 Time To Close The Gap Yesterday was the forty-first anniversary of the iconic Roe vs. Wade decision that allowed women to finally have the rights already guaranteed to every American by the Fourth Amendment. Those rights, among others, include the rights to both privacy and control over what happens with one's own body. Aside from the generic story about the anniversary, or the random story about anti-choice protestors, there wasn't really much media coverage of the day compared to past years - which somehow doesn't entirely surprise us this year.
As Will Saletan of Slate wrote yesterday, in multiple polls over the last year, most Americans agree: in most cases citizens believe abortion should be legal. Digging further into the polls Saletan cites, most Americans also appear to agree with Hillary Clinton's often-cited position on the issue: That it should be safe, legal, and rare, and that everything from adoption to contraception should be used to limit the number of potential abortions.
While a small group of hardheaded fools still refuse to accept the facts, the poll numbers Saletan cites reflect the reality that - effectively - issue has been decided. So it's little wonder to us that Wednesday's anniversary passed quietly, for the most part. However, as journalist Irin Carmon made clear in an online discussion Wednesday, no one should think the fight for women to retain control over their own bodies is over.
There's an even bigger story about women in America that most of the media has also missed this month, and it's about women and income inequality in America. You might even say there's a canyon between where women in America stand economically, and where the rest of the income distribution is in our society today... |
