Poet Amanda Gorman gave 8 reasons why every American should fight abortion bans

Poet and activist Amanda Gorman shot into the spotlight after reading her poem "The Hill We Climb" at President Joe Biden's inauguration. Recently, her poem on abortion from 2019 has resurfaced in the wake of the Supreme Court potentially overturning Roe v. Wade. The National Youth Poet Laureate produced an opinion video piece for NowThis News. Last week, a leaked Supreme Court opinion draft revealed justices were planning to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade judgment that protects women seeking abortions. "Pregnancy is a private and personal decision and should not require the permission of any politician," said Gorman in the poem.

In her 2019 poem, Gorman shared eight reasons why all Americans must support abortion:

1. Antiabortion people don't care for women

"When the penalty for rape is less than the penalty for abortion after the rape, you know this isn’t about caring for women and girls. It’s about controlling them.”
 

2.  Banning abortion sustains patriarchy

“Through forcing them into motherhood before they’re ready, these bans steadily sustain the patriarchy, but also chain families in poverty and maintain economic inequality.”
 

3. Pregnancy is a private matter

“Pregnancy is a private and personal decision and should not require the permission of any politician.”
 

4. Curbs women's freedom

“For all time, regardless of whether it’s a crime, women have and will always seek their own reproductive destinies. All these penalties do is subdue women’s freedom to get healthy, safe services when they most need them.”

5. States will limit access to abortions 

“Fight to keep Roe v. Wade alive. By the term ‘overturn Roe v. Wade,’ the main concern is that the Supreme Court will let states thwart a woman’s path to abortion with undue burdens.”

6. Women are targeted 

“One thing is true and certain: These predictions aren’t a distortion, hypothetical, or theoretical. Women already face a disproportion of undue burdens when seeking abortions. If the sexes and all people are to be equal, abortion has to be actually accessible and not just technically legal.”

7. It's a fight for fundamental civil rights

“Despite what you might hear, this right here isn’t only about women and girls. This fight is about fundamental civil rights. Women are a big part of it, but at the heart of it is freedom over how fast our families grow goes farther and larger than any one of us. It’s about every single one of us.”

8. We need to act now!

“This change can’t wait. We’ve got the energy, the moment, the movement, and the thundering numbers.”

You can watch Gorman's opinion piece for NowThis here:

Gorman signed off by urging Americans to speak up for abortion rights. “The alt-right’s biggest blunder is that most Americans aren’t under their impression that a woman’s body is up to them to decide. So when you’re outraged, these lawmakers are terrified," she said. "They want our tide to lose hope. Be unafraid. We will not be delayed, we will not be masqueraded to the tale of a handmaid. We will not let Roe v. Wade slowly fade because when we show up today, we’re already standing up with the tomorrow we made.”

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said it was possible for lawmakers to pursue codifying the Supreme Court's leaked draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. "If this were the final decision, that was the point that it should be resolved one way or another in the legislative process. So yeah, it's possible," said McConnell, reported NPR. This puts enormous pressure on Democrats to retain their control of the Senate in this year's midterm elections. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee responded to McConnell's comments, "Mitch McConnell confirmed what voters have long known: Republicans will use every tool they can, from the courts to Congress, to make abortion illegal everywhere and strip away a woman's right to make our own decisions."