Why I care about reproductive rights:
Someone asked me this, knowing I am past my childbearing years. What they did not know is that I was unable to have children and did not adopt. So not only will I not be affected by these draconian laws, I have nobody in my family to be affected. No daughters or granddaughters.
So, why do I care?
First, because I have stood for women’s rights my whole life. A life that began at a time when women could not get credit in their own name and any job a woman could get came with low pay and a side of groping or worse.
We were to look pretty, shut up, be just educated enough to not be boring, and do as we were told. In my lifetime. Now they are not only forcing women to bear children, they are denying them the constitutional right to interstate travel. A right guaranteed to EVERY citizen. They are invading our privacy, denying equal protection under the law, and treating young women like blow up sex dolls that can breed. Not much more than slabs of meat. While us senior women are merely useless and invisible.
This caused me to care deeply about anything that takes away our hard won rights and makes us chattel again.
Second, I care because women and girls are going to die or suffer greatly. The patriarchy has profited from our suffering and death for 5000 years. ENOUGH!
And finally, I care about America, my only home. We can not be a good society stepping over the corpses of women and the prone bodies of enslaved women. It hurts all of us. Including men and boys.
That is why I care. If you are a woman or girl, or have ever loved a woman or girl, or just care about what is right, I hope you care too. Even if it does not affect you directly.
As a seventy year old woman I am right there with you on this. The idea that we can only care about what directly affects us is absurd. Being an elder means caring for everybody and all the generations to come.
Like you, I have no children. Like you, I care. Reproductive rights affect us all.