12-Year-Old Children Should Not Have To Be Abortion Rights Heroes

The West Virginia legislature held a public hearing Wednesday regarding a restrictive abortion ban being considered. About 90 people showed up to make comments, most of whom were reportedly there to speak in favor of abortion rights.

The youngest of those speakers was 12-year-old Addison Gardner. Each speaker was given only 45 seconds to make their case and she certainly made the most of her time.

“I attend Buffalo Middle School,” she told lawmakers. “I play for varsity volleyball and I run track. My education is very important to me, and I plan on doing great things in life. If a man decides that I’m an object and does unspeakable and tragic things to me, am I—a child—supposed to carry and birth another child?”

“Am I to put my body through the physical trauma of pregnancy? Am I to suffer the mental implications, a child who had no say in what was being done with my body?” she demanded. “Some here say they are pro-life. What about my life? Does my life not matter to you?”

Gardner is being heralded online as being “brave” and a “hero.” She definitely is those things but my god, she shouldn’t have to be. No child should have to gather up this kind of courage to be such a huge inspiration in the fight for abortion rights. Gardner’s speech was powerful but the fact that she had to give it in the first place means we as a society have failed her.

There were a number of other incredibly impactful speeches given that day, like this one from Katie Quiñonez, the director of Women’s Health Center, the only abortion clinic in West Virginia.

“Let’s be clear, this ban has nothing to do with life, it has nothing to do with health, it has nothing to do with family, it is about control,” said Quiñonez, who was forcefully escorted out after going over her allotted 45 seconds.

In the end, the bill is still being considered but state legislators did add in an amendment Wednesday that would make an exception to the ban in case of rape (if reported to law enforcement) and incest.

(image: screencap)

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Vivian Kane

Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

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