Roe v. Wade, Bodily Autonomy, and the War on Women’s Rights

By Trinity Barnette

Let me make this very clear:

I am pro-choice. Unapologetically. Entirely. Unequivocally.

Not because I love abortion.

Not because I think it’s fun or easy.

But because it’s none of my business what another woman does with her body—and it’s sure as hell not yours either.

Men Shouldn’t Be Making Laws About Women’s Bodies

The fact that we even have to say this is proof of how backward America still is:

No man should ever have the power to make laws about a woman’s uterus. Period.

It is dystopian. It is psychotic. And it’s happening right now in a country that claims to be free.

I don’t care about your religion.

I don’t care about your opinions.

If it’s not your body, it’s not your choice.

And before anyone tries to say “but it’s a life”—let me stop you right there.

It’s not a child. It’s a fetus.

A fetus that is growing inside a woman’s body. A fetus that relies entirely on her to survive.

If it’s in my body, then I get to decide what happens. End of discussion.

The Hypocrisy Is Loud as Hell

Let’s not forget:

The same “pro-lifers” who scream about unborn babies are the same people who were yelling “my body, my choice” during COVID—refusing vaccines, masks, or any collective public health measure.

And you know what? They were right about one thing:

No one should be forced to put something in their body they don’t want.

But here’s the plot twist—that also applies to forced pregnancies.

You don’t get to pick and choose when bodily autonomy matters.

You don’t get to weaponize freedom when it’s convenient, then strip it away from women.

Adoption Is Not a Replacement for Autonomy

Save the adoption argument.

Save the religious guilt.

No woman should be forced to carry a child she doesn’t want, didn’t plan for, or was violated into conceiving.

Especially in cases of rape.

If you think a survivor should be forced to carry the child of their rapist, let me be the one to say:

You are cruel. You are sick. And you do not care about women.

That fetus is not “innocent.”

It was conceived through violence.

And forcing someone to relive the worst moment of their life every single day of a pregnancy?

That is psychological torture.

I don’t care how that sounds. I don’t care if it offends anyone.

Fuck that child. And fuck the rapist who put it there.

Criminalizing Abortion Will Not Stop It—It Will Just Kill Women

Roe v. Wade didn’t invent abortion—it just made it safer.

Women have always found ways. And they still will.

But what happens now is that these “ways” are deadly.

If I got pregnant and abortion wasn’t available in my state?

I wouldn’t fly to another one.

You’d most likely find me dead in my bedroom.

That’s the reality. That’s the weight women live with.

That’s the mental math we’re forced to do as we navigate a world that sees our rights as temporary.

I’m 19 years old, and I’m scared of sex.

Scared of rape.

Scared of pregnancy.

Scared that if something happened to me, my life would no longer belong to me.

This is not normal. This is not freedom. This is not America.

It’s a warped, violent lie dressed up in flags and Bible verses.

Roe v. Wade Was Revolutionary—And Still Is

What Roe gave us wasn’t just access to abortion.

It gave us a choice. A right. A say.

And no matter how hard the courts, the politicians, or the patriarchs try, they will never erase that fire.

Women are not vessels.

We are not property.

We are not incubators.

And we are not asking anymore. We are demanding.

Final Thought:

To every person trying to tell me what I can or can’t do with my body:

You don’t own me.

You don’t know me.

And you’ll never silence me.