House Rep. Justin Humphrey
Photo credits: The Lost Ogle
Whether you are yay or nay on abortion, shouldn’t the right to decide what you do with your body be your choice? Or is your body not your own solely while pregnant? Should men get to decide if the women they impregnate get to have an abortion or not – regardless of the circumstance surrounding the women becoming pregnant? And the BIG question: where does government control end and individual freedom begin?
Justin Humphrey, an elected representative of the Oklahoma state house is causing quite a stir with this new draconian bill HB 1441 he’s proposing. A bill that dictates to a woman that what she does with her body is not her sole decision to make, and as in abortion, she will need the written consent of her male counterpart to sign off on her having an abortion. Not only that, he wants to impose this on all women, regardless of their individual circumstances.
Check out this excerpt of what Humphrey had to say:
“I understand that they feel like that is their body. I feel like it is a separate — what I call them is, is you’re a ‘host.’ And you know when you enter into a relationship you’re going to be that host and so, you know, if you pre-know that then take all precautions and don’t get pregnant…So that’s where I’m at. I’m like, hey, your body is your body and be responsible with it. But after you’re irresponsible then don’t claim, well, I can just go and do this with another body, when you’re the host and you invited that in.” The Intercept.
The tone is just downright disrespectful with not an ounce of regard for women! “I understand that they feel like that is their body”…WHOSE BODY IS IT???
Tone aside, there is some rationale to his point. Men should be able to have a say (not the say) in whether or not the women they impregnate get to have an abortion. And all of this is depending on a lot of circumstances such as are they married? Is he financially, mentally, emotionally, physically prepared to father a child? Does he love children? What kind of person is he? Why does he want the child? How does he treat the woman? How did she get pregnant? Was she raped? Is she physically able to carry the child fullterm without jeorpardizing her own health?
He was not making any exceptions, and “One size fits all” pedagogy does not work in this instance!
Now mind you, lawmakers like Humphrey get in office because the people put him there! But once there, the people cannot tell him what to do. For countries like the United States of America with “laws” and “democracy”, people choose leaders in the hope of having the country run smoothly in an orderly fashion with the chosen leaders always taking into consideration the welfare of the people. But it does not always pen out well, as history has shown.
Of course his proposal is unconstitutional! But unconstitutional or not, it is frightening to think that people we have put in power over us can even think this way. Off the top of their head, based solely on their belief, without full consideration of the effects their enacted laws will have on people – all parties involved.
As we teach here in our empowerment programs, not everything that is given away can be easily reclaimed. This is one such thing that when given away cannot be easily reclaimed. Our power! We give lawmakers power over us! And they decide what to do with that power! As we have seen, it can work pretty well, go all the way right, or go all the way left.
Now we all must make the most of navigating what emerge from it.
This is why we always stress what we stress here at My Blooming Biz! And that is to take full advantage of all the things that we can control – as individuals (especially us women), because there are a lot of things that affect us that are outside of our control.
Do everything in your power to use the tools you can use, to create the kind of lifestyle you desire, and live the way you want to.
With love, gratitude, and empowered attitude,
On the surface it sounds pretty harsh, but if you really think about it, it kinda make sense. Well, depending on the individual situation. We know that women can be somewhat vindictive, and just imagine a woman being with a man who really wants a child and can take care of a child, but she got pregnant (not by herself!) and then she wants to abort the pregnancy to spite the man. She should not be able to get that abortion!
And on the other hand, a woman who was raped (or forced to have sex with a man) and then becomes pregnant as a result, should be able to get her abortion. So it depends on each circumstance. Bottom line: he said it in a harsh tone, but he probably means well.
Point taken John, however Rep Justin is coming from a place of full masculine control, totally disregarding the woman, and not bearing in mind individual situations either. It’s all about male rule! Men can go ahead and rule the world, as they have been, but they should definitely leave the woman’s body out of it.
John, this is a very touchy subject that I’m sure will garner a myriad of views, one of which is yours. My view is that this should not be a hard and fast rule where every woman – regardless of the situation surrounding her becoming pregnant, should seek the permission for an abortion from the man who is responsible for impregnating her. There has to be some sub-clause to what he is proposing. But based on his choice of words, he is totally disregarding and being dismissive of women. Man power tripping!
I personally don’t believe in abortion, but I really don’t want anyone telling me what I can and cannot do with my bloody body. There are a million things that need attention and fixing in this world and my body isn’t one of them. Your title is so right! What a audacity!
Absolutely Janice! They should go fix so many things that need fixing; us women can take care of ourselves. We got this!
This is surreal! Give them an inch, and they take a mile! Unfortunately as you say, we gave them the power now what they do with it, is out of our control. Crazy!
Yes Kadienne, too late to withdraw giving them power over us; now we must do everything in our power to use all that we can to live our best life possible!
Yes Kadienne, go figure! Now we have to work around what they enact, and make the best of every area of controls we have. Pretty scary, some of these politicians 🤓