More Than An Abortion Ban: The Rippling Devastation of Losing Roe v. Wade

This is not just legislation or politics, these are our lives, our futures, our basic rights to be seen as equally human.

Screenshot by author

I want to be coherent, but I’m not sure I know how anymore. The words that rise up within me don’t feel like enough. My feelings crash over me, violent waves in an ocean of incredulous tears. Rage. A twisted stomach. A fire in my heart. Shock (but not surprise, not really). Despair. Disappointment. Confusion. Disbelief.

At the same time, I feel impotent in my devastation. I know I could research, I could provide lists of statistics and logic and real women with real experiences and tell you stories of ectopic pregnancies, and 11-year-old rape victims, and devastating choices. But none of that matters.

Layla now lives in a country where she will grow up with less rights than her mother and grandmother. In a place where her second-class citizenship has been enshrined by the highest court — her life deemed less important than her potential to carry a pregnancy.

And while it’s undeniable that the most marginalized among us will be the most impacted by abortion bans — exponentially so, in fact — that does not mean that everyone else is safe. No one…