Don’t They Realize?

As a woman and as a teenager, the issues of the 2024 election have definitely caused me to become emotionally invested. As I’ve been watching the debates and the campaigning play out, I’ve started to feel not just angry, but fearful.

Most people involved in the recent media and politics have focused all their attention on fighting about issues. Rather than addressing them in terms of solutions, I’ve felt that people in positions of power and influence don’t think about how these issues actually affect real people.

The topic of abortion has been thrown around in election after election. Used as a controversial and common debate topic that is always expressed in extreme opinions. There’s so much fighting centered around abortion, but that’s it. Nobody is thinking about the faces and lives of the women and girls who are directly affected by abortion control—Women and girls who are victims of rape and incest.

In 2019 Ohio passed a law that made it illegal to terminate a pregnancy after the sixth week. In July 2022, a ten-year-old girl from Ohio was denied an abortion after she was raped. That ten-year-old girl was six weeks and three days pregnant.

I get emotional when I hear stories like this. My heart reaches out to that little girl; all I want to do is take that pain away from her. I can’t help but put myself, my sisters, and my friends in the shoes of the women in those stories.

As a teenager and a woman, when I listen to political debates, I develop a fearful, angry attitude that comes from the topics of discussion. Not just fear and anger about the rights to my body being denied, but also about debates on gun control. Every single day, going to school is a risk. That seems like a dramatic statement, but it’s the harsh reality. A shooting isn’t more likely to happen on one certain day. It’s always a possibility; it’s always something on the back of my mind.

It feels like nobody cares. All anybody ever does is argue about it.

 Meanwhile, kids and teenagers are getting killed by assault rifles.

We go to school with the promise of a safe environment—-a place where we can learn, grow, and take the next steps toward the rest of our lives.

How is it even possible that our lives could end in the same place?

People talk and debate about gun control. As we talk, someone gets their hands on an assault weapon and walks into a school. A child loses their life, a parent loses their light.

It’s not okay that, as a teenager, school shootings are something I have to think about. It’s not okay that as a woman, I’m worried about my body. It’s not okay that I’m afraid of the future because of the turnout of an election. Political issues are real issues that affect real people. Everyone seems to be debating them as if they are just theoretical ideas. When in fact issues such as abortion and gun violence change real people’s lives. It makes me so angry that no one seems to realize that.

https://www.npr.org/2022/07/13/1111285143/abortion-10-year-old-raped-ohio

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/09/one-source-story-about-10-year-old-an-abortion-goes-viral/