On June 24, 2022, Roe V. Wade was overturned. I had only seen rumors about it online, but I never thought this horrible day would come.
How can this possibly be happening? As soon as I received the news, I started having flashbacks of bits and pieces from “The Handmaid’s Tale”, and “Outlanders” — the fear and threat of sexual assault and forced birth.
My heart sank to my stomach at the thought of forced motherhood. If women go through so much pain as grown adults, how in the world can the little ten-year-old girl in Ohio cope after being told she couldn’t receive an abortion after being raped?
Our rights to our body are under attack. Once you take out the federal protection for abortion, and the Supreme Court’s threat that contraceptives and same-sex marriage are next, what rights do we have if they can be erased that quickly?
It is OK that you might not make the same choice as someone else in the same situation, but it isn’t OK to take that right away. Overturning Roe v. Wade is only the start, and it is an attack on the people, on our generation.
Living in Nevada, where abortion protections are codified into law, doesn’t mean those rights are safe or concrete. Nevada’s abortion law is statutory and can only be overturned by a vote of the people, but access can be limited to make abortion next to impossible.
Federal bans can override Nevada law and ban abortion, contraceptives and same-sex marriage. When our rights depend on the courts and not the constitution, we must do something about it. Voting for people like Senator Cortez Masto who support choice is a start, but we must also vote “Yes” on Ballot Question 1.
Voting “Yes” on Question 1 will allow everyone of any sex, gender, sexual orientation, creed, color, age, disability, ancestry or national origin to have equal rights under the Nevada Constitution.
Who are we to stand in the way of someone’s well-being, romantic relationship or right to live? If you don’t vote for yourself, vote for others and have empathy.
The people who don’t care about anyone’s well-being or happiness will do everything they can to take our rights away as they rise and stay in power. They will take our reproductive rights, they will take contraception, they will take away same-sex marriage and they will take away interracial marriage.
Don’t wait until it happens. Protect yourself and others instead. Our voices matter, so use your voice to vote in the 2022 midterm election.
Every single vote matters and your vote will change the outcome of this election cycle. I used to believe my vote didn’t matter, but that is not the case. Voting saves lives. Hear from civil rights activist, Dolores Huerta yourself, on campus on November 2, 2022 and join me in casting a vote for women.
Please vote at UNLV’s Lied Library on November 2, 3, and 4. For more information, go to: Voting and Democratic Engagement | Service Learning & Leadership | University of Nevada, Las Vegas (unlv.edu)
