US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has drafted a response to Roe vs. Wade, the law that made it legal for women to seek and attain a medically assisted pregnancy termination.  This is a what the eff moment for many of us.  How could we be here in 2022?

You know the beliefs you hold about abortion.  I’m not here to sway you one way or another or engage in debate.  It is a complex issue and linked to beliefs, values, and your cultural stew.  You, dear listener, are invited to consider your cultural stew from a slightly different perspective.  What are your values around health, wellness, and compassion for another woman? What if she was your granddaughter, daughter, sister, or even mother?  

Compassion and kindness are needed now more than ever, as the looming threat of the safety of women becomes a question.  This is a real what the fuck moment for women.  As women around the world, we have a voice.   Let it be one of compassion and love.

About the Host:

Tanya's mission is to create a legacy of self-love for women that reinforces trust in themselves through our programs, coaching, podcast, and book, The Trifecta of Joy! As Founder and creator of the Trifecta of Joy Philosophy, she combines over 30 years of research and work in various helping fields, to help you achieve your greatest successes!

Using her philosophy of the Trifecta of Joy, her mission is to empower people through their struggles with the elements of awareness, befriending your inner critic and raising your vibe. This podcast is about sharing stories of imperfection moving through life to shift toward possibilities, purpose, and power in your life!

Having had many wtf moments including becoming a widow, struggling with weight and body image issues, dating after loss, single parenting, remarriage, and blending families, Tanya is committed to offering you inspiration and empowerment – body, mind, and spirit!

As a speaker, writer, and coach, Tanya steps into her life’s purpose daily – to INSPIRE HOPE.

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Xo Tanya

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Hi friend, I'm Tanya Gill Welcome to lighten up and unstuck your What the fuck. Together, we explore the ways through life's stickiness moments, and how to live with more peace, joy, love and gratitude. We're going to talk honestly about what isn't easy so you can discover the light within you that will carry you forward. My friend, this podcast is about you in real life, your body, mind and soul, and the opportunity to not only live your best, but shine, doing it

well, hello, my friends, I'm so glad you're here. This week is brought uh, what the fuck too many of us. And I think this podcast needs to have a space in place to address it. I guess it is my podcast. So I'm going to be stepping on to a soapbox. I guess, for the next little bit. Even as I prepare to speak about this topic, I am so aware of the energy I feel in my body. I have a shortness of breath. And quite honestly, I'm a bit shaky. Okay, maybe I'm a little bit more than a bit shaky. I don't want to dive into a conversation around division. I want to have a conversation with you around compassion. This podcast is about you in real time. And I think that some of you may be having some real what the fox? If you've been on the socials or watched or read the news, you too may have said WHAT THE FUCK Roe versus Wade, my friends. My reaction was, and continues to be intense. How the fuck could this happen? How did we get to the point in 2022 where the government can control women's bodies and force them to give birth. as I record this, we are facing news of a leaked draft. And the quote is, row was egregious ly wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak. And the decision has had damaging consequences. These are the words of the draft that was crafted by the US US Supreme Justice Samuel Alito. You guys, these words have the potential to strip the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy from American women. And listen, like, I know there are pro life listeners and there are pro choice listeners. And I just want you to hear me out. I also recognize that I'm not American. I'm Canadian. And actually, I don't even have a uterus. So why would I even care? Why should you care? Every woman should care. even and especially if you hold beliefs in the realm of pro life. I'm going to invite you into my life. I was married to my first husband, John, at the tender age of Yes, get this 20 I was like a couple actually, I was exactly two months past 20. And when we got married, we were both students. We were super financially dependent on loans and part time jobs. We several times had conversations about going to the food bank. And we had a plan to create a life together with a certain amount of stability and opportunity before we invited children into our lives. Now some of this may sound selfish, but for us, we knew that having a child would bet having a child at that point in our lives would not benefit us or that child. And let me be clear I was on birth control. But tucked into a human biology textbook for 10 solid years was $400 Cash for an abortion, I don't even know why it was 400 bucks. But here's what I can tell you. Back in the 90s, as a starving student as starving students, that was a fuck ton lot of money. It wasn't something that you just had laying around. But we did. Because we didn't want to be parents. And we needed to have the finances to terminate. So that the choice if we were ever faced with it was even a possibility. We saw it as being responsible.

But it was all about having the opportunity to be able to make that decision. And that's just it. The decision, Roe versus Wade has the potential to strip rights, starting with abortion and ending where the court decision of Roe versus Wade you guys a dates back to the legalization of abortion nationwide in the United States in 1973. That's before I was even born. But don't kid yourself. Abortion is as old as sex, especially non consensual sex. In fact, in some parts of the United States that did a little geeking out. Abortion was actually legal, you guys, and unregulated until the 1870s, when concerns about hygiene and safety from the medical establishment banned it in some places, whether ban or not, there are young women that have found themselves pregnant, faced with a choice and chosen to terminate because of Roe versus Wade, that decision can actually be carried out in ways that were safe, respectful, and allowed for a woman to determine the trajectory of her life. Her life as a social worker, my friends, I have shared space with women considering their options, birth or termination. It seems simple. But I want to invite you into the complexity. I've sat with many women in the space of decision. One woman stands out but her story is not in isolation. She had cognitive delays due to prenatal alcohol exposure. So she had FASD where most people don't even question having a natural support system. She had none. She herself experienced addiction, and already had several children in care. Despite her best efforts to prevent pregnancy, her transient life meant missing a birth control shot. And as a result, she found herself pregnant for the fourth time. Within all of the challenges of the day to day effort to simply live for this young woman, she was pregnant again. Birth or termination. For her birth meant facing the struggle and pressure from a system a system that was going to try to help her stay sober. But but this was despite having already had several past attempts. It also meant trying to create stability and housing, income, day to day life and finding a support system which may or may not be there in nine months. Giving birth to a child that would be significantly impacted by her own drug and alcohol use a brand new cloak of guilt and shame. It would also mean for her that she would face the trauma of apprehension of said child and then the fight because don't get me wrong, every parent fights for their child and then the likely loss of custody of child number four and real lies the impact of her life now in addiction on that child for the rest of their life, whether she got sober now, today, that moment or not. Birth also meant another sibling for her children. A child that her own sibling had been clear was not able to take and therefore, would potentially be raised in a system that she felt failed her as a child in need. The decision is not a simple one. Whether a woman decides to terminate or give birth, she faces the reality that pregnancy is a marker where life is never the same.

Let's be real. an unwanted pregnancy can be viewed as a surprise gift to some and to trauma at the deepest level for others. And only the pregnant woman knows that experience that led her to the pregnancy. For any woman, I don't believe that decision is easy. But I do know that if the ability to make the decision is stripped away, it will become a problem for women like her more than ever. In the late 1960s. The growing women's right movement and liberal Christian and Jewish denominations who understood that protecting women's rights was a profound moral issue began to support and push for the legalization of abortion. This brought the end to back alley abortions. Yes, yes. With coat hangers and knitting needles and amateur surgeries and poisonous chemicals and worse. The safety and health of women is a fucking right. Oh, here's the thing. If Roe versus Wade gets overturned, this will mean that women in many of the United States will no longer have a legal right to abortion. No illegal right means a return to fuck and coat hangers and knitting needles and dangerous procedures being botched in an effort to terminate for some if nots what makes me angry as fuck. For women like the one I just described, this is exactly what it means she doesn't have $400 tucked away somewhere. For those with privilege, those with the means there will always remain safer ways. There'll be more costly, and they'll be secretive as fuck. But they'll still be there. Private spas and resorts that cater to these services will eventually eventually secretly, likely begin to underground for those with the financial means to tuck away their secret. And the secret it would stay because of course, abortion would be illegal. Either way, you guys. There's already guilt and shame for most women who find themselves in the place where they are needing to be making a decision. The privileged aren't going to be spared from back guilt and shame. The message is clearly guilt and shame. I did something bad, I am bad. And in the eyes of the law, this is bad. That message will never land on a man, even the Father the same way because their lives aren't impacted the way a woman's is. It's simply not the same. And abortions will still happen. But for some for the majority. All of the moral and emotional, social, psychological and physical struggle that comes with being faced with an unwanted pregnancy. For whatever reason, for what ever reason, will now become a fucking health and safety issue. There are health and safety standards in place Regarding piercings For God's sake, these standards of safety for abortion has the potential to no longer exist in 21st. World country states. Oh, yeah. You know what? I feel passionate about this. I do I feel passionate about this because what life threatening procedures may these women be faced with? What decisions may they be forced to make with regard to their own health and safety because of this potential decision being made for them. Roe versus Wade is a hot political,

moral and social topic. I get it. I chose to dive in. Because I want to wait and fight the importance of compassion into this conversation. Whether you're pro life or you're pro choice, I want you to consider that striking down Roe versus Wade, is the removal of compassion for women on a global scale. The US Don't kid yourself our southern neighbor, I'm a Canadian, is a country on a world stage. It's seen as a leader and innovator, a superpower and whatever country you are in whatever laws you are governed by. This law affects us all. The world for better or for worse, as a leader is looked to if the leak is supported, and Roe vs. Wade is struck down, the trajectory for human rights may be at risk on various levels, my friend, here's the thing. It's actually argued that there's no mention of abortion in the Constitution. Hey, newsflash, the Constitution was written in 1747 by 55 men. The constitution is 4000 words. I am pretty sure it can be argued that many developments since that time were not referenced. Additionally, do you think 55 white guys in 1747 even gave a shit about reproduction. Women were fucking property for the most part. It wasn't for another 172 years that women were able to in solidarity fight for their right to be independent enough to vote. Be very clear. When the Constitution was written, we the people was not referring to women. So here I am still on my soapbox. Holy fuck, right? I know this sounds like a mind blowingly stupid question. But if women aren't referenced in the Constitution, could it be possible that some at some unimaginable point in the future, the right of women to vote could come under scrutiny and possibly be reversed? It sounds fucking ludicrous. But so did the thought that in my lifetime, abortion would become illegal in a first world country, a country with health care and a means to support the wellness of its people. If one significant law gets reversed, in potentially 20 of 55 states, what other laws could potentially come under fire? Seriously, it may only be a matter of time before rights and freedoms regarding marriage and sexuality. And family life, including birth control may be at risk. And I'm not talking out of my ass here. There are legal opinions who are saying, wait a second. What could this mean? And I'm not going to lie. When I heard about this leak The first image that came to mind was a coat hanger. The second image was a handmade Maggie, I love you. That's a reference by the way to a Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. If you're into awesome Canadiana Canadiana if you're into awesome Canadiana literature, Margaret Atwood, a Handmaid's Tale, it's spooky as fuck. Some have even gone so far as to call it prophetic.

Basically handmaid's among other women had no rights to their reproduction either in while in fact actually no women had rights in The Handmaid's Tale. But even more alarming, many women were so successfully divided, that they couldn't ever stand in solidarity under his eye, just look it up. Just look it up. I know I'm going on a tangent. But here's the thing. What I want you to think about and what I want you to be invited into, and what I want you to hear is this. Now more than ever, as sisters to one another, as mothers and daughters, and granddaughters and grandmothers, we have to consider what the reversal of this law may mean, for the generations of women to follow us. Yeah, the unborn. You know, the beliefs that you hold about abortion, and I'm not here to sway you one way or another. I know that this issue is complex as fuck, and linked to beliefs and values, and your cultural stew. I just want you to consider that cultural stew from a slightly different perspective. What are your values around health, wellness, and compassion for another woman? What if this other woman was your daughter, your granddaughter, your sister, or your mother? As sisters, as women, we need to approach this with a voice. A voice that says I love you. I stand with you. I am compassionate toward my sisters and stand in solidarity for the health, wellness and freedom that we as women have had to earn. It was not given to us like her counterpart men. Whether you're pro choice or pro life, as sisters, we need to come together to say I see you I hear you. I have not walked in your shoes. But you are loved. One of the greatest gifts you can give another even an especially when you don't agree with them is compassion. striking down Roe versus Wade says the exact fucking opposite. It says women should be shamed and blamed and don't deserve health and wellness. Because they are bad. I really waffled about putting this out there. But thanks to my bestie Tina, you're hearing it. She reminded me that life is messy. And this topic may even seem Messier. But that's the point of this podcast to consider where you are, what your values are. And to see if you're sitting in a What the fuck about this or not? Do you even care and why? This is a hot topic, and it's controversial and I know I may ruffle some feathers. Let me be super clear just once more. I'm not here to debate the issue of abortion. I am here to invite you to consider being love and light to your sisters. And remembering that a voice alone in darkness is rare. really heard but several voices in light is a song. Sisterhood is beautiful. compassion and love are beautiful. rights and freedoms are beautiful. And my friend the song of women is a beautiful thing. From my heart to yours