The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
I am a 68-year-old woman who has been sexually active for over five decades. I have been pregnant six times. Despite the consistent use of a variety of birth control methods, only one of those pregnancies was deliberately “planned.” I have given birth three times and have endured three unwelcome and traumatic miscarriages. I was blessed to raise four sons, each declared mine either through the wonders of biology or the gift of adoption. Together with my husband, each of our four sons has been loved and celebrated for the unique being he is.
I have also been pregnant while facing health challenges which had the potential to seriously impact my life and the life within me. During those precarious pregnancies, my obstetrician and primary care doctors advised me to have an abortion. I made the choice to not do so. For me, having an abortion would have been exceedingly more harrowing than any circumstances I could imagine taking place in my life. I chose, based on my own individual religious, spiritual, medical, and practical reasons, to not have an abortion.
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Just like snowflakes, human beings or daisies, each of the six times I was pregnant was unique unto itself. So it has been with every pregnancy of every person throughout time. Every pregnancy is individual; each one is idiosyncratic. As such, one person’s pregnancy cannot be considered the “same” as any other pregnancy of any other person. Simply put, pregnancy is not a one-size-fits-all commodity.
By acknowledging that reality, it’s an anathema to me that the Supreme Court of the United States made the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. By doing so, the Supreme Court has set in place the legal machination to deny an individual the right to make a decision regarding this highly singular and unique aspect of one’s life. I do not accept that this decision falls within the purview of the government, nor any other person, to legislate, police or judge. I believe it is solely the right of the person who is pregnant to make that decision.
For 50 years of my life, I have been able to exercise my power of choice over my ability to continue a pregnancy … or not. I feel beyond frightened and worried that my granddaughters and their peers do not have this right and might never have this right under the current laws in 13 states in the United States of America.
I have, therefore, made the decision that I will proudly provide any information I have regarding the many aspects of abortion and birth control, to any person who asks that of me. I will proudly apply my monthly Social Security check to help fund transportation and medical support for someone in Arizona needing to travel out-of-state to have an abortion. If circumstances require, I am willing to drive them to a clinic and hold their hand during the procedure, too.
I invite my dear neighbors and community friends to come and arrest me for daring to announce my intentions. Go ahead and put me in jail when I break the archaic Arizona abortion laws now in place in the state I love. I am ready for the consequences of my choice now, just as I accepted the consequences when I exercised my right to not have an abortion.
I embraced my freedom of choice and never had an abortion. And I’m willing to do what must be done to ensure that other women have that same freedom, even when their choice is different from what mine was decades ago. I believe in the right of the individual to make this private and personal decision.
So, come get me. I’m ready.
Joan Zatorski is a retired educator. She has lived in Tucson with her spouse and family for almost three decades. She is the steward of a Little Free Library in her community and focuses her energy on issues affecting children and human rights.
