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Newsflash: Pregnant Humans Give Birth to Humans (LINK)

June 30th 2008 21:02
newborn
I read a great post this morning at Shakesville on the ongoing abortion/women's reproductive rights topic. The topic was on the so-called "informed decision" law in South Dakota for abortions. The law requires that doctors inform women that they are carrying human fetuses, because women just aren't quite smart enough to figure that out on their own.


The law is doubly bad. First with it's condescending tone towards women, assuming that we are too ignorant to know exactly what pregnant means. Secondly it is another step towards the "life begins at conception" tripe, which is only one step away from "sperm are people too". Oddly enough the latter has more Biblical basis in that masturbation is a sin, however that would require laws telling men what to do with their own bodies and sexualities. Something that would never happen. Zuzu hits the nail in the head about what this is really about.

It's quite clear that this is an issue of control -- meaning, that the people making these laws do not want women to have it. They are certainly uncomfortable with the idea that women exercise moral agency and have power to run their own lives in a way that other people -- their husbands, say -- would not approve of. So they create these elaborate fictions in which women are simple creatures, ignorant of the consequences of their actions ("consequences" being a term that nearly always pops up in conversations with forced-birthers who try to convince you that really, they have no wish to control women, it's all about the innocent babies, who are SO NOT a punishment for having sex) and heedless of the function of their reproductive organs. Why, it's a simple matter of educating them about the proper moral position -- and then they'd see the light! And if we have to lie to them, so much the better. It's for their own good, the poor dears.


If you honestly believe that all of these anti-choice judges and politicians are really trying to "save the babies" I've got some Weapons of Mass Destruction hidden away to sell you. The way children are repeatedly tossed away after they are born with poor education, poor health care, and poor family services shows how little it really is about "the babies". The fact is what is being fought over here is a woman's right to be a full and equal human being.

Which is why it bothers me when others say abortion or Roe v. wade is a nonissue. This is much more than just abortion, it is even more than just reproductive rights. It is about controlling half of the population, it is about telling them what they can and cannot do with their own bodies, it is about attempting to silence them by limiting their options and forcing them to be what they are told to be. And when that happens the economy is affected, health care for everyone is affected, many areas that seem not in tune with women's reproductive rights are affected when the women who should be there are gone due to unpreventable pregnancies.
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4 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by RubySoho

July 3rd 2008 14:15
I've had it with this topic. I just can't believe how obsessed those pro-lifers are.

Today one man demanded I show tolerance toward his desire to control my uterus and another man told me that by being pro-choice I am an advocate of 'racial hygeine'.

When are they going to leave us alone?

Comment by Summer Minor

July 3rd 2008 14:24
They won't unfortunately. Not until every last one of us is forced back into their 1950's ideal.

Comment by Jeff Musall

July 4th 2008 05:07
Of course you are right - but I would take it even further. They not only want to control women, they want to control the minds and bodies of men too, albeit on different levels and not nearly as personal as pregnancy. They want control of all people, with women second class to men. And most of the fundies want to take us back quite abit more than the 50's - more like the 1800s.

Comment by Morgan Bell

July 4th 2008 06:58

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