#lets talk about

Roe vs Wade is a Supreme Court ruling made on January 22nd 1973 and is the ruling that has upheld the prevention of abortion bans across America. Abortion is a very sensitive topic, and there are many people calling for a total ban on abortion, regardless of circumstances.

Roe vs Wade found creating state regulation on abortion infringed on a woman’s right to privacy, meaning that no individual state could place a total ban on abortion. It was deemed to contradict the fourteenth amendment which states “nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”.

In America they have a codified and entrenched constitution - this means it is written down and consistently referred to and is essentially a kind of “rulebook” from which all other judgements are made. The constitution is what is known as a sovereign body, this is the body with the most power (in the UK it is our Parliament). The Supreme Court is made up of 9 justices, always having an odd number so there is never a tie when making a decision. Each justice is appointed by a president and then has to be approved by the Senate to gain their seat. The Supreme Court’s job is to uphold the constitution and the laws written in it - theoretically placing them higher than the president themselves as they are the closest beings to the sovereign body. If a case is thought to be breaking the constitution it faces the Supreme Court (not every single one but I’m simplifying it) and they will deliberate and vote on whether they believe it to be unconstitutional or not and whether an amendment should be made to the constitution.

The constitution was written in the late 1700s and has been amended 27 times in the last 250 years. Arguably it is an outdated document but that’s a discussion for another time.

When the Supreme Court make a ruling it can lead to a constitutional amendment (rare) or it could set a precedent, and setting a precedent is exactly what roe vs wade has done.

So what is the leaked document?

On Monday the 2nd of May, a document was leaked from SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) detailing their apparent plans to overrule the Roe vs Wade decision. Because Roe vs Wade was not written into the constitution, it wouldn’t take more than a majority vote to overrule it and it is something that has been a threat since it was first ruled. The 7-2 majority ruling in favour of preventing states banning abortion, allowed women autonomy over their bodies, it allowed them to make the choices that were right for them and not be dictated by governments who they didn’t support. But it also created an uproar of people who thought this was wrong. Women going to planned parenthood have been screamed at and verbally abused for making this decision for themselves (not to mention that planned parenthood does more things than abortion and contraception). And no woman wants to have an abortion. A woman wants an abortion the same way an animal in a trap wants to chew off its own leg.

In the leaked document it was shown that a majority ruling of 5-4 had ruled to overturn the Roe vs Wade decision, allowing states to regulate abortions as they wish. This decision was made by the 9 justices, 6 of whom are male and 3 of whom are female. There were 4 men and 1 women who voted in favour of overruling the case and all 5 of them were appointed by republican presidents. The most recent being Neil Gorsuch who was appointed by Donald Trump.

If this document is followed through there have been 26 states who are confirmed/highly likely to place a total ban on abortion, with no exceptions or exemptions. This means that you cannot get an abortion under ANY circumstances, including rape, incest or damage to the mother. That’s right, your doctor can tell you that carrying this baby to term will kill you and you will still not be allowed an abortion. In fact, in some states you can be charged with murder and the doctor can be charged with accessory to murder if you try. These will each get you longer sentences than what the rapist would get. 

The main argument against abortion is “pro-life”. They are anti abortion because they claim that the foetus has a heartbeat and therefore having an abortion is “murder”. However, these groups only place their focus on an unborn cluster of cells. They do nothing to help or raise awareness about the number of children growing up in orphanages, foster care or unstable home environments. These are children who have lives they are currently living and can feel pain, however, pro lifers choose to place their attention elsewhere and leave these children to suffer. If they were genuinely pro life, they would care about the lives of those who are actually alive, not an embryo that has barely developed gills.

Furthermore, any bans placed on abortion is unlikely to prevent abortions. Instead it will force women to travel outside of the state, it will increase the number of back alley abortions and coat hanger abortions. It will also increase the risk of infection and death in a country that already holds one of the highest maternal mortality rates.

Some current abortion laws in various states:

A Michigan judge has given a convicted sex offender joint custody of a child born to a women he raped when she was 12 years old.

Texas has already placed a ban on abortion from after 6 weeks. Some women may not even know they are pregnant by then. 

In Georgia, if you miscarry you could be liable for second degree murder. This could get you 10 - 30 years in prison.

In Arkansas, rapists are allowed to sue their victims if the victim wants an abortion.

In North Carolina, consent cannot be withdrawn once sex starts.

In Ohio, using birth control such as pills, IUDs etc. that can stop the fertilised egg from implanting in the uterus is considered abortion.

Alabama already has a near-total ban on abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest. Doctors could face 99 years for providing abortions.

Some quotes from 2019 republican senators about rape:

“Rape is kind of inevitable like the weather. If it’s inevitable, relax and enjoy it.” - Clayton Williams

“If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to shut that thing down” - Todd Akin

“Rape victims should make the best of a bad situation” - Rick Santorum

“Even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that is something that God intended to happen.” - Richard Mourdock

“If a woman has the right to an abortion, why shouldn’t a man be free to use his superior strength to force himself on a woman? At least the rapist’s pursuit of sexual freedom doesn’t result in anyone’s death.” - Lawrence Lockamn

If the government actually cared like they claim to, they wouldn’t be regulating women’s bodies and blaming them for something that takes two people to do. They would be investing in quality sex education, more sexual health clinics and providing free contraception to prevent unwanted pregnancies. But they don’t and they won’t and that is how you can tell that it is not about the baby but about having control over the woman.

There are four basic types of romance stories:

1. Stories where the romance is both the focus and the driving force (ex: The Princess Bride)
   
2. Stories where the romance is the focus, but not the driving force (ex: Tangled)
   
3. Stories where the romance is neither the focus or the driving force (ex: Star Wars)
   
4. Stories where the romance is not the focus, but is the driving force (ex: Billboard Dad)
   

Why is any of this important? Well, I’m a firm believer of the idea that, if you want to be good at something, you need to work at it constantly and, when it comes to writing, the work isn’t just writing. A large part of the job is thinking about stories and figuring out how they work, what makes them good, and what makes them bad. So let’s talk about what makes a good romance story/subplot and what makes a bad one.

To do this, we’re going to talk about each of the four story-types listed above. Be warned, I will not be kind to type 2.

Type 1: The Focused Romance

Stories of this type are stories that would not exist if it weren’t for the romance. Think about The Princess Bride. If we remove Buttercup’s love for Westley or vise versa, then where’s the story? Nowhere. Other events contribute to this tale, but the force behind it is the characters love for each other. No love, no story.

These types of romance stories are incredibly powerful when told right because the most interesting thing going on in the story is the romance. This means that the audience isn’t wasting their time trying to figure out other complex elements of the plot because there’s really nothing to focus on other than the characters and their fight to be together. Things that effect the plot are things that effect the couple’s ability to be together and basically nothing else.

Other Stories of this type: Much Ado About Nothing, Pride and Prejudice, Beauty and the Beast

Type 2: The Unexpected Romance

Stories of this type are stories that would probably be very different without the romance, but would still exist, they’d just be way more focused on the big event that’s actually driving the plot. This type of story is really popular in young adult fiction but, to be frank, they are both very hard to pull off and one of the main reasons teen novels get such a bad reputation.

Imagine if someone asked you to rewrite Star Wars or Harry Potter, but instead of focusing on overthrowing the empire or Lord Voldemort, your job was to tell the story of Han and Leia/Harry and Ginny becoming a couple. Welcome to what’s wrong with type two.

More often than not, these stories are distracting and hard to read because there’s something really freaking important going on other than the romance. This means that the audience either has its attention split between the romance and the big events going on or that the audience fails to care about either the big event or the romance as much as the author might want.

This doesn’t mean that any time there’s a big event going on in the story you get a story of type 2. For example, a story set during world war two would not immediately be a type two story. It depends on who the characters are and how important they are to the war. If the war would still be won without them, then it’s probably a type one.

It’s also worth noting that these stories can work, but they have to be told in a way where the romance doesn’t distract from the main plot. The romance should to serve to bring together characters that need to be brought together and/or drive characters to do what needs to be done.

A good example of this is Tangled. The driving force of Tangled is not Rapunzel and Flynn falling in love. Falling in love is just something that happens to these characters while they’re working together to get Rapunzel to see the “floating lights.” If you told the exact same story, but just had Rapunzel and Flynn becomes friends, it would still work. It just wouldn’t be as good.

Other Stories of this type: The Divergent Series (mostly Insurgent), The Mortal Instruments, The Iron Fey Series

One I actually like: The Lunar Chronicles, Tangled

Type 3: The Subplot

Stories of this type are ones where the author acknowledges that, hey, people fall in love and then decides to throw some romance into the story. The story would probably work just fine without the romance, but the romance makes the story better.

An example of this type of story would be Han and Leia from Star Wars. Their romance is organically developed and certainly adds a fun element to the story, but it’s not the story’s focus and people would still enjoy the films without it.

Other Stories of this type: Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Uglies Series

Type 4: The Background Lovers

Stories of this type are ones where everything happens because two characters fall in love, but yet no one really cares about those characters falling in love. You normally see these types of stories happening when it’s a story about matchmakers, like Billboard Dad and yes, I’m using an Olson Twin film from my childhood simply because, when it comes to these types of stories, you rarely remember that the romance happened at all.

For the many of you that haven’t seen Billboard Dad, the plot focuses on two young girls getting their father set up with a woman and then trying split the pair up and other hijinks. Like I said, everything happens because of the romance, the story wouldn’t exist without it, but it’s not a story about lovers, it’s a story about meddlesome kids.

Other Stories of this type: Mamma Mia