Normally, I love to dive into the past. I was a history major and like a lot of people, I find it fascinating. What I love less is the feeling like I’m being dragged back to live in it. I got the right to vote in 1920, the right to use contraception in 1972, the right to my own credit card in 73, my own mortgage in 74, the right to serve in combat in 2013. I got the right to marry a woman in 2013 as well. The right to a rape evidence collection kit and its appropriate and timely processing came in 2016.
Then in 2022, I lost the right to make decisions about my own healthcare and my own reproductive health. I’ve heard some calls to revoke my right to divorce, my right to contraception, even my right to vote. As I reflect on October’s place as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, I wonder how far back we could be dragged and what the consequences could be. Can you imagine a survivor who can’t access birth control and is forced to carry the child of her abusive spouse, unable to get a divorce or even sign for her own mortgage? How could that person start over and escape the cycle of violence?
I can’t make you understand how terrifying and how terrifyingly common domestic violence is. But what I can do is encourage you to think about how your day-to-day actions, your vote, your donations can move us forward toward a future where everyone is safe, not drag us back into a history of violence and inequality.
I’m Lynnea Erickson and that’s my perspective.
