We might be right in the middle of the #metoo maelstrom, but for women in America this week, things are taking a dramatic turn for the worse.
The extent of it makes for uncomfortable reading - In Ohio an 11-year-old rape victim has being denied access to an abortion because she's past the six-week cut off limit, and women in Georgia now risk second-degree murder charges for having a miscarriage linked to suspected drug or alcohol use. No, this isn't the most recent dystopian ITV drama or episode of Black Mirror, it's happening under the new 'Heartbeat Bill' - which reduces the cut off for legal abortion from 20 weeks to just 6 weeks, a point at which a pregnancy can easily be mistaken as a missed period.
It's been 46 years since Roe Vs. Wade (the landmark ruling legalizing abortion in America and premise of Netflix's Reversing Roe), but this week there are already sixteen American states have either signed, or are clamouring to sign the new Heartbeat Bill. In 2019 alone, four states have already passed it. As it's name suggests, the new law calls for abortions to banned beyond the point where a fetal heartbeat can be detected by doctors (typically a fetus begins to show the presence of a heartbeat activity at 6 weeks). And the law already been decried women's rights activists as so restrictive that it effectively criminalises abortion in all but name.
Yesterday on Tuesday the 7th of May, Georgia governor Brian Kemp became the latest American politician to sign the bill - drastically reducing the timeframe in which women in Georgia can now access an abortion. Speaking at the bill signing on Tuesday morning Gov. Kemp stated ‘the bill is very simple but also very powerful: a declaration that all life has value, that all life matters, and that all life is worthy of protection’ adding that 'We [Georgia] protect the innocent, we champion the vulnerable, we stand up and speak for those that are unable to speak for themselves.'
The penalty for breaking the new law? Effectively it has parity to first-degree murder charges. The severity of the new laws mean that women to be found guilty of seeking an illegal abortion could face life imprisonment or capital punishment (which incorporates the death penalty in Georgia). Even more troublingly the law will also still apply for women who opt to leave the state to access an abortion. Women choosing this option could still be liable for conspiracy to commit murder charges within the state, and friends found offering assistance to women seeking abortions in Georgia, from outside of the state could also be liable under conspiracy to commit murder charges. Meanwhile women who cause miscarriages from alcohol or drug misuse during their pregnancy could face second degree murder charges - which is punishable by 20 to 30 years in prison.
While the bill has only started to gain traction since last year, we're already seeing the devastating ramifications that it's having. This week it was reported by The Mirror and Metro that in Ohio, an 11-year-old rape victim will be forced to carry a pregnancy resulting from rape to full term. The new bill was signed into law in Ohio on April the 11th makes an exception for abortion if the patient's life is in danger, but not for pregnancies arising from rape or incest. News outlets reported that the victim was discovered in a bedroom closet at the house of Juan Leon-Gomez after her mother reported her missing (Leon-Gomez has been arrested and is facing rape charges) . However as her pregnancy surpasses the six week mark, the new laws will prevent her from having a termination. The stark reality is that this is a bill that is already penalizing an 11-year-old minor, and a victim of rape.
It's easy to believe that because of the protective scaffold of hashtags and movements being built up in recent years to safeguard women's rights, that we're safer than ever before. You can't move online for a tweet calling for consent to be taught in schools, or for sending unsolicited dick pics to be criminalised. Campaigns like Times Up and Women Wear White (which saw America's political changemakers including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez donning white to Trumps state of the union address) have come to represent a more powerful viral presence than political campaigns, or so it feels. And yet the fact that it's now being suggested that The Heartbeat Bill could challenge Roe Vs. Wade and threaten the status of legal abortion in America altogether, has highlighted the fragility and attack being imposed on women's rights at a time where we supposedly have more autonomy over our bodies and decisions than ever before.
It raises an uncomfortable question. While social media campaigns for women's rights have done a huge part in raising awareness for our rights - exactly how protected our women's reproductive rights in 2019? Does the Heartbeat Bill prove that we are, in fact, paradoxically, far closer to a real-life realisation of 'The Handmaids Tale' than we were in 1985 when Margaret Atwood wrote it?
It's uncomfortable to imagine a reality where accessing abortion services would be anything other than safe, easy and available as basic healthcare. But to see the potentially disastrous ramifications that the Heartbeat Bill could be about to spell for women in America - you only have to look at the effect that it's already had. In Reversing Roe, Netflix's documentary examining America's troubled relationship to abortion rights, Gloria Steinem states 'It’s the basis of democracy that you control your own body'.
While movements calling for social change have been heralded as the democratising forces of the internet - without active help from politicians and from the law, and meaningful legislation the status of women's basic human rights worldwide is more precarious than ever. As women across America protesting in red cloaks with tape over their mouths for their fundamental democratic rights, we should all be behind them.