I sat my nine-year-old daughter down after she got home from school yesterday.

“Our government is passing a law that gives them permission to decide when and where you can have a baby.”

“What?”

“That’s not all. At any point, the government can decide your womb is their property. They will have complete authority over your body.”

“I really don’t understand any of this.”

“You know what the worst part of all of this is? This is being decided by five people—four of whom can’t even have a baby. They have penises.”

“How is that possible?”

“Well, we live in a country where people with penises get to decide major life outcomes for people with vaginas.”

“Mom!!!”

It was a strange moment, but at the time I felt like someone had better mention it to her.

I suppose this is the part of the article where I summarize what I’m talking about. Truthfully, it seems a bit redundant at this point. For those who spent the last 72 hours in a coma, a Supreme Court document was leaked—penned by the oh-so-very honorable, George Walker Bush-appointed, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Samuel Alito.

The wheels for this pile of dog crap that is being dumped upon women’s reproductive rights were set in motion the moment Ruth Bader Ginsburg died and then Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plunked his choice right into her seat.

We all sort of knew it was going to happen eventually, but we also know we’re going to die eventually, too. That doesn’t make it any easier as we bleed out on the shoulder of the highway after getting ejected through our windshield.

I knew I’d have to have this talk with my daughter one day. I just figured she’d be a little older than nine. Regardless, as a father struggling to explain this insanity to his young daughter, I open the comment section up to anyone who can intelligently explain to me why a group of people—80 percent of whom can’t even get pregnant—are able to make such monumental, life-altering decisions for the people who can get pregnant. Explain it to me like I’m 12 years old.

And while I know this is a popular excuse for some, please don’t start invoking your religious beliefs.

According to Deuteronomy 22:28–29, “If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay the girl’s father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the girl, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.”

Christianity cannot be cherry-picked. If this comes down to the laws of the Bible (although I’m pretty sure we’re not ever supposed to mix church and state) then, along with banning abortion, you’d also have to say you’re totally fine with a rapist marrying your daughter as long as he throws you a fifty. Somehow, I doubt this is the case.

So, can someone please explain to me, for my daughter’s sake, how anything about this reality is just or fair or even sane?

I’m waiting…

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