I always sign up to BLOG FOR CHOICE to write about Reproductive Justice on January 22. You would think that writing about the same thing for 36 years you would lose your ire, at least your plot. Actually this year is a big exception
What the last 8 years did. There is so much to undo. Mr. Bush's first day signature on the universal gag order, which robbed women reproductive intelligence and physical autonomy, awarded ownership of women's bodies to ignorant and ruthless men. Even lifting the gag order does not make an immediate dent in the imbalance of the genders world wide. It is just a beginning of the work.
What the last 8 days did. Mr. Bush was lethal and relentless in his dedication to rob women of owning their destiny. One of his last orders was the Conscience Order. This terrible law allows health care providers and their ancillary workers to deny services that might be in conflict with their conscience. This means the drugstore cashier, the clinic administrative assistant, the taxi driver can refuse services to a person buying items or obtaining services which they hold objectionable. There is every expectation that the new administration will reverse this but it will take time.
The parameters are far beyond abortion. The anti-abortion people love to show a photo of a fetus sucking their thumb or a tiny foot pressing against a women's skin from the inside. These images are upsetting and representative of a very small percentage of the reach of this battle for women's physical autonomy. To really strike the point ~ can you imagine what it would take for women TO NEVER NEED AN ABORTION? I could respect a "right-to-lifer" who took on that objective. Free and available birth control information, products and support; the true application that NO MEANS NO; caring for the born child with fervor and dedication; and the end of rape as a weapon of ethnic wars ~ and that is just a start.
Expectation of backlash. The door just blew open for the expansion of conscience and assuming individual responsibility. President Obama may make it trendy to think, to examine, to be accountable but beware that as that evolution occurs, those who do not want to think deeply and stand on their decisions are going to push back. They built that door, they installed that door, they like that door and its imposition of thoughtless limits. Expect to see this with politicians, people of conservative religious views and people who do not want to think.
Temptation to relax. We are all relieved that there is a Democrat in the White House and a Democratic Congress but leaving it in their hands is, at the least, irresponsible and, at the most, optimistic. What is the distance of your reach in assuring reproductive liberty across the fifty states and across the globe? I live in California and even in this state, there are regional differences in availability and cultural approval.
If you are in the neighborhood - please join us tonight at one of the oldest demonstration in the country.
Circle of Orange Demonstration. Solidarity for choice, freedom and reproductive justice.
WHEN: Thursday, January 22, 2009 Meet at 6:30 pm / March at 7:00 pm
WHERE: City of Orange ~ gather at the Olive Street parking lot between Chapman & Almond
BRING: Friends, family, pro-choice signs, flashlights & peaceful hearts
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Imagine a World That Doesn't Need Abortion.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.feministing.com/cgi-bin/movabletype/mt-tb.fcgi/11530
I am one of those pro-lifers you "could respect". I believe that ending abortion is a pressing moral issue, but it's so frustrating to me how most pro-life people shoot themselves in the foot by advocating against comprehensive sex ed and readily available, affordable birth control, and by usually not getting involved in anti-rape activism. Honestly, trying to reduce abortions without also trying to reduce unwanted pregnancies is like trying to fix a leaking dam with chewing gum.
I actually am really sick of "pro-choice" people using language like "imagine a world that doesn't need abortion".
Abortion has existed since women have been getting pregnant, in every single societal structure it exists because there are many reasons why women would not want to have a child that has nothing to do with economics, or patriarchal heirarchy which creates oppression for women to live under.
I am a socialist and organize for universal childcare, economic justice, a socialist society but I have no desire to meet the anti-choicers half way and find common ground with them. A fetus is not a person, it is barely a potential person, and it should never be valued before the life of the person carrying it.
I feel really strongly that that kind of language sends a message to the right wing that we're all anti-abortion on some level and this gives them a step up that they shouldn't have.
It really bothers me.
I think when they say that they mean fool-proof birth control beforehand, so no abortion is needed after the fact. Not that people would be happy to have kids if they just had enough economic security or whatever.