Women’s rights have been a topic of discussion for decades in this country. A woman’s right to accessible reproductive healthcare has been severely restricted and is continuously contested every day. 

The most outstanding issue right now is the numerous bills being proposed regarding a woman’s right to choose how to manage a pregnancy. Florida, South Carolina and Wyoming are just three states out of the many that have proposed bills that restrict reproductive healthcare. Ironically, all during Women’s History Month. 

The South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act of 2023 (H. 3549) proposes to change the state homicide statute to redefine a fertilized egg as a person, which would allow the death sentence to be carried out on women who obtain an abortion. The bill has 15 co-sponsors as of March 18.  

Florida has proposed two restrictive bills: SB 300, which would enact a six-week abortion ban, and HB 7, which “Prohibits the use of state funds for [a] person to travel to another state to receive services to support abortion.” Both bills were proposed on March 7. 

Wyoming SF 0109 prohibits the prescription, dispensing, distribution, sales and use of mifepristone for the purpose of ending a viable pregnancy. It was signed into law by Gov. Mark Gordon on March 17 and will become effective on July 1.

The lawmakers proposing these bills are hypocrites who claim to be fighting for the lives of unborn fetuses and preserving life. Their actions prove that they are doing the opposite of protecting the sanctity of life and children. 

Abortion should not be banned outright because it is required to treat many complications that could permanently harm or kill the mother. Imagine having to live with the fear of being deemed a murderer for making a choice that could potentially save your life, not to mention if incest or rape is involved.

The South Carolina bill is gruesome. How can the sanctity of life be preserved if this extreme is being pushed for women exercising their right to bodily autonomy?

Anti-abortion groups in Texas have filed a lawsuit that mifepristone be banned nationwide on the grounds it is unsafe, even though there are only 13 cases of death possibly caused by the pill from 2000 to 2021. Banning mifepristone would be dangerous because it is also used for flushing out incomplete miscarriages, and treating Cushing’s disease and uterine fibroids. 

Lawmakers think proposing these laws are somehow preventing abortions, but they are only preventing safe abortions. Women who are desperate enough will seek or carry out methods of unsafe abortions, or die trying.  

The party of “small government” is bending over backward to insert themselves into the private lives of women. States that have restricted or outlawed abortion have higher infant and maternal mortality rates. Lawmakers should consider this when talking about being pro-life. 

There is nothing wrong with being pro-life and preserving life, but it needs to extend to all life, not just that of an unborn fetus. How can it be about preserving the life of the unborn fetus, but not the mother? 

There is a law in Texas which prevented a woman from aborting, even though her fetus had a brain condition that would result in death shortly after birth. Supporters of this law cannot rightfully claim it is to protect children, as the baby will experience needless, and most importantly, preventable suffering. 

The laws and proposed bills mentioned thus far do not even scratch the surface of all the anti-women laws and bills in the U.S. More bills were signed into law during the writing of this article, and more will, unfortunately, be proposed and passed in the future.