Nearly two years ago I stood with thousands of women against House Bill 5711. The atrocious bill would essentially wipe out every health center in Michigan that provides abortions. Chants like, “this is our house” filled the chamber. Although we numbered in the thousands, we were all one movement.

Two years later, the right to terminate a pregnancy is still being threatened.

Last summer, Sen. Wendy Davis refused to sit down when reproductive rights were under attack in Texas. In Michigan, the state legislature overturned Gov. Rick Snyder’s veto, banning any form of insurance coverage for an abortion.

How is any of this supportive of women?

On Tuesday, Students for Life brought the “What Has Roe Done” display to campus. The display was set up between Anspach and the Bovee University Center and debated in previous issues of Central Michigan Life. The display demonstrates why the Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade – which legalized abortion in all states – was the worst thing for women since the Salem Witch Trials.

The display marketed abortion as a vial, heinous crime on women. It declared that women are exploited by the procedure. Their answer to abortion? Make it illegal.

I had a great talk with one of the supporters. To the pro-life cause, abortion is the ultimate crime against humanity and hurts both child and mother. The display explained how abortion procedures increase risk for premature deliveries in the future, placenta previa and suicide. The apologists rallied around the idea that abortion exploits women.

To an extent, I agree. Within a patriarchy, abortion exists because women must balance both motherhood and work. One of the primary reasons women choose abortion is because they cannot afford a child. So how about ending the causes, not the procedures?

End employment discrimination. Make colleges more parent-friendly. Stop shaming young, pregnant and single women. I find it troubling that the same politicians that vote against a woman’s right to choose also vote against important social programs like supplemental nutrition or low-income education assistance.

Ending abortion will not come by reversing the Roe decision. The problem started long before Roe.

Ending abortion will come when society finally decides to afford women their pregnancy and parenting rights. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 73 percent of women who receive abortions do so because they feel they do not have the financial capability to raise a child. How would reversing Roe v. Wade eliminate the crisis in a pregnancy?

The problem is not abortion. The problem is not birth control or women having sex before marriage. The problem is a system that fails women into having inadequate family planning options and forces them to choose between a job or a pregnancy.

The problem is not Roe. Abortions existed throughout history. The problem is a medical field that places effort in getting men to have erections rather than providing women with a safe and effective birth control. The problem is a society that views women as sex objects and disposable. The problem is a society that is held together by male and gendered standards.

It is impossible to end abortion within a patriarchy. Abortion exists because a patriarchy leaves women behind. The solution to ending abortion is to create a society that values women. Women deserve better than abortion. Women deserve better than anti-abortion activists trying to limit their right to abortion. Women deserve better than politicians dictating a woman’s personal liberty.

Women deserve better. Women deserve liberation.