Integrated Histories & Roe Vs Wade
The overturning of Roe vs Wade has implications for past, present and future. Let's not forget that.
Hello to you 👋🏻
Well, a lot has happened since we last spoke, hasn't it?
It's impossible to not talk about Roe vs. Wade being overturned.
If this raises uncomfortable thoughts or memories for you, please go ahead and delete this email. I promise that usual business will return next week.
But …
Let's start by pointing out that where you sit on the abortion fence is not an issue here. Honestly, it doesn't matter because the implications are bigger than the motivations. Don't be distracted by the carrot 🥕
As a human collective, we must all understand the significance of a legal decision that separates a woman (or birthing person) from their own body and then places that body under the control of someone or something external.
Historically, this is not the first time that this has happened, nor is it unique to the U.S. It's not even unique to the subject of abortion.
When deciding whether or not to overturn Roe vs Wade, the justices looked at the issue historically. Specifically, is a person's right to an abortion rooted in U.S. history? There's an excellent pulling apart of that here, which is well worth a read.
There is a long legislative history attached to abortion in societies across the world. But as this saga unfolded, what I realised is that this legal decision represents a single narrative of the past. Running alongside that, there is another set of experiences that cannot be ignored.
Let me show you what those two sets of experiences look like, side by side.
Of course, if you were to spend any time in either column, you'd discover a diversity of experiences that exist within that overarching experience. Nothing is cut and dry.
But however you slice it, the experiential differences are VAST. And let's not forget, this only covers one aspect of human life: abortion.
Because, if anything, MANY MORE people (historically) identify with the experiences in that right-hand column than the left.
It’s tempting to think that we can just copy and paste bits from both columns to make a more accurate and representative narrative of abortion history. Again, dear reader, it just ain’t that cut and dry because the right-hand column throws up questions that any historian worth their salt can’t ignore, like:
❓ How long has bodily autonomy been an issue?
❓ And for who?
❓ How do we navigate abortion experiences that went unrecorded?
❓ Why weren't they recorded?
And you could go on and on.
Coupled with these, there’s another issue at play: when will we move to a point in time where the experiences represented in the right-hand column are recognised as being of equal validity to those in the left?
This is why we need integration. We need a conceptual framework that can accommodate the diversity of experiences while asking bigger questions about power. We need a system that gives you the freedom to analytically move around because you’re not boxed in by “topics” or “themes” or specific moments and places.
Finally, what is also clear to me is that the overturning of Roe vs Wade is a double-pronged threat to equity. It’s about equity for people today and equity for all those who came before. Let’s not allow those experiences to stay in darkness forever.
Until next time,
Kaye x
P.S. For an extra history fix:
🖤 I've been sharing snippets of abortion’s hidden history this week. Catch up with Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
🖤 On Saturday 2nd July, celebrate a very special historical anniversary: it’s been 94 years since British women were able to vote on the same terms as men.
🖤 Read this brilliant piece about Indigenous women in Canada and how they were impacted by the arrival of patriarchy during European colonisation.