Dear Editor:
During the COVID pandemic, opponents of public health measures that protected Americans, used the slogan “My body, my choice” to voice their refusal to mask or to get vaccinated against the disease — the very slogan used for decades by proponents of reproductive freedom.
This suggests that all Americans, whatever their political leanings, value the ability to decide what happens to their own bodies. But to secure this right we have to protect everyone’s right to make their own decisions about their own bodies.
Since the November election, MAGA Republican attacks on bodily autonomy have been increasing:
First, through overly strict state abortion bans, MAGA Republicans are forcing women to carry pregnancies against their will — thus endangering their health or even their lives.
This affects all women, not just women seeking to end a pregnancy.
Then they came for fertility treatments, depriving families of children they desperately
want.
Now they are depriving all Americans of this basic right that underwrites all the others.
— They are coming for vaccinations that save lives. In Iowa, Senate File 360 would make it a crime for any health care provider to administers a gene-based vaccine to another person.
— An Arkansas bill H.B.1668 would hold liable “any person who knowingly causes a minor’s social transition” — including changes to clothing or hairstyle.
— And a new Kansas Law (HB2238), aimed at trans kids, requires forced genital inspections of ALL children who want to participate in sports. This is sexual assault made law.
Don’t kid yourself that other states — including Ohio — won’t try to pass similar laws.
We need to stop letting cruel and lawless officials make reckless health care decisions for us.
Laurie Finke
Gambier, Ohio