Bravo!

"I refuse to give up this platform to promote complacency and peace, when there is a war on my body and a war on my rights," said Paxton Smith.

"Starting in September, there will be a ban on abortions that take place after six weeks of pregnancy, regardless of whether the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest," Smith said, referring to Senate Bill 8, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law last month.

In addition to banning abortion care after six weeks of pregnancy, at which point many women don't yet know they're pregnant, the law allows any citizen to sue anyone who "aids or abets" a patient who has an abortion—including clinic employees, friends or family members who drive the patient to their appointment, or providers.

"I have dreams, hopes, and ambitions," said Smith. "Every girl here does. We have spent our whole lives working towards our futures, and without our consent or input, our control over our futures has been stripped away from us. I am terrified that if my contraceptives fail me, that if I'm raped, then my hopes and efforts and dreams for myself will no longer be relevant. I hope you can feel how gut-wrenching it is, how dehumanizing it is, to have the autonomy over your own body taken from you."

[commondreams.org]