Jeg er på vej til demonstration – nu skal der kæmpes for vores, vores døtres, vores søstres og alle kvinders rettigheder.
If you can control a woman’s body, you can control her life
I’m on my way to demonstrate in downtown Seattle – we must fight for the rights of all women.
“ Men!, are you capable of being fair? A woman is asking. At least you will allow her that right. Tell me: What gave you the sovereign right to oppress my sex? The man wants to command like a dictator. Given their ignorance, disregard or the disdain of the rights of women we have decided to declare the following rights of women:”
These words could have been written today, but there are from 1791 written by the French activist Olympe de Gouges, who ended her days in the guillotine after writing “The Declaration of the Rights of Women.”
The Supreme Court has overturned the ruling on Roe v Wade, which for 49 years has given women, not the states, the right to decide over their own bodies when it comes to abortion. The rollback that puts states legislation higher than women’s autonomy is a brutal attack that steals women’s right to self-determination. And the theft is committed by none other than the Supreme Court.
Now women are de facto second-class citizens, with men ruling over women’s bodies. It is a crime against humanity, misogynistic and undemocratic.
We knew it was coming. The document about the Supreme Court´s intention to reverse the Roe v Wade ruling was leaked a few months ago. In the reversal, there is no exception for rape, incest, or if the woman’s life is in danger.
“Now women are de facto second-class citizens, with men ruling over women’s bodies. It is a crime against humanity, misogynistic and undemocratic.
The vast majority of Americans are in favor of a woman having an abortion. But the Supreme Court ruling is entirely in Trump’s misogynistic spirit. As you know, Trump nominated three Supreme Court justices to cover his right-winged, religious, ultra-conservative base.
In the United States, church and state are separated – but now all women are force fed a Catholic, right-wing, religious attitude to abortion through legislation.
And why? In order for men to be able to control women through legislation. This desire is certainly not new. Women have had to fight for the right to vote, the right to own real estate and many other things, and as they gained those rights men lost some of their control. With the announcement today, the official United States shows that control over women’s bodies does not belong to women. If you become pregnant, then you must give birth and become a mother – even if it is against your will. This is how men want it.
My mother had an abortion, as did my grandmother’s sister. One through the official healthcare system, the other by a quack. Abortions have always been a way for a woman to assert autonomy over her own body and future – even if or because she was in a difficult situation.
And now we are at it: Where is the focus on the difficult choice women have to make? No woman takes the choice of abortion lightly, but where are the voices focusing on how woman end up in a situation that requires a life-changing decision in the first place? I also hear no talk about what responsibility men bear for the choice the woman has to make.
Imagine if men were told that they could only have sex with women if they used protection, and that there was a life sentence for it if the woman became pregnant – that would surely result in politicians taking action. Until then, we women must be the ones reacting.
Today, I walk with thousands of other women. We must show men that their lust for power stops now. Stop the discrimination, stop the hatred – once and for all!
Danish-American Eyes on Society 