Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the long-upheld Roe v. Wade decision during the summer of 2022, reproductive rights have been thrust into the front of agenda-setting in national American politics. The decision and its early public leaking served to galvanize many Americans, mainly women, to turn out in that year’s midterm elections, hoping to prevent a further crackdown on abortions and other reproductive rights as the Democratic party anticipated a heavy loss in Congress.
Much discussion about reproductive rights since (and well before) has been framed as an issue that affects (and is relevant) only to women. Such a characterization is false and misleading. Reproductive rights are a human right that affect people of all gender identities and our politics should reflect that. Additionally, the political emphasis on abortion as a key issue tends to ignore the larger effort by conservative movements to remove other reproductive rights. Instead, we should see how abortion is one right among many reproductive rights that are under threat.
Too frequently political appeals concerning reproductive rights are shallowly marketed towards women, reinforcing the idea that it is only an issue for women, that only they can be galvanized for votes, and that the issue only affects them.
Take the messaging from the Biden administration for example. In the lead-up to the 2024 election, the campaign has been specifically targeting women and swing voters with campaign ads, thus relativizing the issue of reproductive rights around women, specifically on the issue of abortion.
In a statement before a campaign event held in January 2024, Biden’s re-election campaign manager said “Donald Trump is the reason that more than 1 in 3 American women of reproductive age don’t have the freedom to make their own health care decisions. Now, he and MAGA Republicans are running to go even further if they retake the White House.” While such a statement does recognize that Republicans would likely seek to roll back abortion protections, the issue is still framed relative to women.
Similarly, Kamala Harris’s messaging also relativizes women in invoking she/her pronouns when talking about reproductive rights: “And a majority of people in the United States Congress who agree that one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs, to agree the government should not be telling her what to do with her body. If she chooses, she will talk with her priest or pastor, her Rabbi or her Imam. But it should not be the government telling her what to do. In this year of our lord 2024, the government should not be telling women what to do with their bodies. It’s that basic.”
What this political messaging misses above all, again, is that reproductive rights are not a women’s issue, they are a human rights issue affecting people of all gender identities. Reproductive rights encompass far more than just women’s freedom to make decisions about their own bodies. It also encompasses things such as birth control, access to reproductive healthcare, and education about reproductive health.
Yet conservative lawmakers are continuing to crack down on these other rights beyond simply abortion. Last year, eight states enacted legislation that restricted sex education. It is worth noting that many of these restrictions seek to limit or outright exclude discussions of non-heterosexuality, seek to “stigmatize” abortion, and leave out important details about reproductive health in general.
One particular reproductive rights issue that has recently received significant attention is in-vitro fertilization. Since the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are legally children in February of this year, fears of a greater attack on reproductive rights by conservatives have risen. Fortunately, following public backlash, Alabama has since shielded IVF providers from legal liability.
Also in the wake of the Alabama Supreme Court ruling, conservatives have had to reconcile their stances of being anti-abortion on the grounds that life starts at conception with supporting IVF and being pro-family. Many conservatives, including Donald Trump, say they support IVF.
Despite many conservatives claiming to support IVF, it is not immediately clear if such views are genuine and whether conservatives may be worried about antagonizing voters further in a repeat of the 2022 midterms. It is clear, however, that there are also many conservatives still against IVF. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, and Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, an anti-abortion non-profit, both oppose recently introduced federal legislation that would codify IVF protections.
If IVF and other reproductive rights are not protected under federal law, states could fairly easily restrict people’s access to these essential services.
Though an incredibly unlikely possibility in Massachusetts, if IVF were to be made illegal, I would not be able to have children the way I want to when I am older. I, like many other people, was born with a very serious genetic condition that I do not want to pass on to my children. The only way I would be able to ensure I can have children without passing on my condition is either through adoption or IVF since any children I might conceive would have a fifty percent chance of inheriting my condition without the procedure.
Living in a moderately progressive state, I do not have much to fear about losing access to this important service. But to the many like me who live in states where conservatives are restricting reproductive rights, recent developments have been especially concerning.
We will likely have to wait until the 2024 general election to know the future of reproductive rights in the United States as the politicization of the issue has muted conservative enthusiasm. But for now, we must recognize reproductive rights as full human rights that affect everyone and not just an issue to mobilize female adults to vote for Democrats.
Journalism 2.0 