“Who’s Celebrating the Fourth This Year?
By
Gerry Niskern
Do you remember the first time you held a sparkler on the Fourth of July? That’s all the little kids got to hold, but what a thrill; holding fire for the first time. And it was okay!
I had intended to go down memory lane with some descriptions of past Fourth of July celebration stories. I have a lot and it would have been easy. But something stopped me. I didn’t have the heart.
How could I write about celebrating the Fourth and our country’s promise of “liberty and justice” for all when suddenly the United States Supreme court struck down Roe vs Wade. Over half of our nation’s population, women, no longer had liberty to control their own bodies?
In my lifetime I have watched our country go from strict anti-abortion laws to the “right to choose” and now, back again! I remember as a young wife talking with other women about our relief when the court handed down their decision. Abortion was legal for those who chose. We thought it was settled!
As a young girl I remember reading a book about the courageous efforts of Margaret Sanger, the famous American birth control activist. Even though I was impressed I really didn’t realize what a great service she had done for women. She devoted her life to legalizing birth control and making it universally available for women.
When she began her work, In the early 20th century, family planning and women’s healthcare were not spoken about in public. She was charged with breaking the law by making information available thru the mail to poor women. She was arrested more than once and went on to open a clinic in 1923 that eventually became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Sanger’s story was just one of many activists who have worked courageously for the inalienable rights of women over the life span of our country’s history. It is going to take many, many activists to work towards bringing the right to choose back to the women in the United States. I have a granddaughter, a great-grandaughter and a great-great too! They will all, in their lifetime, be effected by politicians passing unfair laws effecting not only their right to control their own bodies, but even the use of contraceptives. It seems unthinkable, but it is going to happen.
The young women in this country have a fight on their hands. I think they are up to it!