A Generation Left Unheard: How Teen Girls Have Lost Their Rights

7/27/2022 by KAITLYN DONATO

In the time following the Supreme Court’s official overturn of Roe v. Wade, I have reflected on what it means to be a teenage girl in a nation that fails to respect women’s rights.

Pro-choice demonstrators gather in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on May 11, 2022. – Senate Democrats today were unsuccessful in passing legislation to codify Roe v. Wade, with the measure failing in a 51-49 vote. Democrats in the US Senate were due to lead a vote Wednesday to codify the right to abortion into federal law in a bid to pin down Republicans on the deeply divisive issue ahead of crucial midterm elections, even though they expect the measure to fail. The move comes amid a political firestorm ignited by a leaked draft opinion that showed the Supreme Court’s conservative majority prepared to overturn Roe v. Wade, a landmark 1973 ruling guaranteeing abortion access nationwide. (Photo by Stefani Reynolds / AFP) (Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

It was a frightening day for every girl around me. We huddled together, heads buried in our phones, endlessly scrolling through headlines. No longer concerned with final exams or the most recent TikTok trends, we instead were engrossed in the leaked Supreme Court opinion that set our rights in peril.

“You don’t have any control over the decision,” I told myself. “Just try not to dwell on it.”

I intended to comfort myself, but I had said those words all too many times before: at the advent of the pandemic, amid the onslaught of mass shootings, and now, standing in my high school hallway, in disbelief at the news that my right to choose was under attack. What value does comfort hold to a generation that has been let down time after time?

To read more visit: Ms. Magazine


Ms. Magazine is a partner of the ERA Coalition and the Fund for Women’s Equality. For more stories like these visit: Ms. Magazine

Learn more about the Equal Rights Amendment:

Video on the ERAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-s61h1FH2E&t=1s

History of the ERA: https://www.eracoalition.org/the-amendment 

We are the Fund for Women’s Equality: https://youtu.be/8ogt45BN_SY 

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