 | | | Alexandra Gold is a junior at Acalanes High School. She volunteers for the Teen Advisory Board at the Lafayette Library, and enjoys literature, the environment, and politics. | | | | | | Political catastrophe strikes.
Again. And I fall into a dream. A dream where the future is unabashedly female.
Donald Trump has had his sexist moments. In my opinion, he is rash, misguided, and frankly fails to consider the greater picture. And that's coming from a 16-year-old. Recently, however, Trump has approved a choice that further divides America's females from the rest of the population - a decision that I believe must be reversed at all costs. Donald Trump has begun the war on contraception.
In a population that is exponentially growing at a pace our resources cannot sustain, one would think that maintaining a birth rate that will not strain our cultural carrying capacity would be principal, correct? In Donald Trump's eyes it is, apparently, not so.
Friday, Oct. 6 marks the date that the President revealed his plan to remove the contraceptive coverage in the Affordable Care Act. More than 55 million women have access to birth control without co-payments because of the mandate, says a study performed by the Obama administration. These are millions of women who deserve to live without added worry of unexpected pregnancy or lack of the pills that are medically key to their functioning role in civil society. However, the problem is not only contraception, it is what politicians will do in subsequent years that is so concerning.
Safe access to Planned Parenthood and abortion are already on the line. Consider the LGBT+ community. Consider the minorities. Consider the women who cannot yet afford birth control on their own, and are forced to rely on the risky possibility of a partner. Raising the status of women worldwide is the only way to save the future of our planet.
Women are 50 percent of the population after all; I think the involvement of these independent ladies in civil society is priority.
So my hope is the people of this country get educated and get outside. It does not matter how young you are, or what party you identify with. Speak out with confidence, and do not let this time in our government's history pass you by without a second thought.
I dream because I have seen what my generation can engender: harmony, zeal, and a future everyone can believe in.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA