President Joe Biden,
My partner and I are human rights activists, and together we run mylifeautistic. A grassroots global non profit organisation for the autistic community. I have shared this with Jeni as I always do before we post. However I want to say this post was written from my personal viewpoint.
On Friday, June 24, 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. I thought about putting out a post at the time, but I needed to see the long term implications.
I will admit that I really don’t get it. I can’t fathom how this can be considered progress. The human rights ramifications alone are really concerning. The argument I see a lot for changing the law is protecting children. I agree that children should be protected, you can lose your life because of childhood neglect or abuse. However you don’t protect some people, by removing the rights of others. There were more than 3.1 million reported and investigated cases of child abuse/neglect in the United States in 2020. In 2019, there were over 3.4 million cases.
Personal beliefs are personal, and should not be forced on to others. There is actually no definable way to say with any given certainty why humans are here. It’s literally a question with an impossible answer, you can theorise, by all means, but no one can say they are right. Beliefs can give a person strength, and I know that finding strength when you need it, can make a huge difference in your life. However that should not come at the cost of others. That should not be altering human rights, so that only some people have them, and some don’t. If human rights are not protected for all humans, then surely that’s tantamount to playing God.
The only debate when it comes to human rights should be, how do we strengthen them. Because the current protections the world over, leave too many children and adults suffering. I also think all children should be taught a basic level of sign language so abuse can be reported more discretely. Unfortunately, my guess is the figures above would be a lot higher if that was done previously.
Human rights are for all humans.
Full stop.
Ross Fraser and Jeni Dern
Words – Ross A Fraser
Graphic Design App – Canva
In the modern world the intent to harm, actual harm, and the perception of intent, have been balled up into one. They are three completely different things. Protect children, please, please do, but not by choosing who has rights and who doesn’t. We have had those pages in the history books and I pray to anyone that will listen, that humanity will never write them again. History can teach us a lot, but only if we listen, and not just repeat past mistakes.