Women: No Freedom, No Choice, No Equality

I know it has been a while, but I needed to find the right topic to write about. This seems more important than ever with recent events. If you look at international news right now, one of the first stories you might see is about Mahsa Amini. Mahsa Amini was a 22-year-old Iranian who died as a result of police brutality by the Iranian Government for not wearing her hijab properly. What many of you may not know, is that Iran has a religious morality police that enforces "Islamic Dress Codes" for its women, as well as other restrictions on women, based on its interpretation of Sharia Law. Because Mahsa had worn her hijab where her hair was slightly revealed, she was both arrested and beaten to death.

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Now I did not bring this up to say something against Islam, because I myself am Muslim.I brought this matter up because why are politics controlling something that should be a woman's choice? Islam clearly states that wearing a hijab is a CHOICE for women. It is a means to preserve modesty between men and women, but if a woman chooses to NOT wear her hijab but still remains modest in her behavior and thoughts, then that is OK. The same concept goes for women who CHOOSE to wear a hijab. They choose to wear it because they respect the ideal in Islam. Once again, it is NOT required of a woman to wear a hijab. It is ultimately up to the woman, and ONLY the women, to choose whether or NOT to wear a hijab. Why is this, then a game of politics?

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This is not something that is happening only in Iran. France has a full ban on women wearing hijabs. Here in the US, while the hijab may not be the issue, the choice is still being taken away from Women in the fight for abortion rights. Roe v Wade has been revoked, so no matter what the circumstance, women do not have the choice to decide whether to carry the pregnancy to full term. The choice over a woman's body no longer belongs to women, it has become a part of politics due to opposing views. And yet, people are still ok with it.

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If you've watched tonight's episode of Grey's Anatomy, one of the things you've seen is a woman dying of an ectopic pregnancy because she lived in a state that bans abortion rights and had to be driven over 100 miles to a state that still protects the choice of abortion. This may be on a show, but can you honestly say that this is not uncommon? With Roe v Wade overturned, this will become a more common consequence. Why? Because we have allowed politicians to take the choice of what a woman should do with their own body.

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We need to speak up. We need to have a conversation about this. What a woman chooses to do with her body is her choice and hers alone. Why? Because a woman is the person who grows that life in her body. She is the one who experiences all the physical, emotional, and mental changes that come with pregnancy. She is the one who risks everything to bring life into the world. She is the one who goes through the pain of 13 bones simultaneously breaking when going into labor. No politician has the right to take that choice away. If a woman goes through that much to bring a life into the world, then do we not owe her the courtesy of choosing whether to go through with it? Yes, abortion would kill the life inside a woman's womb. But by banning abortion, we put women at risk for dangerous pregnancies, for the possibilities of resentment towards their own children, for dangerous mental health instability because we forced them to stay pregnant and bring life into this world.

If a woman is the only person who can bring a new life into this world, we owe that woman the choice to do so. The only person who should tell a woman whether to continue a pregnancy is a doctor. That is all. A doctor. A woman.

No politician should have any say in what women choose to do with their bodies!