Notes from Up North: It’s all wrong

I’m a Canadian; from ‘The Great White North’, as we like to say and I would like to share some observations about what I see emanating from the other side of the 49th parallel, our international boundary with our American neighbours to the south.

The photo image I have included here comes from the office of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, signing into recent law more restrictions against reproductive freedoms and autonomy for women residing in that state. I think the governor is a bit goofy in the first instance but signing this law into effect is both heartless and cruel.

As it is in many other parts of the U.S. these days; in red states, that is, abortion rights are increasingly being restricted. I look at the large group of women appearing to celebrate this legislative moment huddle around the governor’s desk and I ask myself — do these women really know what they are doing and what they signify?

What if one of them becomes pregnant and does not want to bear a child for whatever reason. Perhaps there was a sexual assault, a rape or an act of incest, maybe the woman already has children and wants no more. What if the pregnant women is actually a child? What about a medical complication arising from carrying a pregnancy? What if a woman has a romantic dalliance and discovers she is pregnant and does not want this child that comes from a brief sexual encounter. I could go on.

What if any of these things were to happen to a female relative of any of these women depicted in this Twitter image? Perhaps they feel “safe”. Or, in the image that follows, what are these women trying to convince us of — that proper and medically prescribed procedures and treatments are criminal?

America, you are going backward. It’s a little scary.