DJ Ashley James has spoken out about her fears for the UK since the US Supreme Court overthrown Roe V Wade.
Last month, the United States Supreme Court voted to overturn the landmark ruling passed in 1973. promised a woman’s right to abortion in all 50 states.
The move now allows individual states to enact their own abortion laws, and was made possible by three conservative judges appointed by the former president Donald Trump†
Shockwaves were felt in the US and beyond as the decades-old law was overturned, and some fear that women’s rights are on the decline — and it could happen here.
Metro.co.uk spoke to Ashley James, a DJ, presenter and proud feminist, who admits she is deeply concerned about the goings-on in America, describing it as ‘the most devastating news’.
“I was so upset to read it and mostly because it doesn’t feel far away,” she said.
“Of course my heart breaks for all the people in America who will be affected by this, but in 2019 there was a vote to decriminalize abortion in Northern Ireland and 99 of our own MPs voted against†
She also quoted Tory MP Danny Kruger, who after Roe v Wade was quashed in the US, appeared to suggest in parliament that he does not believe that women should have the ‘absolute right to physical autonomy’†
“I find it very frightening, and it’s also frightening how close it is to home,” she admitted.
“Hopefully we can learn lessons from what happened in America and use our votes to protect British citizens from something similar happening here.”
She added: “It breaks my heart, too, the systematic misogyny,” noting that of the six men on the Supreme Court, two — Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas — have facing allegations of sexual assault and harassment†
Ashley said this was ‘just like in our own government’ where 56 MPs face sexual misconduct allegations†
“It’s just a constant reminder that patriarchy oppresses us and believes it has a right to shift the shame and blame onto women,” she said.
“I feel like it has to do with ignorance about controlling reproductive rights because we know from history that it doesn’t stop abortions, but it does stop abortions.”
The mum-of-one spoke about how women are expected to give “extreme examples” of why safe abortions are needed, but emphasized that it “should be enough to say you’re not ready for a baby to have a many reasons’.
However, she admitted that it was “important to highlight all the more extreme cases” because it seemed to be the “only way we could change people’s minds.”
“It breaks my heart that in all this talk of controlling people with uterine reproductive rights, the underlying message is essentially that women shouldn’t have sex if they don’t want a baby.
‘And [if women do have sex] we have to face the consequences. If under any circumstances we were conceived by another person, including rape, incest, so many horrific things, that we would have to become caretakers regardless of the impact on our body, mind, family, ability to work, to feed our other children.
“It’s just mind-boggling that they claim they care about life, but not about the life of the person they’re forcing them to do.”
The star went on to share her disbelief that in the United States, even if a person is forced to go through with the pregnancy, there is very little support once the baby is born, citing the shortage of formulas and the lack of universal health care among other things.
“I feel like it’s a lie to say it’s about life,” she said.
“I think everyone has a right to personal beliefs, whatever they are, but those beliefs should never rob another person of making their own decisions.”
Ashley pointed out that in the conversation about abortion, there is “no shame for men who get women pregnant, no criminalization of men who get women pregnant.”
Ashley stated it is “unbelievable” what has happened and admitted that she “always believed there would always be progress and I worry when you hear stories that they discussing birth control or the right to same-sex marriage hereafter.†
Even in the UK, she added, the cost of raising a child is astronomicalwith mainly women being forced to leave the workforce because of the cost of childcare or working hours that do not fit around school hours.
“And unfortunately, and especially after the lockdown, it’s mostly women who should be the free childcare,” she suggested, claiming that “even if men try… they often get rejected” when told to go to work. leave for childcare reasons.
“It’s always the idea that it should be us,” she said, “but what if the missus is a lawyer or a teacher or even, in my case, a DJ?”
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