I am very proud to announce that this week’s newsletter was written by SCL volunteer Luna Ly. The goal of having a newsletter about language is that the words become an important part of my reader’s and supporter’s lives, and help them better understand and navigate our complex world. It is truly wonderful that Luna has written this week’s word, and I hope you guys enjoy her words as much as I have.
It is easy to feel hopeless at this moment. It has been nearly a month since the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson ended the constitutional right to an abortion that had been the American norm since Roe v. Wade in 1973, and it has taken a while for most of us, myself included, to gather our thoughts, confront this harsh, dystopian reality, and figure out what to do next.
I originally intended to write this newsletter three Saturdays ago. I thought a week would have been enough time to write something cogent, but as I sat in front of my computer with a cup of coffee and a glass of water, I stumbled upon a news headline that left me speechless and again gazing into our absurd American abyss. The headline read “10-year-old girl denied abortion.”
Following SCOTUS’ decision in Dobbs, the state of Ohio instituted an abortion ban. The 10-year-old girl had been pregnant for six weeks and three days. She was three days late from getting a “legal” abortion in the state of Ohio and with urgency, a child abuse doctor pleaded with abortion care providers in Indiana to please take her in and help her get an abortion. They were successful, but these stories filled with desperation, fear, and scarcity will remain America’s tragic norm.
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This 10-year-old was able to receive the vital services that she desperately needed, but we know that in the ensuing days and weeks, it will become nearly impossible to receive an abortion in most states in America. These sorts of stories will remain America’s tragic norm, but the outcomes will be far more dire as Ohio legislators are attempting to pass legislation criminalizing people who help abortion seekers cross state lines into states that are less hostile to abortion care. And Indiana’s state legislature has already scheduled a special convening on July 25, 2022 where it is anticipated that they will pass a statewide abortion ban.
After reading about this young girl’s story, I needed to take another pause from writing. I couldn’t help but feel desperate both for and with the young people, pregnant people, and abortion seekers who are living in a violent world that may force them to carry children, to raise children, and to have a life they do not wish to have. I can’t help but think of the hereditary sin that their children and their children’s children may endure because they were raised in a culture that forced their parents to have them yet didn’t support their family structure or upbringing whatsoever.
The language that’s missing
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Yet it does not surprise me that our language in America encourages this soulless, destructive culture where families and nurturing healthy family structures are deprioritized. We live in an ethnocidal society and within this society, the dialectic about abortion, reproductive health, and reproductive freedom has been about bodily autonomy and so focused on body versus soul and culture.
SCOTUS’ decision in Dobbs was soul-crushing and undermined the cultural stability of those who need vital services, yet our soulless, ethnocidal discourse encourages Americans to focus almost exclusively on our bodies because our ethnocidal norm has already psychologically extracted or minimized our soul or Geist.
In an ethnocidal society, intentionally exploited communities like BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled folks are utilized for what labor our bodies can produce. We are judged, our values are determined by what our bodies can and cannot do – this is the definition of ethnocide, the destruction of a people’s culture while keeping the bodies of the people. Our soul, spirit, and intelligence have become devalued as American society prioritizes our bodies instead.
If we wish to continue striving towards reproductive justice, we must reframe the conversation about abortion and stop referring to people as merely bodies. An ethnocidal society naturally cultivates a soulless discourse that primarily focuses on one’s body in the absence of their soul. The destruction of abortion care and access to reproductive health services is a soul-crushing and dystopian situation of millions of Americans. We must focus on our soul, in addition to our bodies if we are to liberate abortion care in America’s ethnocidal society.
Cultivating language to liberate abortion
Our ethnocidal society is shifting and it will continue to turn on an Eutopian axis if we continue putting in the work to revolutionize and use liberating language. The language that is constantly evolving and changing to be declarative and proud of abortion, pregnant people, and gender inclusivity showcases that culture is moving forward to center soul and existence before essence. But we must work to codify such language to create long-lasting cultural change.
I have been inspired by the work of SisterSong, a Southern-based national reproductive justice organization whose progenitors defined and created the framework of reproductive justice. In creating the framework for reproductive justice, which is defined as the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities; a soulful movement catalyzed. A movement that would not only include the most vulnerable, but center them as the reproductive justice framework intentionally builds a vision for what a healthy family structure or community means and looks like.
Over the years as I’ve followed their Twitter, I am reminded that our housing situations, the food we eat (or don’t get the opportunity to), education, neighborhood structure, all of our everyday essential needs can be interpreted and evaluated through a reproductive justice framework. If we aren’t safe walking to school or around our neighborhood, our families can’t live whole, quality lives because there’s no guarantee that their existence will be honored, respected, and cherished.
Even though SisterSong has been revolutionary in progressing the language of reproductive justice, it is worth noting that SisterSong still emphasizes bodily autonomy. The emphasis of body here versus soul and culture can force us into viewing reproductive justice and freedom as an ethnocide issue and that language limits our ability to liberate ourselves.
Western societies are often individualistic and in using a reproductive justice framework, we shift our culture to one that is more focused on the collective, on building sustainable communities that can take care of one another.
To create an Eutopian society, our language must be hopeful. To be hopeful, we always have to keep in mind our soul, as soul feeds culture. While it is easy to be hopeless right now, we must not lose hope and succumb to the ethnociders’ nightmarish fantasy of domination without taking any of the responsibility for their violent actions. We must keep hope and sustain hope to tend to our Geist and work towards a liberating future where abortion, reproductive health education, and freeing language to describe reproductive healthcare are accessible for all anywhere at anytime.