History of Reproductive Rights: Taking the pill was now a way to Kill

 Do I own my body or does the government? Can I control my own life or does the entire country have a say in it? Women have been in a constant custody battle with the world over their own bodies but the timeline is not black and white. Women did have control and did gain rights to their bodies but today we have begun traveling back in time. As conversations surrounding abortions and contraceptives were found to be vulgar and immoral, women were not encouraged to receive sexual education. This notion went as far as midwives then being disregarded as they were so-called negative influences on other women. 

With cases such as Buck V. Bell and Skinner Vs. Oklahoma women could not make decisions for themselves. In the case of Buck V. Bell, generations of women were considered imbeciles as they had children out of wedlock making it “right” for the state to impose sterilization upon their bloodline. Not only was this a way to control women’s social expectations but to also degrade a woman’s identity. A decade and a half later sterilization is legalized under certain circumstances. Yet another barrier between women and their rights to their own bodies. With the help of “progressive” yet controversial women, women started to gain control over their own lives. 

Activists such as Margaret Sanger worked to provide women with the correct contraceptives

and alternatives to pregnancy history were made. During Griswold V. Connecticut, women

gained the right to privacy. Meaning abortions were now legal as they were protected by women’s

rights of privacy. With the addition of Roe V. Wade, abortions contraceptives and sexual education

were now a right for women. 

In 2012, in over 30 states abortions were paid for under extreme circumstances. Women finally

gained custody of their own bodies but not for long. Just a decade later we are back in court

fighting for what we thought was morally our own decisions. It should never be this hard to

have rights over your own body but seeing where we started, this is the beginning of a very

long and unequal road for women.