What only she can understand
And how a powerful female leader standing up for women's rights has a ripple effect beyond the U.S.
There was no doubt that abortion would be one of the hot topics up for discussion at the Presidential Debate Tuesday night. I could spend hours dissecting everything that was said—and not said—but rather than give my energy to a man who clearly doesn’t care what happens to women, I'm going to focus on the woman who stood up for her gender, her people, and fought for the good of humanity.
Abortion came up early in the debate, with former President Donald Trump speaking to it first, claiming the Democrats are supporting nine-month abortions and killing babies after they’re born. (This statement was immediately fact-checked by moderator Linsey Davis as being false).
Vice President Kamala Harris, on the other hand, spoke clearly and with passion and logic on the issue at hand, even after Trump’s unfathomable accusations.
Harris called out the damage Trump caused during his term, and the fallout of those decisions, including abortion bans across the country. “Now in 20 states, there are Trump abortion bans which make it criminal for a doctor or nurse to provide health care…—Trump abortion bans that make no exception even for rape an incest, which, understand what that means: A survivor of a crime of a violation to their body does not the right to make a decision about what happens to their body next. That is immoral.
“And one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree [that] the government, and Donald Trump, certainly, should not be telling a woman what to do with her body.”
When it comes to women’s reproductive rights, it feels like we’re yelling at men, asking them to understand something they simply never can. With politics added on top of this already heated conversation, everything gets so much messier.
From a fundamental biological standpoint, men will never fully understand the nuances of women’s reproductive rights.
From a social perspective, men will never understand what it is like to be a woman. They will never comprehend the pressures we face and the image we’re taught to uphold, and how these expectations—not to mention innate desire of whether or not we want children in the first place—influence OUR choice when it comes to our reproductive rights and health.
While I am not, by any means, dismissing or overlooking the politicians who have feverishly championed for our rights against incredible pushback, there was something powerful about having a woman stand on an international stage, fighting for one of the highest-ranking political titles in the world, passionately fighting back for the rights of women. It felt genuine. It felt real. It felt like, if she was in charge, something might actually change this system that’s been completely flipped on its head since Trump stripped women of their right to choice by cherry-picking the Supreme Court judges who would overturn Roe v. Wade two years ago.
“I have talked with women around our country. You want to talk about [whether] this is what people wanted?” she asked, looking piercingly over at her opponent. “Pregnant women who want to carry a pregnancy to term, suffering from a miscarriage, being denied care in an emergency room because the health care providers are afraid they might go to jail and she’s bleeding out in a car in a parking lot—she didn’t want that. Her husband didn’t want that. A 12- or 13-year-old survivor of incest being forced to carry a pregnancy to term—they don’t want that.
“And I pledge to you when Congress passes a bill to put back in place the protections of Roe v. Wade, as President of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law. But understand, if Donald Trump were to be reelected, he will sign a national abortion ban… I think the American people believe that certain freedoms, in particular the freedom to make decisions about one’s own body should not be made by the government.”
The world is watching this U.S. election. Most of the people in my circles watched the debate–something you don’t often hear about when it comes to Canadian politics. What happens here matters. And while watching this campaign unfold is like watching a train wreck, having a powerful female leader stand up for the rights’ of women, especially in regards to such a hotly debated subject as abortion, has a ripple effect beyond the 50 states.