The month of June marks four years since I was raped on a Tinder date.

I painted the above picture in October of 2021 and when I heard about Roe v. Wade being overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States, I had to re-share this paining that I made.

I originally painted this picture because of I am a rape victim, but that doesn’t mean I will be or stay silenced.

When I was raped on June 13th, 2018, I had the ability to go get the proper healthcare I needed to recover from the rape itself. I was fortunate enough at twenty years old that I did not get pregnant by my rapist, but if I had, I had to resources to receive proper care and get an abortion if I so chose.

At twenty four now, going on twenty five, I am not responsible enough to have a child. I know that, my family knows that, and so do many others. Had I gotten pregnant at age 20, I would have most likely received an abortion. That is me being brutally honest.

That *was* my right. I will go through Hell or high waters when it comes to other women or folks with uteruses to have that right to healthcare once again. The right to abortion is frankly not a decision that should have to be discussed, let alone decided by several privileged males in the Supreme Court.

You may be thinking to yourself, “Dani, you’re a Christian. How could you allow the killing of living beings?!”

I think the topic of when a fetus becomes a child or is a child or not is irrelevant to the conversation and side bars us from what really matters. I think most conservatives, republicans, and Christians and religious folk alike can agree on personal autonomy.

What I mean about that is let’s say you want to purchase a gun. You have been through proper training and have been through all the hoops to receive a gun. Let’s say I don’t like guns. So what if I say that you can’t have a gun because I don’t like guns? Is that fair. NO.

So as a Christian who respects personal autonomy, do I have the right to ban or forbid someone from getting an abortion? NO. It’s nonya daaaaaaaaamn business. I don’t ask you what goes on after the bedroom, why should you know, let alone care about my reproductive rights and choices.

We as Americans have the constitutional right of freedom of speech, so you can detest abortion and protest against it all you would like, but for those who lost the right and privilege to safe and accessible abortions and female healthcare also have the right to protest and fight against the decision to strip away folks’ rights.

It is crazy to me that a fellow Christian I know rejoiced when Roe v. Wade got struck down, knowing my story about being sexually assaulted and still thinking if I had gotten pregnant at that time that I should have carried, delivered, and cared for my child produced by unwanted contact.

Then there is the argument that oh these people who get pregnant can give up their children for adoption. Do you realize the amount of children who are in the adoption agency system or in the foster care system? It’s at least 500,000 kids. They are being neglected and/or abused in their current situation with no home in sight. If you care about children and people. why aren’t you the ones who are adopting and fostering children? Why are you donating your tithes to the church when children are malnourished, are abused, are neglected in the system and you’re busy with your rose colored glasses on and saying you’re already helping others find Jesus.

Jesus wants those kids in foster care to be cared for. Jesus wants you to care for the children that are here, not fetuses that haven’t breathed in life yet. Jesus wants you to care for the elderly, the disabled, the sinners, the criminals, the students, the gunmen, the mentally ill.

It is easy for those who have not been victims of rape, incest, etc. to be able to say that abortion is a bad thing; or an unholy thing. But when you are violated in such a personal and intimate way, you have no choice when it comes to how YOU will react to YOUR trauma. It is YOUR body and YOUR choice. Not your boyfriend’s choice, not your husband, not your rapist, pastor, neighbor, family members. It is all on YOU.

You need the personal autonomy to bring life into the world or not too.

Just think if I had gotten pregnant four years ago, I could have a four year old daughter who would ask, “Mommy, why are you crying?” after reading the Supreme Court decision and I would say “Honey, I am scared for you and your future.”

I had.a dream for my daughter to have more rights than what I had as a little girl and now those rights I had not long ago was taken away and is similar to that of my mother’s times. I cannot imagine bringing a child into this world who has less rights than what I grew up with. I can’t live in a world that doesn’t allow abortion. I can’t live in a world where my human rights are stripped from me.

I will be heard.

Dani