Episode #76: Love, Liberation and Bodily Autonomy

June 30, 2022

As an intimate wellness brand for people with vulvas, Rosebud Woman denounces the recent SCOTUS decision to deny a woman’s basic human right to bodily sovereignty in the United States of America. This ruling allows regressive and misogynistic states, dominated by men, to codify forced birth, which at its essence is womb slavery. This decision will kill women: it is no less than murder via religious dogma and political repression (1).

Every informed healthcare organization treating women has stated that this decision is bad for women, including the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The American College of Nurse Midwives, Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health, the American Academy of Sexuality Educators, The International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health- as well as anti-sexual violence organizations such as the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, among thousands of others. On the “other side”: politicians and white evangelical protestant preachers (2). This decision is not only bad for women, it’s bad for men, it’s bad for children and families, and it’s bad for the country.

We stand for a woman’s absolute and complete sovereignty over her body and health care choices. We feel the grief and fear echoing from many of our sisters, we feel the exhaustion and the rage as our government says that we should not have the right to self-determine. It is the ultimate insult to us as free and autonomous beings, and belies a lack of trust in a woman’s own lived experience.

We see a future where comprehensive sexuality education, a full range of readily available birth control methods and a complete medical toolkit for women’s sexual and reproductive health are the norm. To us, full spectrum medical care includes period equity, fertility support, pregnancy termination, healthy pregnancy, birth and postpartum care, female sexual wellness, rape and sexual violence prevention and care, and menopause care. We see a world where women’s choices for their bodies are unquestioned by governments and churches. We support the Women’s Healthcare Protection Act, which takes this issue out of the now very partisan courts (3) and into the legislature.

Moreover, this choice exacerbates other existing social inequities. The data-driven Guttmacher Institute writes,”Evidence also shows the disproportionate and unequal impact abortion restrictions have on people who are already marginalized and oppressed—including Black and Brown communities, other people of color, people with low incomes, young people, LGBTQ communities, immigrants and people with disabilities.”

We are grateful to science and medicine for the ongoing refinements and discoveries on how to safely and joyfully bring forth life when it’s desired, and to help us plan for that time. To those that welcome babies no matter the circumstances, we are happy for you and your choice. We love our children, too. But bringing a child to term is never our decision to make for another person. It is none of our business. Neither is who someone loves or how they love. Women who desire motherhood bring forth life willingly when it is safe to do so and when it is in alignment with their values, resources, capacities and desires.

We note that the procreative yes is more likely to come in a world that is welcoming to children after they are born. A world that is economically supportive of families, with health systems, educational systems and ecosystems that provide the hope of a positive future for all beings. Perhaps those that would overrule women’s health experts might instead focus on creating a country more worthy of bringing children into, where they don’t go hungry, aren’t debt slaves in exchange for a functional education, and aren’t killed at school, the grocery store, in church or at the movie theater by men wielding assault rifles: a truly pro-life world (4).

We remain committed to creating beautiful products, accurate educational materials and inspiring content for a full, happy, self-determining sensual, sexual and reproductive life in a female body.

Our community honors the deep evolutionary wisdom of the feminine, the natural intelligence of women’s bodies, and trusts women to make the right choices for themselves and their families.

To more love, peace, power, justice and pleasure,

Christine Marie Mason

Founder, Rosebud Woman

(1) Definitions of 1st, 2nd and 3rd Degree Murder

(2) Forbes

(3) Georgetown Law

(4) Re: Being "Pro-Life": We note also that the source of the Dobbs case, the State of Missisippi, has an atrocious history of caring for its people, namely:

The poorest state in the nation: 19.5% of the population lives in poverty
2nd worst state in childhood hunger
79% of 4th graders can’t read proficiently
49th in adult literacy
Number one in gun deaths
Lowest life expectancy of any state
Number one in obesity
Number one in heart disease deaths
Number one in Covid Deaths
Number one in teen pregnancy
Number one in infant mortality
Number one in births to unmarried mothers
Number one in cesarean deliveries

Under no circumstances should the USA be cueing public policy off of what Mississipi wants. It is a net taker, getting 27% of state revenue from the Federal Government, or $3.40 for every dollar it puts in, and it fails to create a just existence for its people.

Helpful Links:

Sensing Woman 2022 - a week-long event that is bringing together groundbreaking artists, provocative speakers and celebratory experiences with a mission to accelerate equality and liberation for women
Do you want to share your thoughts on this episode? Find Rosebud Woman on Instagram as @rosebudwoman, Christine on Instagram as @the.rose.woman, and on Tiktok as @therosewoman108