by Ruth A. Sheets
American women are facing a crisis that should have been settled more than 46 years ago when Rowe V. Wade was correctly ruled on by the Supreme Court. The ruling stated that women have a right to abortion in the United States. Since that time, conservatives and people who call themselves “Right to Life” have been doing everything possible to overturn this Supreme Court decision. Why? They want women put back in their place, back where “God” decides on pregnancy and men rule the home and everything in it, or think they do.
One can understand why men would like this. It allows a man to remain a juvenile who can boss a woman and children around, treat them just as he wants to, and be sure “his” woman does nothing he does not approve. The confusion for me is that women go along with this. One of the media darlings on this issue was a woman named Phyllis Schlafly, a lawyer whose purpose in life was to tell other women they should not have what she had. Being a stay-at-home mom was a glorious thing, something all girls should aspire to.
With her help, over time, vitriol against abortion and the women who had one became vicious. A fetus was a person for many of them, even to the point of having more rights than the woman who carried it.
When the “pro-life” prayerful protests didn’t work, their actions became louder and more extreme. The movement encouraged bombing clinics where abortions were performed, killing abortion providers (it would save a lot of baby lives), passing draconian laws to make simple unimposing, safe, clean facilities unacceptable and require instead, unnecessary, unbelievably expensive surgical centers to perform a simple 5-minute procedure.
When these actions didn’t have the desired results, the movement got help from mega conservative organizations that designed bills for Republican legislatures all over the country that would ban abortions after some period into a pregnancy (20 weeks at first, then 8, then 6 weeks), forced ultrasounds on pregnant women, forced women to get male permission, enforced extremely inconvenient long waiting times, threatened doctors with prison. None of these helped any women because, of course, they were not meant to. They were meant to send us back to the good old days when women had to seek back-alley abortions, often dying as a result. For the pro-lifers, that was OK because those women deserved what they got for daring to end a pregnancy.
Since the pro-lifers love fetuses so much, one might wonder if they care what happens after the all-sacred birth. The answer is, of course not. That’s the mother’s responsibility now. Pro-lifers just got the baby born. Now, you’re on your own. Good luck!
No matter how hard we who are pro-choice examine the problem, we just can’t seem to understand a few things (OK, anything about the pro-life position).
- First of all, how does a man, any man (especially old white men) have a say regarding women's reproduction? Men will never know what it means to be pregnant let alone pregnant as a teen, as a rape victim, as a victim of incest, as a college person trying to get life started, as a desperate carrier of a severely compromised fetus, you know, the things that could lead a woman to choose abortion.
- Then, how can a politician have a say in women's reproduction? These guys not only are mostly not women, they are not doctors, and they really don’t care to learn about women’s needs. Men are often pathetic hypocrites who don't want government in their business but are more than OK if government is in women's vaginas and uteruses.
- Furthermore, How is it religious fanatics have any say regarding women's reproduction beyond FaceBook comments? This country was built on the separation of church and state. The right to abortion does not mean you must have an abortion, just that you can choose to have one.
How should the thinking women of America respond? We should pull a Lysistrata on the men of America. Refuse all sexual contact with any man who does not 100% stand behind women's right to choose.
Men think that because they are loud and strong physically that they have a right to tell women anything they want about everything. They don't and perhaps it is time we take a hint from the Ancient Greek play and kick disrespectful men out of our beds, possibly, our lives.
Then we need to work on the women who are so afraid of men and what they think that they will betray their sisters and claim it is OK for women to be treated like little kids with no rights and no control over their own bodies. Perhaps these women need to be pushed back a bit until they grow up and stand up for themselves and for their sisters.
In the Greek play “Lysistrata,” the women refuse their beds to their men until the men stop the war that has been raging. Well, this is a war against women. It’s time we women follow the heroine Lysistrata and kick men out of our beds until they grow up and get out of women's reproductive decisions.
Come on sisters and supporters. Lysistrata has come to America and is showing us the way to get what we need!
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