Reading this article at the end of my third semester with Zoom honestly just breaks my heart. I remember when we thought it would only be two weeks, then a month, then one semester, and now it has been two and a half semesters (three if you count summer classes) on Zoom. I am so done. In high school I was very motivated and good about doing my homework and studying. I loved learning. Now, I dread having to do any form of school work and cannot focus to save my life. I have never dealt with a lack of focus like I am currently dealing with before. It’s terrible. It is at the point where I am concerned about whether this is just because of online learning or if I actually have another issue going on. 

Being on Zoom really just takes the joy out of school. Yes, I am learning, but I am barely connecting with my peers and professors, which is a vital part of the college experience. I transferred to Penn State after the first semester of my freshman year, which means I only got seven weeks on campus. I was miserable in high school and always said it would be worth it in college. Then I was miserable at Northeastern and finally had enough, I could not keep listening to my head over my heart because I was so unhappy, so I transferred. And then I get sent home about two seconds later.

The photo caption for Esther Gershenson especially resonates with me because I feel bad when I get upset over my current position. I survived a virus that has killed over 3 million people worldwide. I had a senior year of high school. I have not lost anyone close to me to the virus. So yes, I will take what I can get in terms of the pandemic and restrictions on campus, but I also feel extremely cheated of the college experience. After my high school experience, I wanted nothing more than to have a good college experience. And I did, for seven weeks. I got a little taste, which is more than most. I feel ungrateful when I complain or get upset because I really don’t have it that bad compared to most, but at the same time I can’t help but feel so incredibly angry and sad about the situation. 

Another thing that is not directly talked about in the article is clubs. Clubs are not the same at all. I tried to go to zoom club meetings in the fall, but I quickly lost interest or would forget about the meetings. Even though we are in a pandemic, I feel bad about not being more involved. I think about all the things I should be doing – internships, studying abroad, running for exec positions – and I feel extremely overwhelmed and honestly hopeless. I am afraid that when I go to apply to grad school or for jobs I won’t have enough on my resume, but I simply cannot muster up the motivation to get more involved. It is hard enough for me to do the simplest assignments, I can’t imagine juggling clubs too. I would like to reiterate, I am usually not like this at all, so to see me in this state makes me sad because I know it is not who I am.

For my e-portfolio, I am choosing to use Weebly. I did not choose WordPress because I want to be able to access my website after I graduate if I have to. I chose Weebly over Wix because I like having a strict template. I am not that creative and I don’t want to get overwhelmed by having to create my own layout. I also like how you can change the theme halfway through working on the project on Weebly, which you can’t do on Wix.

I tend to consider myself a very passionate person, especially about social justice and politics. You could probably tell by my works from this year. I would probably have the purpose of my e-portfolio be something related to that. Maybe for a future internship or something. Not really positive what I want my audience to be yet.

Some works that I would like to consider including in my e-portfolio from the RCL class would be my issue brief on Heartbeat Bills, my paradigm shift paper on LGBTQ+ Rights and Acceptance, my civic issues blog (I am not sure which specific entries yet), my advocacy project on single-use plastic bags, and my rhetorical analysis speech on the Sprite commercial with a Black Lives Matter theme. Maybe also my this I believe. I have a lot to pick from. I would also like to consider including stuff from other classes. I wrote a paper last semester for my Criminological Theories and Methods class that I think was pretty good, but I would have to read it over again and see if it fits with my theme.

For my advocacy project, some ideas that came to my mind are advocating for people to either switch from regular milk to a plant-based milk (such as almond milk or oat milk), to use metal straws instead of plastic straws, or to stop relying heavily on fast fashion and maybe thrift instead. I am not really leaning towards one over the other these are just some ideas I came up with. My audience would probably just be the class.

As for the photo essay is a piece of art, a piece of advocacy, or ethical, I think that it is two of the three. I would say that the essay is a piece of art because it makes people feel certain emotions. It is not art as we usually think of art, it is art in that it is visuals that make people feel a certain way. I would also say that this work is ethical as long as proper trigger warnings are attached at the beginning. I would not say that this photo essay is a piece of advocacy because there are no action steps, and it doesn’t express what needs it is addressing in the audience. I guess you could argue that the need is expressed in that we are all humans and domestic violence is obviously wrong but I think an advocacy piece is supposed to address the needs. If action items were included then maybe I would consider it an advocacy piece.

Holly Gibbard

HEARTBEAT BILLS:

THE LATEST STRATEGY IN THE FIGHT TO BAN ABORTION

Introduction

Since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, there has been a strong pro-life movement aimed at prohibiting abortions. Recently, individual states have been passing heartbeat bills. A heartbeat bill is a bill that prohibits abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected (Estep). The states that have already passed these types of bills are Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri (Lai). The fetal heartbeat can be detected as early as five weeks (Medical News Today), which causes a problem because many women do not even know they are pregnant by the fifth week (Lai). These heartbeat bills violate a woman’s constitutional right to obtain an abortion, which is protected by the 14th Amendment, therefore the federal government needs to step in to protect abortion rights.

The Legality of Heartbeat Bills

In 1973, the Supreme Court decided on the Roe v. Wade case that a woman has the right to obtain an abortion, under the right to privacy in the 14^th Amendment (oyez). Individual states cannot prohibit a woman from getting an abortion before the fetus is viable, which is at 24-28 weeks of pregnancy around the start of the third trimester (Lai). After the fetus is viable, states can decide whether or not to allow, prohibit, or restrict abortion (Oyez). The recent heartbeat bills are in violation of a woman’s 14^th Amendment rights because of the Roe v. Wade precedent.

A fetal heartbeat is only detectable as early as 5 weeks using a transvaginal ultrasound (Medical News Today). A transabdominal ultrasound detects a heartbeat around 8-12 weeks of pregnancy (North and Kim). Planned Parenthood refers to the anti-abortion legislations as six-week bans not heartbeat bills because the “heartbeat” that is detectable through a transvaginal ultrasound at 5-6 weeks of pregnancy is not a heartbeat, but a movement by a fetal pole (North and Kim). A fetal pole is an appendage made of tissues that comes out of the developing heart (North and Kim). At this stage, the heart is not fully formed so it is up for debate whether this movement can even be deemed a heartbeat (North and Kim).

Legally, a fetus is not a person until they are born. By restricting abortion on the grounds that a fetus is a person, many issues arise regarding the fetus’s rights. If a fetus is a person, should mothers begin collecting child support when she finds out she is pregnant instead of when the child is born? (Chatman) If a fetus is a person, could an illegal immigrant who conceived her child in the U.S. be deported even though technically her child is a U.S. citizen because they were conceived on U.S. soil? (Chatman) If a fetus is a person, could the mother insure the fetus and collect if she miscarries? (Chatman) All of these questions posed above are issues that arise when a fetus is regarded as a person from conception.

A Look at Some States Implementing Restrictions on Abortion

Georgia

In Georgia, doctors who provide abortions could get up to ten years in prison (North and Kim). The laws in Georgia also do not directly state what would happen to a woman who performs her own abortion (North and Kim). This leaves the door open for women who perform their own abortions to possibly be charged with murder if the fetus is considered a person from conception (North and Kim).

Alabama

Alabama recently implemented a complete ban on abortion, with no exception for rape or incest (Chatman). This goes beyond the heartbeat bills introduced in other states, even though those are basically complete bans as well. Ohio is another state that does not allow exceptions to the restrictive legislation for rape or incest. In Alabama, a fetus is considered a person from conception, regardless of viability (Chatman).

Texas – (all Najmabadi) <- ignore that pls

On March 30, 2021 the Senate of Texas passed various pieces of legislation imposing significant restrictions on abortion. The legislation still has to go through the House and Governor.  If federal abortion laws are changed or Roe v. Wade is overturned and these abortion bills stand, doctors who violate the laws could be faced with up to a $100,000 fine. To compare, the maximum fine for sexual assaults in Texas is $10,000.

There are some exceptions for medical reasons, but not for rape or incest. Additionally, late term abortions in the case of birth defects or a baby who would not survive very long outside of the womb are also prohibited. The woman will be forced to carry to term even though her baby will not survive, and then she will be provided resources for how to handle her terminal child.

Why Now?

Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, which is almost 50 years ago, so why are heartbeat bills only being introduced now? The appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court created a conservative 5-4 majority (Lai). Conservatives and anti-abortion activists saw this as their opportunity to pass strict abortion laws that will hopefully be challenged and go to the Supreme Court (Lai). The Supreme Court can then either uphold or overturn Roe v. Wade (Lai). Conservatives are even more empowered now to get a case dealing with abortion rights to the Supreme Court because as of late 2020 there is a conservative supermajority after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a left-leaning judge, and the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett, a right-leaning judge who is known for being against abortion (Lai).

Negative Effects of Restricting Abortions

There are many negative effects to implementing harsh restrictions on abortion, some of which are listed below:

• Liberty is one of the core ideals of the American culture and the Constitution. Abortion restrictions violate a woman’s right to liberty over what she does with her own body (On the Issues).
• 49% of women who get abortions live below the federal poverty line, so abortion restrictions will disproportionately affect poor women (Wind).
• The abortion rate for Black women is 27.1 per 1,000 women. The abortion rate for white women is 10 per 1,000. Abortion restrictions will disproportionately affect black women, which is another example of institutional racism (Wind).
• Abortion restrictions do not stop abortions from happening, it just makes them illegal and unsafe. This puts both the mother and fetus at risk. Restricting abortions actually causes a slight increase in abortions (Estep).
• In 1965 (before abortion was legal federally), illegal abortions were 17% of maternal deaths. About 200 women died that year from illegal abortions. These are only the reported deaths, but there was most likely more (Gold).
• 6% of abortions (20 million procedures) worldwide are unsafe. ~68,000 women die of unsafe abortions each year, which accounts for 13% of all maternal deaths due to pregnancy or childbirth. 5 million of the surviving women will face long-term health effects from the unsafe procedure (Haddad and Nour).
• Women who cannot get abortion but want one are 4x more likely to live below the poverty level (Estep).
• Women who are not able to have an abortion but want one are more than twice as likely to become victims of domestic violence (Estep).

Effective Ways to Lower Abortion Rates and What the Federal Government Can Do

In the United States, 50% of pregnancies are unplanned and 90% of abortions are the result of unplanned pregnancies (Williams). From 2008-2014 there was a decline in the rate of abortions which could be attributed to more widespread use of contraceptives (Wind). If anti-abortion activists actually want to reduce the number of abortions, they should support legislation and programs that provide free birth control. The most effective forms of contraception are IUDs (intrauterine devices) and implants, but they can be very expensive and might not be covered by insurance (Williams). Free birth control leads to less unplanned pregnancies, which leads to abortions decreasing by 62-78% (Williams).

The federal government also needs to take action to protect a woman’s right to get an abortion. Cory Booker, a Democratic Senator from New Jersey, discussed some of his ideas of what he would do to protect abortion if he was elected President in the Democratic Primary Debates for the 2020 Election. His first idea is to codify Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to have an abortion (On the Issues). His next idea is to create an Office of Reproductive Freedom and Reproductive Rights in the White House (On the Issues). These two ideas are great steps for policymakers to implement to protect a woman’s right to choose.

Conclusion

The Democrats are the more pro-choice party, and right now they control both houses of Congress and the Executive Branch, which is why now is the time for Democratic lawmakers to take action to protect American women’s right to obtain an abortion. The heartbeat bills that are being introduced in several states across the country could have far reaching negative impacts. Restricting access to safe, legal abortions have serious socioeconomic, physical, and mental/emotional effects. Additionally, the heartbeat bills violate a woman’s constitutional right to privacy, and they create problems in other areas if a fetus is considered a person. In order to effectively lower abortion rates without infringing on someone’s liberty, free contraception programs should be supported, not bills that prohibit abortion before most women even know they are pregnant.

Hi guys, I don’t have any infographics yet and I was wondering if you could give me advice on what you think I should make infographics of if you have any ideas. Also I don’t have my citations in Chicago form yet but I found out how to do it. Thanks!

The Latest Strategy in the Fight to Ban Abortion: Heartbeat Bills

Since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, there has been a strong pro-life movement aimed at prohibiting abortions. Recently, individual states have been passing heartbeat bills. These states are Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri (Lai). A heartbeat bill is a bill that prohibits abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected (Estep). The fetal heartbeat can be detected as early as five weeks (Medical News Today), which causes a problem because many women do not even know they are pregnant by the fifth week. These heartbeat bills violate a woman’s constitutional right to obtain an abortion, which is protected by the 14th Amendment, therefore the federal government needs to step in to protect abortion rights.

I tried doing the Chicago footnotes but I couldn’t figure them out so I am going to office hours tomorrow to get help with that 🙂

I am not that good at writing introductions or conclusions so please give me feedback on what you think I should change. Thanks!

As I touched on in my previous RCL Blog post, the topic of heartbeat bills has exigence because a number of states have recently begun to pass heartbeat bills. This essentially prohibits abortion after around 6 weeks of pregnancy. According to the article from the New York Times linked here, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio and Missouri all have some sort of heartbeat bill. Alabama took their heartbeat bill a step further by implementing a near total ban on abortions. All of these bans and heartbeat bills happened in or after 2019, which is why this topic is relevant and the kairotic moment for discussing it is now. 

The moment becomes even more kairotic when you factor in that the Supreme Court is a 6-3 conservative majority, so now more than ever the federal government needs to act to protect abortion rights before a case that could overturn Roe v. Wade makes it there. With Democrats holding both houses of Congress and the Presidency, they need to use this power to their advantage, and to the advantage of thousands of American women who are affected by these heartbeat bills.