There has been much-ado regarding a woman’s right to sexual & reproductive freedom in our Union of late. To say there is controversy is to belittle the feelings that have motivated violence and uproar from both sides. The highest court in our land has ruled, not once, but several times on the issue, and still it lingers with a foul smell. Our politicians wax and wane to pander to the ideologies of each side and, seemingly to me, fuel this debate with nonsense and non-sequiturs.
There is, however, a question or perspective that has not been addressed by the courts, the politicians or any of the followers of either side of the Abortion debate: Does a Government have the ability to determine the freedoms we may exercise upon our own corporeal bodies? This question does not rest with reproductive freedom, but rather with all freedoms to do as we will to our only, to be sure, property from cradle to grave: the self.
I put forward the argument that the jurisdiction of the state is ended at the boundaries of our skin when it comes to codifying behaviors directed at ourselves. This includes abortion, drug use, suicide, which involves exactly one physical party – the self.
living with words inside you
Wait for all the drugs to take effect. Drink your beer slowly. Sit, poised, ready to strike, just in front of the keyboard. Wait for it, Wait for it. Let the nausea strike first, the gag reflex; then the tingling; always the tingling just next, in the ears, like a shine right off the bottom … Read moreliving with words inside you