Say No to 1849

Who may I ask are you, a fifty something year old white male, who walks into a polling place with your MAGA hat on, smiling like you own the world, making decisions that impact women. I find myself studying you. Somehow you don’t ‘look’ particularly intelligent enough to make decisions for me or any other woman. You put our futures and the lives of all women at risk with your ignorance. I am angry at your self-righteousness.

I am a mom. I am a mom by choice. I am a mom for choice. I firmly center my belief that women should decide what is best for ourselves, for our families and for our futures. It is no one else’s business. In my life I have had more reproductive rights than my daughter. That certainly is not progress. My daughter and I are not property.

I have heard many female lawmakers cry out in our defense, telling their own personal stories. Often these stories were hidden from their own families for the shame they felt. Recently, Sarah Godlewski spoke about Republicans telling you, the voter, to decide the fate of abortion in your own state. In Wisconsin you are not able to do that. “You as an active citizen cannot petition and get a bunch of votes to add something to our constitution. So, when politicians say let’s vote on a constitutional amendment, they’re actually not being truthful. We don’t have that ability in our state,” Sarah said. Based on our constitution, we cannot.

The Dobbs decision has even more impacts to Wisconsin. OB-GYN are looking elsewhere to practice. There is a genuine struggle to recruit in the medical field in Wisconsin. Who wants to move to and work in a state that is so polarized and where women’s health is at stake? Women’s health is in danger in Wisconsin and what safeguards are there for doctors? Furthermore, Wisconsin is one of just twelve states that have not expanded Medicaid.

I watch you leave the polling place. I wonder if you have a wife, do you have a daughter? I wonder if maybe you have a granddaughter. They are not your property; you do not own them. What kind of death sentence has your vote given them?