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On TikTok, a woman in Scotland showed the contents of a “baby box” care package that expecting mothers receive from their government, which even included a tiny mattress for the baby. The video has sparked a debate on the other side of the Atlantic, where U.S. state and federal governments restrict access to maternal healthcare and abortion, and where there is still no guaranteed maternal leave for new mothers, let alone a care package.
Straight Arrow News contributor Jordan Reid accuses U.S. state and federal governments of ignoring the needs of mothers and expecting mothers, failing to support them during and after pregnancy and criminalizing abortion even in cases of acute medical necessity. She also wants some of these nice care packages that the Scots are bragging about on TikTok.
Meanwhile, 16 months ago on our side of the pond, the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade. And since then, state after state after state has been limiting or outright just preventing women’s access to abortion — in many cases, even in pregnancies that threaten the health of the mother — and in many cases, even in pregnancies that resulted from rape or incest.
You will be wholly unsurprised to discover that the vast majority of legislators pushing for these extreme limitations or outright bans are, yes, men. They appear very, very concerned about the well being of fetuses while caring like zero about the women that approximately 50% of said fetuses will grow up to become.
Now interestingly, the number of abortions nationwide in the wake of the Dobbs decision has remained more or less steady. But that’s as a result of an increase in people traveling to get the procedure, and at this point, I don’t think I have to remind you just how much this creates a problem of access to populations who don’t have access to transportation or the financial or logistical means to leave the state. It creates a huge amount of inequity.
