Amid the women’s rights battle, the pro-choice versus pro-life argument has been going on for ages. The debate has never been more active.

It seems as if we have made progress with abortion rights, but the recent Senate Bill 8 in Texas evokes questions regarding how much? Abortion rights coming and going obligates me to wonder: are we genuinely doing enough for women’s rights?

It is absurd that we have to fight for basic human rights, especially concerning women, who make up approximately half of the world population. Here we are in 2021, battling with a movement that started over 170 years ago.

The women’s suffrage movement in the United States commenced in 1848. The Seneca Falls Convention marked a new beginning, formally starting this ongoing battle. According to History.com, this convention was to “protest against a form of government, existing without the consent of the governed – declare our rights to be free as man is free,” Elizabeth Cady Stanton stated during the convention.

After 1848, the fight continued. According to History.com, in 1916 Margaret Sanger opened the very first United States birth control clinic in Brooklyn. The clinic was shortly raided. Sanger eventually closed the clinic after two prior closing due to legal threats.

Birth control is a fundamental human right that allows women to control when and if they have children. It falls underneath human health care protection. Not allowing birth control contradicts human rights. According to Planned Parenthood, birth control was approved by the FDA, or Food and Drug Administration, in 1960, much longer after the first birth control rights attempts were made.

In 1973, abortion rights were granted to women, marking a famous milestone in the women’s rights movement. Roe v. Wade argued that the 14th Amendment in the Constitution protects a woman’s right to get an abortion. This was a major breakthrough in the progression of access to safe abortions across the United States. However, the government once again has pushed onto women through the Senate 8 Bill: an effort trying to force us to take a step back.

The Senate Bill 8 of 2021 limits legal abortions in Texas after six weeks before most women will know they are pregnant. Copycat states, such as Florida and Colorado, risk following in Texas’ footsteps and joining the bill as well.

As shown through these 173 documented years of oppression, we must continue to fight for our rights throughout these constant pushbacks.