According to an article in People, Amanda, 35, “had an incompetent cervix and had dilated too early. She was told that miscarriage was inevitable. … The near-total ban on abortion in Texas meant that the doctors couldn’t do anything to remove the unviable fetus unless Amanda’s life was at risk. She would either have to get sick enough for doctors to intervene, or miscarry on her own. And Amanda and Josh had no way of knowing how long they’d have to suffer. … She became sick with sepsis, a life-threatening condition. By the time she went to the hospital 3 days later to deliver her baby, she was feverish and weak.” So? Am I supposed to care? I don’t. I hate to be so crass, but this is the post-Roe world people either wanted or were too lazy to conceive would come to pass by being half-hearted voters. These are Texans, so I have a sense — statistically — how they voted. I really wish People would include their voting records (or lack thereof) because I think it is integral to the story. People who voted RepubliKKKlan are getting exactly what they voted for; are we supposed to feel sympathetic for experiencing the government they kept in power?
But the article continues, and this is the crucial part: “It’s hard for the couple to believe how they have been impacted by this. ‘When the Texas law got passed and then when Roe v. Wade was overturned, of course I was furious and I didn’t agree with it,’ says Amanda. ‘But I didn’t think it would really impact me personally. I never in my wildest dreams thought that the laws that I was so angry about would also pose a threat to my life and prevent me from accessing safe healthcare in 2022 in the United States of America.’”
This last quote reinforces what I’ve been saying for months since the fall of Roe; abortion rights are always someone else’s problem, just as this couple thought Texas’ near-total abortion ban would not impact them. Oops! But whatever. As I said, no one cares, and people don’t care until it’s too late. Just remember: Citizens get precisely the government they deserve and desire. That includes women giving up bodily autonomy. Oh, well. Women will die, and I don’t care. At some point, you have to stop caring about women’s rights more than they care about their own. Women should have cared during each of the last four or five election cycles because the outcomes of those elections brought us today’s SCOTUS. Welcome to stupid America!