by Ruth A. Sheets
I recently read a “balanced” article (the author’s claim)
about abortion, you know that subject that was pretty much a done deal by the
mid-1970s. But, some conservative Christians and Roman Catholics needed a
cause to bring them together for political power. Abortion was the only
issue they found they had in common.
Like so many “balanced” (but actually conservative)
articles, it started with the premise that people on both sides are guilty of
some kind of extremism. (Uh huh, false equivalency?
The anti-choicers ultimately want to ban all
abortions. But until then, in the case of incest and rape, and maybe for
the health of the mother it might be OK. We can gradually shorten the
window for abortion: NOT AFTER 20 weeks, then 16 weeks, then 6 weeks! when
electrical impulses that will at some point turn into a heart start firing
(HEARTBEAT), then maybe to conception.
The pro-choicers are supposed to be guilty of wanting
unlimited abortions, abortion on demand. You can abort that fetus the day
before it is due, and if you can’t quite get that done, you can have the nurse
wrap the baby up and decide whether or not to do away with it as Donald Trump
suggests.
Of course, presented this way, the anti-choicer position
seems reasonable (allowing some abortions with a few small
restrictions), while the pro-choicer position seems heartless and appalling,
untrue, but truth has little to do with this.
Anti-choicers have worked hard at seeming “reasonable, but
with a quick thought, one can see their restrictions are not.” A 72-hour
waiting period because she might change her mind (it is hard for women to
travel the many miles to a clinic twice, taking off work could cause her
to lose her job). Forbid 3rd trimester procedures (even though
these are extremely rare and nearly always health-related). Close clinics
unless they have hospital-like physical plants (totally unnecessary for a very
SAFE simple out-patient procedure). Require invasive ultrasounds to show
the “mommy her baby (the fetus is tiny and a vaginal ultrasound is completely
unnecessary before an abortion – slut shaming).
The problem, each time anti-choicers get their measures
approved by the courts, they just have to take a next step, 20-week limits,
requiring doctors to have hospital privileges in hospitals that don’t offer
them that courtesy. OK, we got that now, what’s next, six-week/heartbeat
bans, ban on “morning after” pills, ban on the simplest safest abortion
procedures. Criminalize abortion, the women who get one and the doctors
who perform them (99 years in jail). Ridiculous, but each has been passed
and signed into law in states of this union, despite the fact that abortion is
legal in this country. Anti-choicers seem so desperate to keep women
under control that they will just ignore the law and pass whatever they want to
punish those horrible sluts who just can’t keep their legs closed.
What has happened here is that anti-choicers discovered
political power. They often see themselves as the victims of
something: anti-Christian bias, anti-Christmas rules, anti-gun
legislation, loss of phantom jobs to immigrants, anti-white bias, and a bunch
of other imagined troubles that have been either drummed up or exacerbated by
ultra-conservatives as a way of creating and arousing their base.
Abortion is the perfect issue for the anti-choicers because
both men and women in a variety of cultures and religious groups have been
brought up to believe that women are inferior as is anyone who is poor not
white. Men can sleep around because “boys will be boys.” If a
girl/woman gets pregnant, she was asking for it and is a slut. Her
punishment, carry that baby the whole nine months. You can give it up for
adoption or get your family to take care of you, you sinner. This
position has a lot of emotional appeal. It allows for a smugness, a sense
of empowerment, a chance to point fingers that a lot of people just
love.
Unfortunately, the pro-choicers’ message is a simple
straight-forward one. A woman should have bodily autonomy. She, with
whatever support she wants/needs, should determine what is best for herself and
all safe options should be on the table. You know, CHOICE. That
kind of thinking does not place enough controls on women and does not slut
shame, important criteria for anti-choicers.
Pro-choicers say all women should have access to whatever
form of birth control is best for them, if they choose to use any. In
addition, they should have the right (as Roe v. Wade says they do, to a
safe legal abortion if that is their choice. They should also have full
support if they choose to carry a pregnancy to term. Anti-choicers don’t
even want birth control to be legal and widely available, so again, women
lose.
I am particularly sad for the anti-choice women who have
drunk the Kool-Ade that tells them it is God's will that they became pregnant
so "you get what you get; it's all in God's hands. You get no
choice, too bad for you." Alas, that is not a very kind rendering of
God in our world. I think there is a special place in hell for women who
stand against their sisters' choices and their right to choose. They must
get a thrill out of forcing pregnancy on their sisters, more slut
shaming. What bullies!
A bunch of people, mostly men, want to control women's lives
because they fear women will actually take their rightful place in society as
equal to men in every setting. SCARY for them!
Interesting though that the evangelicals and Roman Catholics
manage to get their abortions, but under another name (like induced
labor at 5 months, DNC, etc.) if they have the money to “take care of
things.” That is just too much like hypocrisy to let it pass. These
“lucky” women grieve and mourn over their decision to “end their pregnancy”
(abort), while women who choose abortion are not supposed to feel relief
and gratitude. They should suffer life-long emotional problems for ending
the existence of something the size of a fingernail.
There is no “balance” here as I see it. One side wants
all pregnant women to be forced to carry pregnancies to birth because pregnancy
is God’s will, no matter the consequences to mother or child. The other
side wants a woman to be able to choose for herself. One eliminates choice
(for the sake of the fetus – NOT!). The other allows for more than one
healthy outcome.
It’s time we get over the lies and insanity and look at some
truths.
-Women do not have an abortion on a lark. They always
have what they BELIEVE IS a good reason.
-Planned parenthood and other abortion clinics do not force
anyone to have an abortion. It is an option.
-Evangelicals and Roman Catholics are hypocrites caring more
for a finger long fetus than they do a fully developed child born into the
world.
-Most, if not all anti-choice inspired regulations are
unnecessary or actually harmful to the pregnant woman, the fetus, or both.
Abortions will continue to take place no matter what
regulations are passed. They always have and they always will. That
is how one can tell that this whole issue is actually about controlling women
and not about saving lives. If it were the latter, women would be making
their own reproductive decisions, just as men do. There would be no
anti-choice movement, and safe abortions would be available everywhere in this
country without protest. More women die from birth complications and
other problems of pregnancy by far than die from abortion (abortion deaths,
nearly 0).
As abortion becomes harder and harder to obtain for many
women in this country with increased restrictions, women and supportive men are
going to have to step up to learn how to perform abortions that are safe and
effective even if they ARE NOT ACTUALLY NURSES OR DOCTORS. Women’s
communities will have to purchase the equipment and train women to use
it. Such groups will have to stock up on “morning after” pills AS WELL AS
ANTI-ABORTIVES and learn how to use them properly and safely. Returning
to back-alley abortions is not an option.
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