As a minister who prays to the Spirit of Life and the Source of Love, I am grief stricken. Bringing a child into the world is one of the most complicated, personal, and life-altering endeavors any person can undertake. If there is one thing that should be planned in this life, it is parenthood.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade will lead many states to erase the complexity and intimacy of what should be a most fundamental aspect of human agency.
Every pregnant person, regardless of the situation or health risks, can now be mandated to continue their pregnancy to full term.
Without alternatives in reproductive health for pregnant people, the rights of people to participate in decisions about their own healthcare and family planning are stolen from them.
It is only in very recent history that the decision of when and if to terminate a pregnancy has been taken out of the hands of the person carrying the child and placed into the hands of politicians and judges who are unaware of any of the intimate complexities.
Without the fundamental human right to decide whether to carry a pregnancy to full term, a right established almost 50 years ago, the ability to consider the particulars of health, life circumstances, the well-being of the unborn child and of existing family members, is stripped from the only rightful place those decisions belong: with the pregnant person.
Increasing polarization has made many of us less tolerant of nuance or complexity. As a result, our collective ability to imagine a way of reducing unwanted pregnancies or better supporting life beyond the womb is lost.
With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, those who value the complex, interconnected web of life that extends well beyond the womb, need to demand protection for all of our essential human rights, whether or not they are enumerated.
Rev. Eileen Wiviott
Senior Minister Unitarian Church of Evanston