This is our original June 30, 2022 statement. We thank the horror community for their support in getting it reposted.
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The HWA Colorado Chapter’s statement regarding the SCOTUS ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and its overturning of Roe v. Wade:
As of this writing, the HWA Colorado Chapter is young and still growing its legs. But we do know that in the growing process, some national events require a group to declare where those growing legs are standing, as it profoundly affects their future. We are a group of horror writers and creatives who want a good, progressive, inclusive, and bright future.
HWA CO’s Chapter Officers and Advisory Team believe that regarding the decision reached by the Supreme Court of the United States in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, this has taken a wrecking ball to women’s rights and personal medical autonomy. To further illustrate this, we cite excerpts as bullet points from the dissenting opinion composed by Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan as our own opinion:
~ “…[Court] settled freedoms involving bodily integrity, familial relationships, and procreation” are in serious peril.
~ “Whatever the exact scope of the coming laws, one result of today’s decision is certain: the curtailment of women’s rights, and of their status as free and equal citizens.”
~ “[The ruling] …says that from the very moment of fertilization, a woman has no rights to speak of.”
~ Regarding the 14th Amendment and its ratifiers being all men: “So it is perhaps not so surprising that the ratifiers were not perfectly attuned to the importance of reproductive rights for women’s liberty…When the majority says that we must read our foundational charter as viewed at the time of ratification (except that we may also check it against the Dark Ages), it consigns women to second-class citizenship.” [Please note the previous parenthetical statement is the dissenting Justices’ and not ours, though we wholly agree with its implicatory condemnation.]
~ “Either the mass of the majority’s opinion is hypocrisy, or additional constitutional rights are under threat. It is one or the other… We fervently hope that does not happen because of today’s decision. We hope that we will not join Justice Scalia in the book of prophets. But we cannot understand how anyone can be confident that today’s opinion will be the last of its kind.”
As horror creatives and as Coloradans, HWA Colorado not only fully supports women’s rights, we support the imperiled rights of contraception use, the right to same-sex marriage, and the right to marriage equality, generally. “Diversity” and “freedom” aren’t just cheap sentiments thrown around for recruitment purposes. We believe they are real, and we believe they are vital to us and the rest of our country. We support the State of Colorado’s legislative and legal efforts to not only protect those ideas, but to expand those protections and services to Coloradans and our Fellow Americans.
I think HWA Colorado’s legs just got a little bit stronger, and we are grateful for our Chapter Members and anyone who stands with us.
Signed,
The HWA CO Chapter Officers and Advisory Team:
Angela Sylvaine
Shannon Lawrence
Travis Heermann
Jeamus Wilkes
HWA Colorado 