.” Luckily, amidst the rubble of TV shows like “Jersey Shore” and “Real World,” which seemed like TV’s only examples of how 20 year olds live, arose “Girls.”
As a friend and colleague from Planned Parenthood so eloquently put it, Kansas is a “petri dish”—a place where the most extreme anti-abortion laws are conceived and tested. But students are organized and we are fighting back.
Many politicians, activists and adults alike have silenced the youth voice and relegated our involvement to the role of bystander. If the youth wishes to have a future that we would like to inhabit, we must reclaim our voices and demand that we have a say on issues that affect our lives.
It’s no big surprised that a majority of the under-30 set doesn’t know the name Roe v Wade. After all, they grew up in an era where the debate about reproductive rights was about more than legal abortion, but also contraception and sex education.
People should be given the chance to make the decision whether to parent without judgment or stigma. Abortion is (or should be) an option. Women should not feel ashamed for doing what is best for them.
There are reproductive rights and justice advocates who are having abortion conversations that do not involve scare tactics. They are having these conversations on their campuses, in their homes, and in their communities, and they are doing it the right way.
If we can’t even talk about abortion, we can’t ever hope to change the stigma.
By sharing their stories, young people are creating spaces where we as a society can think about issues in terms of people’s realities and not political debates. Stories dispel myths, break down stereotypes, humanize issues, and invoke empathy and urgency, inspiring people who heard them to take action.
To say that Millennials are less “committed” or “present” in the fight to ensure safe and legal access to abortion for all women in America is simply false. We are out there. Because we have to be.
