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My Point of View by Jennifer Vogt-Erickson

In 1973, a Republican Supreme Court justice who grew up in Minnesota, Harry Blackmun, authored the 7-2 landmark Roe vs. Wade decision.

The overturn of Roe is now imminent. Federal protection of abortion rights is about to be yanked by five justices, all with ties to the radically conservative Federalist Society, which, along with a fortune in dark money from the Judicial Crisis Network, helped seat them. 

Roe has been a key safety net for girls and women. The landmark case was not the beginning of abortions; it was the end of people dying from abortions. Generations of women pushed for Roe. People who lost daughters, wives and sisters to illegal abortions worked for years to secure these rights.

There are still adult children who mourn their lost mothers on Mothers Day. This year they knew the Supreme Court would be reopening the door to the horrors of illegal abortions and lack of access to timely abortion care.

Abortion bans are hell for women. Nobody is willing to go through hell to protect babies and children like women are. Both of these statements are true.

I have written previously in this column about my great-aunt who narrowly survived an illegal abortion after being raped on a date in the 1940s. She went on to marry a man she loved and they raised a large family together. She almost didn’t have the life of her choosing — or a life at all — because of one man’s aggression, and the consequences of his sexual violence that all fell on her.

We will not go back. 

The anti-abortion movement is not pro-life. It is pro-subjugation of women. Having bodily autonomy and control of one’s own reproductive organs is fundamental to being a free person and a full citizen. Being forced to give birth is a form of slavery.

Having bodily autonomy affirmed or denied at the whim of state legislatures will not allow women to truly set down roots and live as free people anywhere in the US. 

Once Roe is overturned, Minnesota will be the only state among its neighbors to provide abortion services. For now.

Our state Rep. Bennett and state Sen. Dornink would be thrilled to wrench away my daughter’s bodily autonomy. They have been promising for years to pass stringent bans on abortion as soon as they get the chance. All it will take is Republican control of our state Legislature and governor’s office. Even in cases of rape and incest.

Justifying male aggression as “God’s will” and forcing any girls and women to carry resulting pregnancies to birth against their will is religious extremism and a form of brutality. It is contrary to the separation of church and state.

Some states in Republican control would go further. Louisiana’s Legislature has proposed a ban on IUDs and Plan B. Missouri will automatically ban Plan B when Roe is overturned. Bans that go all the way to conception also put IVF services at risk. You may personally know couples who have used this procedure to overcome infertility. Gov. Tim Walz and First Lady Gwen Walz did as well.

Bodily autonomy will be on the ballot in every election moving forward. Don’t give Bennett and Dornink the chance to impose their archaic and cruel ideas on women’s and girls’ bodies. 

This fall, vote for Mary Hinnenkamp for state representative and Brandon Lawhead for state Senate. Vote for Tim Walz for governor.

These DFL candidates support the right of females to exercise authority over their own bodies. They trust women to decide what makes the most sense for them.

When Republicans ludicrously compare this issue to mask mandates and COVID vaccine mandates, remember that nobody has gone to jail for refusing to wear a mask or get vaccinated. Last month a woman in Texas was put in jail on suspicion of ending her pregnancy. Murder charges were dropped after three days, but the signal is clear: Women in Texas no longer have full bodily autonomy.

Women aren’t the only targets. 

Upcoming Freeborn County Fair entertainer Ted Nugent encouraged people at a Trump rally last Saturday to go “berserk on the skulls of the Democrats.” 

That’s not an empty threat.

Remember Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters went berserk on the skulls of Capitol and D.C. Metro police officers. 

This past weekend, a gunman motivated by the white supremacist “Great Replacement Theory” drove to a black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, and slaughtered 10 people, including a retired police officer. Black voters are the most solid voting bloc for Democrats.

I submit to you that “pro-life” is phony branding, and Roe is only the beginning. A host of life-enhancing, freedom-defending, federally-protected civil rights are now in danger.

We must keep pulling for a just and peaceful future for our children.

Jenniifer Vogt-Erickson is a member of the Freeborn County DFL Party.