There was a time when women had no rights and our voices were never heard, as we were supposed to be quiet and look pretty. But the times have changed. We can work, we can vote, we can run our own businesses, we can even have our own voice. Aren’t we so lucky to have basic human rights!!

How is it that the world has evolved so much that a woman is vice president, yet men have a say in what we do to our own bodies? Have we traveled back to a time when women are no longer important?

For years church and state were separated, but now the lines have blurred and religion has taken over. The rights of women to make a fundamental decision about their body and future have been terminated—the only choice women have now is determined by the state they live in.

Are there not enough children born into the child welfare system who are already motherless and have no connection or clue to where or whom they belong to? How can a cycle of brokenness ever stop when we as women will no longer have a say? So many children are already lost, but who cares because the privileged have already spoken and our future lies in the hands of men. Men who are not obligated to take birth control, who can decide if they want to be a father—and yet women are forced to carry a child for nine months.

We have come to a time when we have the right to bear arms, but not the right to make a decision that can permanently affect our entire being. They might as well continue to point their guns aimed at our heads, because we can have children, but who knows if they will make it past recess.

Farah, I Am Why consultant