Rage Is Our Currency

This blog was originally published in June 2022.

Since the leak of the Supreme Court’s intention to abandon the bodily autonomy women have fought generations to attain, I’ve been living in a haze of red rage. It feels like we’re all a bit stunned by the expectation that having a vagina and uterus should determine a human’s destiny in 2022. I’m fifty-seven and never have I known a world where a pregnancy could be criminalized, but that’s exactly what is happening in Texas. And I’m especially incensed since I believe that we move forward and don’t walk backwards. But if we choose to look back we can use the wisdom of all those who stood up before us so we can stand where we are.

The American Constitution gives humans the right of protection from our government. We are supposed to be united in this understanding that we are bound by our individual freedoms. So, what I wonder about with the Supreme Court’s pending decision to grant rights to a potential human over a living one is this: ?“Am I no longer a human?”

Because I have a vagina and a uterus and have the power to create life inside my body, am I less of a person than a corporation? Remember when Mitt Romney uttered that infamous statement in the presidential debate that “corporations are people, my friend.” ?We’ve apparently expanded this definition of peoplehood over the centuries, but now five people are clawing that definition back to not include me.

Perhaps it is truth that some people of faith give too much grace to those who do not, but I now see that in reverse with many evangelical leaders guiding their congregations to favor the hate and the animosity of others in the name of patriotism and protection, and to disregard that their freedom to believe in their faith is now impinging on the freedom of others.

The reversal of this slow-slide into authoritarianism is a job for my generation, the moms and grandmas who have been committed to women’s autonomy, who have even built our own army of the future, our daughters and sons who we have imbued with our knowledge and passions and understand that human rights are women’s rights while we remain a democracy. Our rights will not be given away, so stand up ladies and use that rage, it’s our currency against those with too much power and money. By speaking up and standing up we can use our voices to create the future we want for our children and ourselves. We still live in a democracy, a place where the government is controlled by us. The government does not control us, so use your voice. Make a craft. Call and text and write because if you don’t, my friends, our freedom will be taken from us. ACT! Do what you can with what you have. Put your pink-pussy hats on and be the super hero who saves our freedom from those who deny our humanity.?