The Handmaid’s Tale is a fictional piece of writing about a dystopian society where men control women’s choices of fertility. It’s feared that in the developing world, it’s slowly coming true.
A handmaid in the story was declared brain dead after losing too much blood, but she was pregnant at the time. In the fictional society, women were used to produce children and nothing else. So, they kept the handmaid alive as a human incubator until the child was developed enough to be born through a cesarean section and then the handmaid was finally allowed to die.
Meanwhile, this story happened right in my home state of Georgia. Adriana Smith is a 31-year-old woman who had been having headaches, but received medical attention for the issue. The next day, she was unable to breathe and her boyfriend called 911. Emory University Hospital reported that she had blood clots and she was brain-dead. At this time, she was eight weeks pregnant.
Georgia’s abortion law is that after six weeks or when a fetal heartbeat is heard, an abortion cannot be performed. There are some exceptions, such as sexual abuse or incest. However, a police report must be filed before they have the abortion. They have 20 weeks to perform the abortion, but it is still very early on in pregnancy. Many women don’t realize that they’re six weeks pregnant until their menstrual cycle doesn’t repeat. By the time most women realize, it’s too late to get a legal abortion. Some women, in fear of being persecuted, take abortion into their own hands. One woman attempted an abortion herself by taking a lethal amount of painkillers, and she didn’t get medical help because of her fear of being jailed. In Ohio, they have a similar six week ban; a 10-year-old had gone to get an abortion, but she was denied due to being six weeks and three days pregnant. Many women who seek abortions don’t have the resources to take care of a child or it’s too dangerous for them to continue with the pregnancy.
As a 14-year-old girl, this is terrifying to grow up into. When I listen to the women in my family berate these women who wish to not have children, it’s appalling. Victims of sexual abuse are overshadowed and told that they have more grace with a 20 week period. Not everyone has the resources to file a police report or to find out about the pregnancy early on. It sickens me even further when I hear that it is always the woman’s fault. All we can do is protest and fight for the rights that we deserve instead of allowing state lawmakers to control when and how we can get abortions.
When a fictional dystopian society slowly starts to become real, it’s bone chilling. I believe that women should have the rights to their own bodies instead of being told what to do.
Rock Star Writers Blog 