Come September, I will be starting my twenty second year teaching elementary art. I've seen a lot of changes in that time—everything from education policy to massive increases in security due to school shootings—but none has disturbed me in quite the way as one that is rarely, if ever, talked about in education circles: little girls going through puberty.
Over the years, I have witnessed what science is reporting: fourth graders who look like high schoolers; second and third graders who definitely need to be wearing a bra. A hundred years ago this didn't happen until a girl was in her mid to late teens.
This makes the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade all the more dire and life threatening. Eight-year-old girls who still believe in Santa and the tooth fairy, will be forced to carry pregnancies to term that are the result of rape or incest. While still reeling from the trauma of a vile attack that they don't fully understand, they will be traumatized all over again as their little bodies are forced to endure something they are not mentally or emotionally equipped to handle. And with the possibility that they may have to live under the same roof as their perpetrator, the abuse may not end just because they are pregnant. According to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, "homicide is a leading cause of death during pregnancy and the postpartum period in the United States. Pregnancy and the postpartum period are times of elevated risk for homicide among all females of reproductive age."
While their friends play hopscotch and jump rope at recess, they will be picked up early from school for ob-gyn appointments—if they have insurance or access to quality prenatal care—where the trauma will continue as doctors poke and prod body parts many don't even know they have let alone what their proper names are. While their friends learn how to ride bikes or roller skate or even participate in phys-ed classes, they won't be able to. The risk of miscarriage from a fall could land their parents in a world of legal trouble. And then there is the stigma, and the stares, the questions, the teasing and bullying from classmates. Do I even need to get into the trauma of labor and delivery?
Child suicide is on the rise in the US. Forcing babies to have babies will surely push this number higher.
The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate of any industrialized country and that number is rising, especially among women of color. All twenty five states that already have, are about to, or are likely to enact some sort of abortion bans, are in the bottom half of states rankings for overall quality of healthcare and women's healthcare in a Healthcare Insider ranking, with seventeen of them occupying the bottom twenty positions. Eleven were in the bottom twenty of the World Population Review's 2022 quality of life rankings of all fifty states plus the District of Columbia.
And they call this the greatest nation on the planet?
I created this piece—This Is Not Normal II: Babies Having Babies—as a companion to This Is Not Normal I (below) because guns now have more rights in this country than women, and I am horrified, sickened and appalled that not only women, but children, will now be forced to carry unwanted and/or life-threatening pregnancies to term in almost half the country. There is one word for that: slavery. THIS IS NOT NORMAL!
This Is Not Normal I is part of Art Venture NJ's first juried show, and will be on display at Flemington DIY, 26 Stangle Road, Flemington, NJ, July 16 - August 22
This Is Not Normal II will be on display at the Art Venture NJ Red, White and Blue show at Factory Fuel Company Coffee House, 2 Stangle Rd, Flemington, NJ, July 9 - September 9
Both pieces are for sale: TINN I is $300; TINN II is $750. After commissions and recouping framing and entry fee costs, I will be donating the proceeds to Moms Demand Action and Planned Parenthood respectively.
