AND SO IT BEGINS...

In 2016, we marched against Trump, a little too late. He was already elected. We marched on his inauguration day. But a part of me knew it was useless. I knew he would shit on the country and he did. But we remembered it in 2020. We voted. In some ways too late. 

The following article appeared in The NY Times yesterday: The Supreme Court Gaslights Its Way to the End of Roe. Below is my response. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/03/opinion/abortion-supreme-court.html

Shadi Mir

NYCDec. 3

Did anyone with half a brain ever think that this court would uphold Roe v Wade? The conversation should be about what will happen once it doesn't, about how the pro-choice movement is going to fight this atrocity through the power of the states and the legislature. Choice or taking away of it will be a big midterm boost for the Democrats as well as at the polls during the next presidential elections. I hope it will galvanize more people to VOTE. I came from a country where voting is meaningless, the elections are openly rigged, and opponents are murdered. So, to me when an American doesn't vote to protect their rights, it's criminal. The wise knew once the British handed over Hong Kong what would happen and many immigrated immediately. We now know what will happen to Taiwan too, so let's not be surprised when it does. The same way, we must mobilize for this particular sad inevitability.

The Supreme Court Will Overturn Roe v Wade, Then What?

The following article appeared in The NYT on June 8, 2019. In response I wrote the comment below. It was a NYT's pick and many readers echoed my sentiments.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/08/upshot/politicians-draw-clear-lines-on-abortion-their-parties-are-not-so-unified.html 

Shadi Mir

NYCJune 8, 2019

Times Pick

Mr. Cohn is absolutely correct in stating that the choice issue is quite complex. I believe that life begins when an egg and a sperm form a zygote. I also have had two early-term abortions, flanking the two planned pregnancies that I carried to term. They were by no means easy choices, but being a mother, I know how difficult it is to raise children properly, and therefore, I am soundly pro-choice. Was I careless to get pregnant when I was too young, or too poor to parent a healthy and happy child? Yes. But it doesn't mean that a mistake should have resulted in life-long misery for all involved. I know people who have had several abortions because they use the procedure as birth control, which is wrong. Do I condone late term abortion after "quickening" when the mother can feel her baby inside her, usually between 4 to 5 months? No. However, no one has the right to tell another person how to live. In this day and age of human overpopulation, and the tweaking of creation of life in myriad labs all over the world, it seems anachronistic to concern ourselves with "sacredness" of life. Perhaps we should think more about quality of life, not only that of women and children, but of all living beings.

1 REPLY

former therapist commented June 8, 2019

F

former therapist

WashingtonJune 8, 2019

@Shadi Mir, I think you raise excellent points. Historically, quickening was the determining cut-off point for legal abortion in this country prior to the women's suffrage movement (when suddenly abortion became a political issue). However, as a healthcare professional, I know there are humanitarian issues for late term abortion: mental illness, late-stage cancer, anencephaly (no brain development in the fetus leading to suffering and inevitable death), and a host of other disasters make a late-term abortion a humane choice. Every woman I've seen who chooses it knows it is a Sophie's Choice, and the day she has to make that choice is the worst day of her life.

AND SO IT BEGINS

This article appeared in The NYT on June 29, 2020. It was obvious even then that Roe v Wade would be overturned. I wrote the comment below in response to the article. Now, all those of us who are pro-choice have to VOTE! The liberal states will keep their abortion laws, the conservative states will limit or abolish them. Truth be told, we aren't a country, we are a continent, so how we live across this great land, what our values and priorities are vary. No one should tell us how to live, so unfortunately for those in less intelligent states, you have no choice but to move. I moved from one country to another, from one continent to another, so I know it's a pain but not impossible. Leave the benighted to themselves. Also, a great opportunity for entrepreneurs and volunteers in the progressive states, abortion tourism is coming folks! To those in the yucky states, VOTE.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/29/opinion/supreme-court-abortion.html

Shadi Mir | NYC
@Shadi Mir I am glad to see that women's reproductive rights still trigger so many of us. In college, I took part in pro-choice rallies, so of course, I rather the Court uphold Roe vs. Wade, but if it doesn't, due to the vote that brought Donald Trump to the presidency of this country, and the Republican Senate who blocked former President Obama from appointing a more moderate judge--all things bestowed upon us by our outdated electoral college--then no reason residents of more liberal states have to live by the choices of the majority in conservative states, as unfortunately we are at the moment in so many ways from the environment to the pandemic.