Well, it’s about to be 2019. So I thought I would look into New Year’s resolutions. I thought there might be gender disparities, such as women making more resolutions than men. It seems like we women have more of a tendency to be hard on ourselves. I didn’t find that, but I did find that men and women have different ways of succeeding at our goals. Men do better with measurable results and visions of rewards for success. Women do better eliciting family and friends as a support system.
This suggests a couple ways to work toward succeeding in your New Year’s goals. Determine measurable results and/or elicit support from others. Not every woman will find the “women’s way” works best and not every man will find the “men’s way” works best. But one of these hopefully will work for you.
So, what should we resolve? How about taking action to keep abortion legal and safe? Several abortion decisions are winding their way to the Supreme Court, which is more likely to allow restrictions on abortion now that they have their conservative majority, especially with Brett Kavanaugh. First up, 5th circuit and 8th circuit court decisions that allowed laws requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. These would close most abortion clinics in the affected states (Louisiana and Missouri, respectively).
There are a total of 24 states that could severely restrict or eliminate abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned. Four states already have “trigger laws” that would ban abortion as soon as restrictions are legal; 21 states already have restrictions that have previously been deemed unconstitutional, but the laws were passed anyway. Many are currently being challenged in the courts. Most ban abortion at 20 weeks, some as early as 6 weeks (usually before a woman even knows she is pregnant). A total of 24 states currently have anti-abortion legislatures, so if they don’t already have laws on the books, they likely will pass them shortly.
So please, stay aware of what the Supreme Court is hearing! We may need another march in force on Washington DC. And be aware of what your state is doing. Resolve to make sure your representatives know your displeasure if they even think about restricting women’s rights.
And of course you don’t have to be a woman to defend women’s rights!
