Opinion: Harnessing female anger is more important now than ever, but major news publications seem hesitant.

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Since a draft of the Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade leaked earlier this month, major publications have focused largely on the breach of democratic ideals the Supreme Court’s flawed and unpopular decision represents. The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Guardian and more have all written extensively on what this means for the future of our nation. Few, though, have published anything about what it means for our nation right now.
The current media malpractice in covering this moment in history can be perhaps best exemplified through NYT columnist Frank Bruni. His column, published the day after the Roe v. Wade draft leaked, “Four Reasons the End of Roe v. Wade Terrifies Me” ironically does very little to acknowledge the tremendously terrifying impacts this court decision will have. In the column, Bruni labels the decision as “awful policy.” Now that’s an understatement! Why not call it what it is? The policy is a sexist violation of women’s rights and bodies.
The rest of the article is just as tone-deaf. Bruni’s terror, he claims, comes from the eroding stature of the Court and widening political divides. In other words, he fears political abstractions. But to people like me, anti-abortionists provoke profound, traumatic emotions — there is real terror here. It’s not that the implications the ruling has for our country’s deteriorating democracy do not matter, but that the real, immediate effect the ruling will have on the group at its core, women, matter more.
You’re “really, really scared,” Frank? I’m really scared! Since the four things Frank is terrified of have little to nothing to do with the experience of people who could be forced to carry an unwanted fetus to term, I’ll give some more insight into what’s really scary about anti-abortion legislation. I am terrified for the girls growing up in 2022, still decades behind in equality to their male peers. I’m terrified for the women who will seek out medically dangerous procedures, who will be prosecuted for choosing themselves over a lifeless egg, who may not receive medical aid necessary to save even their own lives. I am terrified for the women who will become mothers against their will. I am terrified of sexual assault, which is common in countries like Honduras with strict anti-abortion legislation and has been on the rise in our own country. And, like Bruni, I am also terrified for the next human right that will be federally taken.
Imagine being among the predicted 58% of American, reproductive-aged women who may be left without access to a necessary medical procedure. Imagine being any woman, any girl, and having the rights to your own body taken from you. Imagine reading a New York Times opinion article that offers less than two sentences on what this reproductive-restricting legislation will specifically mean for the women at its center.
An act of sexism at this scale is a major, traumatic reaffirmation of how women have historically been treated. It’s violent, controlling, defeating. It’s rape, domestic responsibility, violence. It’s the missing 30 cents an hour. It’s alleys and fraternity parties. It’s movies, magazines and porn sites. It’s “you hit like a girl,” “smile more” and “well, what was she wearing?” The overturn of Roe v. Wade is a federally sanctioned middle finger to women everywhere. It’s the world telling us over and over again what to do. Be quiet. Be polite. Be pretty. Show a little more. Have some modesty! Make a sandwich. Carry this unwanted fetus.
And it freaking sucks.
More overt than the sexism affirmed by Roe v. Wade’s decline is the message to all Americans on what the life of a woman is worth. A woman is not worthy of choice, of safe health care or of rights. A woman is valued less than a scientifically baseless opinion on embryos popularly adopted by radical, pseudo-Christians about 50 years ago. The recent incessant and undeniable entanglement between religious beliefs and our government betrays the foundations of this country. As recently as 1971, even Baptists believed in the separation of church and state, with Baptist Press’ W. Barry Garret writing, “Religious liberty, human equality and justice are advanced by the Supreme Court abortion decision.” Today’s anti-abortionists cannot point to history to justify the imposition of their wildly subjective and changing perceptions of God’s will upon this country.
Sadly, it seems they don’t have to. Still, it is important we recognize what makes this recent ruling distinct from other neglect for constitutional or legal processes common in America today. It is a deliberate attack on women’s human rights. I don’t use the word attack lightly here.
And while our government becomes a conservative theocracy and women lose their bodily autonomy, the media, the so-called Fourth Estate, refuses to report on the world as it is. Perhaps in an effort to avoid heightening the polarization that writers like Bruni fear, media outlets’ hesitancy only stalls speaking an inevitable truth: the blood and trauma and terror of women in an abortionless America? That will be on Republican hands.
And American women will have far more than nine long months to remember that.
The main reason major media outlets must focus on Roe v. Wade as a women’s issue is because the anger of a woman is both necessary and unmatched. Perseverance through years of degradation and silencing has left us with much to say. New York Times, Rolling Stone — is there something wrong with your female writers’ pitches?
This is a time more than ever that female anger is justified and worthy. The media is obligated to showcase the true impacts made by this national news, even if — hell, especially if — that means giving a platform to and provoking real rage, trauma and terror. Bruni wrote he shudders to “imagine the recriminations — and the rage — after” Roe v. Wade is overturned. Women don’t have to imagine it. We feel it now.