Generation-Z

by William Sander

Dear Generation-Z,  

As a generation, we are no stranger to divisive politics. Growing up in one of the most tumultuous periods in American political history, it has been forced into our psyches and pressed upon our generational conscious,  for better or worse. 

Like many of us, I have well-established political beliefs, but I’ve always been reluctant to be vocal about them. Yet, after the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, I realized that if I didn’t speak now, people across our country would begin to suffer. But it’s not about my voice; it’s about the voice of our generation.  

We have had the luxury of growing up in a country that recognizes that women can and should have the right to make the appropriate choices for their health based on their beliefs.  

We’ve grown up in a country where the right to bodily autonomy was considered so essential to our idea of liberty that even if a majority wanted to deny that right, they couldn’t.  

Most importantly, we have grown up in a country that has fought to live up to our founding promise of ensuring life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, for all.  

Thirty-one days ago, the Supreme Court delivered the final blow of a 50-year campaign to deny our citizens their right to choose by overturning half a century of established legal precedent that ensured their access to abortion.  

In doing so, they have laid the foundation for the most significant regression of individual liberties this country has ever seen. In essence, they’ve decided that because the ratifiers of the 14th Amendment did not intend to include a right to abortion in 1868, bodily autonomy should not be protected.  

The 14th Amendment enshrines the principle that citizens cannot be denied their right to “life, liberty, and property” without due process. For over half a century, the court has recognized that some rights are so integral to “liberty” that they can’t be denied at all; these included equality of marriage, use of contraceptives, and most notably, the right to an abortion. It’s what Justice Louis Brandeis labeled “the right to be left alone.” 

Four Wednesdays ago, the Supreme Court declared that only the “liberties” that the framers intended to enshrine at ratification should be constitutionally protected. The court takes no issue with the reality that, in 1867, their definition of “liberty” did not extend to women and other marginalized groups. 

Now, as a generation, we have a choice to make. Will we sit down and take comfort in knowing that we are on the right side of history and hope that things will be okay eventually, or will we be the first to stand up to fight for what we know is right?  

This moment is no longer a trial of left or right, nor blue or red. Instead, it is a trial of what liberty is and who is entitled to it. The nation’s Conservative movement is putting our freedoms on trial. Will you rise to their defense? 

As state assemblies across the nation prepare to pass total bans on abortion access, now is the time to speak. Now is the time to let our representatives know that we will not stay quiet. Now is the time to demonstrate that we are a credible electoral threat and that if they do not stand with us, they will be out of office come November.  

If you believe that all of our citizens are created equally, if you believe that there are certain unalienable freedoms, and if you believe in our collective right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness— I urge you to act.  

This is the line in the sand. 

This is the moment. 

Sincerely, William Sander

William Sander is an undergraduate student at Furman University from Fort Mill, South Carolina. He’s passionate about using activism as a tool to encourage those in power to uplift and empower the humanity of their constituents.