I have a student who wrote in her medical school essay, “My grandmother grew up in a country that had been westernized before it became radicalized.” That country was Iran before the Islamic Revolution in 1979, which took Iran from a modern country back to the dark ages, especially for women and the gay community. The recent news leak that the US Supreme Court plans to overturn Roe v Wade after it’s been in place for fifty years demonstrates a radical shift to the far religious right on our highest court of the land and should have everyone who values privacy rights of any kind quivering in their boots. After voting to remove women’s reproductive rights when over 70% of the country is in favor of keeping Roe v Wade in place, what’s next? LGBTQ+ rights? The right to marry someone of a different race? These are privacy issues. When the government gets into your bedroom or your doctor’s office, this is an invasive act and a clear threat to our democracy.

Here is a photo of women in Tehran in 1971 before the revolution.

Women in Tehran post-Revolution

Do not take our freedom for granted. It is clearly under threat as of yesterday. It’s time to stand up and fight for our rights.