Eileithyia’s Children: Exploring Reproductive Justice in Hyper-Policed Bodies

Eileithyia: goddess resting at the threshold of birth

 “A lot of people just don’t know… people were like: ‘What does pro-choice even mean? What does pro-life even mean?” said Kinsey Tumlin ‘28, the Co-Coordinator of Social Media for Hatters for Life, of students attending Stetson’s Involvement Fair. 

Tumlin shared what being anti-abortion means to her,  advocating for all life to be born, except “in the case where the mother would not survive. But again … I think you could easily deliver that baby as well.” Real-world situations complicate this stance. Medically, it is often deemed an unnecessary risk to patient health to attempt early delivery or a C-section before 22 weeks of gestation, with a near non-existent chance of survival for the developing fetus. However, abortion as a preventative measure for the patient’s health remains a source of diverging beliefs and perspectives. 

One aspect of this discussion is often fear surrounding the safety and impact of procedures themselves. Tumlin takes issue with the language of abortion-rights advocates: “An abortion is still a medical procedure. Especially in cases of rape, you’re going to have your body either give birth - and bring a new life out of that and [be able] to bring a positive out of [a] negative – or they are going to go in and scrape your insides … The pill, it’s not that easy, like ‘one-two-three,’ you’re fine. There [are] women that have side effects and things like that.” 

There is a factual basis to some of Tumlin’s words. For example, medication-induced abortion is more likely to result in an incomplete abortion, requiring surgery to remove leftover tissue. Abortion, like any other medical intervention, has some potential complications – although serious complications requiring immediate intervention only happen in less than 1% of cases. 

Still, if you’re reading this article, you are probably old enough to have heard some horror stories about abortion. Jessa Ward ‘26, a former member of Hatters for Life, described hearing of “people who were not fully informed on what the process [of abortion] would be like [or] the implications of it afterward. [Such as] people who had problems getting pregnant later on in life when they were trying to. It’s not just a one-and-done simple solution. There are lasting effects, physically, mentally.”

Ward describes a concern most have probably heard. Yet abortion and infertility are only distantly related. These 'complications of abortion’ often arise from untreated infections and scar tissue accumulating over time. People who get an abortion more commonly experience infertility later in life due to hormonal shifts or people simply getting older.  

Miracles 

The ladies of Hatters for Life have personal experiences with abortion. “I was actually born with a congenital heart defect … At my mom's 18-week anatomy scan, the doctors were like, ‘We know something is wrong with the heart. Most people in your situation would probably have an abortion,’” said Tumlin. “If I [were] someone else's child, I don't know that I would be here.” 

Tumlin offered further insight, “I’ve had 3 open heart surgeries. All before I was the age of 2 and may need another in the future.” This sounds like nothing less than a miracle. Tumlin is physically, no doubt, a warrior, but also benefits from being born into a family with the financial stability to cover her extensive medical care. Equally astonishing is Ward’s transcontinental story. 

While private adoption is inaccessible to many, ranging anywhere from 20,000 to 50,000 in the United States, Ward is a rare success story. “I’m adopted from China, and I was born during the one-child policy … they were forcing abortions on people. Just the whole concept that somebody has the right over whether somebody else lives or dies. There are so many children from China that were never given the chance to live,” said Ward. “If I don't speak to it, who will? The children are the voiceless among us, and so somebody has to be the voice for them.” Clearly, the adoption and foster care systems serve a purpose - yet, their infrastructure depends on the majority of parents or extended family being able to reunite with their blood-related children. Without social services, this is difficult.

While Tumlin recognizes placing children who are born into disadvantaged families is challenging, she argues this is not grounds for abortion. “Everyone’s life is hard. We all have our hardships. So why are we going to end this life, because they might have a hard life? … To me, abortion is saying ‘Well, you don’t even deserve this life, you don’t even deserve to try.”

However, with over 60% of Americans self-reporting as living from paycheck to paycheck, it is a reality for most potential guardians they won't be able to provide enough for their children to prosper. After all, we live in a nation with one of the highest rates of homelessness in a developed country. Ward acknowledges, for “these kids who are born in unfortunate circumstances … if the foster care system were better than it is now, then it would be seen as a better option … because it is broken and no system is perfect. That's just in general, but it does give children a chance at a good life, rather than just eliminating it altogether.”

Maleficent Generosity… 

Throughout conversations with the members of Hatters For Life there was an easily admirable idealism. However, there was also the sense their convictions sometimes outpaced their familiarity with the medical and social realities contextualizing the abortion debate. Fighting for life requires understanding all life - a seemingly unhuman task in its largeness - yet some individuals, who have lived through the traumas Hatters for Life trivialize, have no choice but to wear their personal understanding like a second skin. It would be a disservice not to point explicitly to where grounded opinion crosses the line into appropriating lived experience. One such instance is the organization’s stance on questions pertaining to sexual violence. “Abortion does not take away the trauma from being raped, it just adds to it,” reads a statement present on their social media at the time of this writing. 

When questions of potential psychological harm to the mother in cases of sexual violence are posed, Tumlin urges others to consider, “What did the baby do in this situation? Nothing. Why not have a positive come out of this horrible situation?  I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but I think we should punish the rapist and not the victim. Because I feel when we’re telling women, ‘Oh. You need an abortion. Oh. It’s going to help you.’ No, it’s not and I don’t want any women to look back and say, ‘that was a horrible experience but I should have had my baby.’” 

Despite recommendations survivors seek “punishment” for perpetrators, less than 1% of rape allegations filed in the US ever make it to a jury trial. Women who are placed in the position make a myriad of decisions. It may be the privilege of inexperience that makes members of Hatters for Life more likely to reduce conversations around sexual violence into one of ‘punishment’ - failing to see that the only tool at the disposal of those who suffer sexual violence in this system is often restoration, the bargain of constructing wholeness from what was taken. 

We have all grown up with our “picket-fence” fantasies. Whether a mansion or a suburb, we have mulled over whether we believe them to be attainable. This is more than an idea. The family we imagine alongside us is not abstract but one we try to conjure in vision boards and answers to questions on dating apps. It is not the job of our bodies with dreams, aspirations, and – yes, traumas – to carry what others tell us to. The emotional and psychological effects of abortion are not uniform, and like sexual violence, both the level of social support available and the ability to express agency in the decision-making process play a part in determining a survivor’s experience in the aftermath. If agency is not restored to survivors of sexual violence in deciding what happens in the aftermath of their assault, it continues a harmful negotiation that again negates their right to consent. 

… and Savior Complexes Burdening Child Heroes 

Black women have the highest abortion rates in the United States. These are facts one may have expected to hear in such a contentious dicussion - only it never came up. This echoes a larger silence surrounding the factors driving abortion rates, which include a lack of proper health resources and sex education, economic insecurity, and yes, racism. The mortality rate for abortions in the United States is 0.0008%, a tempting safety net if you belong to the most likely demographic – in fact, three times as likely as non-Hispanic white women – to die in childbirth in the U.S. These are the experiences Hatters For Life and organizations like them try to speak to. 

Ward shared her personal disagreements with Hatters for Life stem from how she believes she should carry herself as a Christian, which is with “the heart of hospitality and loving the whole person, and not just using them as a point in your argument, but actually integrating that into your life in the ways that you can show up for them …You know, treat everyone with kindness and respect again. And it felt like sometimes that was lacking … you, [Hatters For Life] are not exactly leading with the most empathy and compassion.” Ward’s statement showcases a difficulty at the crux of humanity. There is ease in championing for the beginning of a life you are not armed to disagree with; the difficulty comes in continuing to be an ally in systems governed by race, class and religion, just to name a few. 

Birthing people are not a monolith and their experiences are highly variable. Whether these lives would change for the better, for the worse, or simply end in childbirth are not circumstances anyone can foresee. No law guarantees successful incubators for someone else’s pipe dream of a meaningless ‘equality’, especially when the burden of fixing uneven odds is placed on ‘resilient children’.

Confronting Structural Violence

While the president of Hatters for Life, Maria Queen-Serwe ‘27, originally agreed to an interview, these plans unfortunately fell through with the untimely murder of Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), an organization that has recently begun efforts to open a chapter on Stetson’s campus.  Kirk was a polarizing figure in both his life and death, yet is also a symbol of the American way of life. That much can not be argued. Although not a sitting politician, Kirk became a spokesperson for the United States’ Republican Party during a time when many middle-class white men believe their voice is shrinking. Sean McDonough, a member of TPUSA, wrote a tribute to Kirk stating, “He had this magic that embodied the true spirit of the USA…He debated, respected, and challenged others, never putting them down.”Queen-Serwe described Kirk’s death as a “hard hit on us [Hatters For Life] as a group and as American people.” The rest of the statement she offered landed as a commandment, “If you would like to write something. Write on the violence in America. The political violence. And how it should be stopped.” 

Kirk is an accurate representation of the American people, shrouded history with race and all. An extremist in his view that America “made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s”, he made a career partly out of degrading minority groups and implicitly categorizing them as un-American. The “gang-related” violence he pointed to in his final words is a dog-whistle for outsiders the American system does not wish to assimilate. This sense of belonging or un-belonging unconsciously narrates what is recognized as “political violence” in this country and what is coined as “political difference.” The continued stance of self-titled “pro-life” organizations like Hatters For Life behind him is hard to reconcile with their advocacy for valuing life in other personally motivated areas. 

We live in an order where a white man can massacre one of the movement’s disciples and Historically Black Colleges and Universities and “transgender girlfriends” must take shelter. Regardless of whether people believe Kirk intended to endorse racial violence, we live in a highly hierarchical order where intent is not needed to feed supremacy. Hate, when put into the political space, is a hand extended to those who would like to incite violence. Kirk’s statements, including that “the American Democrat party hates this country. They wanna see it collapse. They love it when America becomes less white,” while opinion-based, emulate a call to action by tying the potential destruction of this nation to a racial makeup. 

Statements like these are why America is not a land where brown mothers can have children without fearing the system will weaponize their language, culture and in extreme cases, citizenship, to remind them they are unwelcome. Statements like these are why black mothers cannot hope that systems of welfare or generosity will fill in the gaps if they choose to have children while experiencing financial insecurity. To be a birthing person, with insurance, in America comes with a $2,000-$3,000 out-of-pocket payment documenting the arrival of your newborn. Being anti-abortion in America is an uphill battle, entangling a long history of shoddy infrastructure.

America has a problem. It has taken pride in the exclusivity of being ‘the richest nation in the world,’ forgetting that to be so exclusive requires exclusion. The passing of Charlie Kirk, while horrific, has also been a display of tone deafness while in a nation where lynching, police brutality, commercial incarceration and deportation of everyday people is still routine and tolerated under the moniker of “political opinion.” May this nation recognize that desperation has teeth and suffering cannot be contained for the ease of the many.  May the nation begin to recognize that what the beautiful, diverse groups of people in this nation ‘deserve’ has been morally bankrupted by the lack of steps taken to close the generational wealth gaps and lack of humanization created by our foundational sins. What is clear is one cannot outrun poverty, the violence poverty perpetuates, and that, despite unforeseen consequences, the system is working as designed. May the families of those who have lost loved ones on all sides choose to continue on their legacies with love, so no one is mowed down in broad daylight - whether they look like Charlie Kirk or Jabari Peoples. 

In dedication to: Adriana Smith, black and brown women navigating this climate in historically hyperpoliced bodies, the starving women in Palestine who will never again hold their children and all women who deserve to plan their tomorrow.

Correction: The original printed version of this article was not properly labeled as an "Opinion" or "Editorial" piece. The statement of Tumlin's family financial stability was assumed and not verified. The Reporter encourages a civil and respectful dialogue. Harassment or bullying of individuals who produced or were mentioned in our articles will not be tolerated.