Taylor Shelton said she isn’t ready to be a mother. She’d been using birth control for years — an intrauterine device (IUD), which is said to be more than 99% effective.
She’d just gotten the device checked by a doctor when she missed her period in September.
“When I found out I was pregnant, I was shocked to say the least,” Shelton told NPR.
Shelton and her boyfriend decided together that she would get an abortion. But South Carolina’s fetal heartbeat ban had just taken effect.
“I thought, ‘Luckily, I’m under six weeks. This shouldn’t be hard,’” said Shelton. “And then it turned out to be unbelievably hard.”
Shelton ultimately had to travel out of state to get an abortion.
“It was unnecessary, and it was traumatizing,” said Shelton. She’s now suing the state, alongside Planned Parenthood, arguing the ban’s parameters are vague and make it nearly impossible to get an abortion.
“The government want[s] us to be responsible. Well, I’m telling you right now — I had birth control. I tracked my period. I took the pregnancy test as soon as possible,” said Shelton. “And even then, I could not figure out how to get this procedure done.”
I’d rather push for actual progress than attempt to compromise with fascists and concede half their argument. Progress is the slow boring of hard boards. Conceding ground is giving comfort to those who would oppress and subjugate everyone else.
Overturning a law that hurts women isn’t progress? Because the way they’re choosing to argue isn’t pure enough for you?
If you shift the overton window into pure fascism in the process, no it is not progress.
If you insist on ideological purity even when it will obstruct a tangible victory, then YOU have actually let the fascists win.
How can you not see that? Your pure argument fails, their fascist law stands, the fascists win. Or you make an argument that is distasteful, get the law overturned, and give real, tangible benefits to the people who need it, therefore the fascists DID NOT WIN.
I’m not fighting a philosophical war; I’m fighting a REAL one.