Schuyler Burke

Prior to turning 13, I thought abortion was murder. 

Then I became a teenager, and a girl in my choir class got pregnant. She told me about it in our middle school locker room. I tried to imagine myself in her shoes at that moment and was paralyzed with fear. My entire understanding of what abortion was shifted as we discussed her options. It was the first moment I felt the gravity of such a decision and the necessity of choice. 

Unfortunately, that choice is no longer an option. There is some 13-year-old girl crying in her middle school locker room that is forced to sacrifice her future because she was taken advantage of. The Dobbs v. Jackson ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade has fostered a dreadful reality where women in Texas cannot access safe and legal abortions. 

Our votes have a palpable influence on this. I am vulnerable, and our mothers, our sisters, our daughters and our nieces are vulnerable as Texas women to the votes of our peers and the threat of U.S. Supreme Court nominations.

This presidential election is the first since the Dobbs ruling revoked federal reproductive freedom. As such, it has forced me to reconceptualize who and what I am voting for. 

On election day, as I walk in to cast my ballot, I am not just voting for a presidential candidate. In a post Roe v. Wade America, my vote, our votes, are deciding who has the power to appoint the Justices who interpret our laws and define our rights for generations to come. 

Former President Trump demonstrated the immense power of the presidency to reshape the Supreme Court. Nominations to the highest court in the United States are reflections of the president we as citizens vote into office. Unfortunately, the reflection of his presidency and demonstration of power declared that women are not capable of making decisions concerning their health or futures. 

This presidential election is in no way insular to the executive branch. Moreover, our president should reflect principles of freedom, opportunity and individualism through their Supreme Court appointments. Dobbs threatened these principles and stripped millions of women of their autonomy. 

Show up on election, day and cast a vote for the women in your lives. I will be voting for that 13-year-old girl who is scared, for my mother and sisters, for my future children and all the women who could never imagine getting an abortion.

Hobdy is an English sophomore from Round Rock, Texas.