Hundreds of people were arrested during protests against Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court. This issue is clearly an emotional one, especially for the millions of sexual assault survivors nationwide. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in five women will experience sexual assault in their lifetime. However only about 40 percent of those assaults will be reported to law enforcement.
There is no denying that victims do not feel safe in our country’s current environment surrounding sexual assault, and the Kavanaugh hearing has been a painful reminder of why. The idea of Kavanaugh, someone accused by multiple women of sexual assault and misconduct, making important decisions about women’s reproductive rights is nauseating.
However, this is not an outlier. Women’s rights have been infringed upon for decades. On a global level, reproductive rights have already been seriously damaged. Trump’s Global Gag Rule has prevented all international health organizations from receiving funding from the United States if they even mention the word abortion. This incentivizes organizations to exclude information that may be life-saving for patients abroad and does not only affect organizations which provide abortions. The rage that we feel at the possibility of losing our reproductive freedom as a result of Kavanaugh’s appointment has already been felt by women around the world.
That is why it is important now more than ever to vote for reproductive rights warriors who will #Fight4HER.
Jenni Regan
Liberty, N.C.
