Lately, I read the news and have to make sure I am not, in fact, reading The Onion. We are having a national debate about abortion, birth control, and reproductive freedom, and men are directing that debate. That is the stuff of satire.
The politicians and their ilk who are hell bent on reintroducing reproductive freedom as a “campaign issue,” have short memories. Of course they have short memories. They only care about what is politically convenient or expedient.
Women do not have short memories. We cannot afford that luxury.
The politicians and their ilk forget that women, and to a certain extent men, have always done what they needed to do to protect female bodies from unwanted pregnancy. During ancient times, women used jellies, gums, and plants both for contraception and to abort unwanted pregnancies. These practices continued until the 1300s when Europe needed to repopulate and started to hunt “witches” and midwives who shared their valuable knowledge about these contraceptive methods.
Throughout history, whenever governments wanted to achieve some end, often involving population growth, they restricted access to birth control and/or criminalized birth control unless of course, the population growth concerned the poor, in which case, contraception was enthusiastically promoted. Historically, society has only wanted “the right kind of people,” to have a right to life. We shouldn’t forget that.
Here’s the thing about history—it repeats itself over and over and over. The witch hunts, and the demonization of contraception and abortion and the women who provided these services from the 14th and 15th centuries, is happening all over again. This time though, the witch hunt seems to be more of a cynical ploy to distract the populace from some of the truly pressing issues our society is facing like, oh I don’t know, the devastated economy and a Wall Street culture that remains unchecked even after the damage it has done, the raging class inequalities and widening gap between those who have and those who have not, the looming student loan and consumer debt crises, the fractured racial climate, the lack of civil rights for gay, lesbian, and transgender people, a healthcare system too many people don’t have access to, wars without cease, impending global threats and on and on and on.
Rather than solve the real problems the United States is facing, some politicians, mostly conservative, have decided to try and solve the “female problem,” by creating a smokescreen and reintroducing abortion and more inexplicably, birth control into a national debate.
Here’s the thing about history—it repeats itself over and over and over. Women were forced underground for contraception and pregnancy termination before and we will go underground again if we have to. We will risk our lives if these politicians, who so flagrantly demean women, force us to do so.
Thank goodness women do not have short memories.
*
Pregnancy is at once a private and public experience. Pregnancy is private because it is so very personal. It happens within the body. In a perfect world, pregnancy would be an intimate experience shared by a woman and her partner alone but for various reasons that is not possible.
Pregnancy is an experience that invites public intervention and forces the female body into the public discourse. In many ways, pregnancy is the least private experience of a woman’s life.
Public intervention can be fairly mild, more annoying than anything else—people wanting to touch your swollen belly, offering unsolicited advice about how to raise a not yet child, inquiring as to due dates or the gender of the not yet child as if they have a right to this information simply because you are pregnant. Once your pregnancy starts to show, you cannot avoid being part of this discourse whether you want to or not.
Public intervention can be necessary, because pregnant women must, generally, seek appropriate medical care. You cannot simply hide in a cave and hope for the best, however tempting that alternative may be. Pregnancy is many things including complicated and, at times, fraught. Medical intervention, if you’re lucky enough to have health insurance or otherwise afford such care, helps to ensure the pregnancy proceeds the way it should. It allows your fetus to be tested for abnormalities. It allows the mother’s health to be monitored for the number of conditions that can arise from a pregnancy. If things go wrong in a pregnancy, and they can go horribly, horribly wrong, medical intervention can save the life of the mother and, if you’re lucky, the life of fetus. Public intervention is also necessary when a woman delivers her child whether by the hands of a doctor, midwife, or doula.
It is only after a baby is born that a woman might finally have some privacy.
And then there’s the manner in which the legislature, in too many states, intervenes on pregnancy, time and again, particularly when a woman chooses to exercise her right to terminate. This choice increasingly feels heretical or at least that is how it is framed by the loudest voices carrying on this conversation.
*
Since 1973, women have had the right to choose to terminate a pregnancy. Women have had the right to choose not to be forced into unwanted motherhood. Since 1973 that right has been contested in many different ways but, because this is an election year, the contesting of reproductive freedom is flaring hotly.
Things have gotten complicated, in too many states, for women who want to exercise their right to choose. Legislatures across the United States have worked very hard to shape and control the abortion experience in bizarre, insensitive ways that intervene on a personal, should-be-private experience in very public, painful ways.
In the past year, several states have introduced and/or passed legislation mandating women receive ultrasounds before they receive an abortion. There are now seven states requiring this procedure.
States like Virginia tried to pass a bill requiring women seeking an abortion to receive a medically unnecessary transvaginal ultrasounds but that bill failed. The Virginia legislature subsequently passed a bill requiring a regular ultrasound, in a bit of bait and switch lawmaking. This bill also requires that whether or not a woman chooses to see the ultrasound or listen to the fetal heartbeat, the information about her choice is entered into her medical record with or without her consent.
The conversation about transvaginal ultrasounds has been particularly heated, with some pro-choice advocates suggesting this procedure is akin to state-mandated rape. That is an irresponsible tactic at best. Rape is rape. This procedure and legislation requiring this procedure is something else entirely although, I can assure you—a transvaginal ultrasound is not a pleasant procedure primarily because there is very little that is pleasant about being half-naked, in front of strangers while being probed by a hard plastic object, at least, within a medical context. A transvaginal ultrasound is a medical procedure that sometimes must be done but we cannot even have a reasonable conversation about the procedure and its lack of medical necessity for women who want an abortion because the procedure is carelessly being thrown into the abortion conversation as yet another distraction tactic.
Restrictive abortion legislation, in whatever form it takes, is a rather transparent ploy. If these politicians can’t prevent women from having abortions, they are certainly going to punish them. They are going to punish these women severely, cruelly, unusually for daring to make choices about motherhood, their bodies and their futures.
In the race to see who can punish women the most for daring to make these choices, Texas has outdone itself, going so far as to require women to receive multiple sonograms, to be told about all the services available to encourage them to remain pregnant, and most diabolically, a woman seeking an abortion must listen to the doctor narrate the sonogram.
This legislation designed to control reproductive freedom is so craven as to make you question humanity. It is repulsive. Our legal system, which by virtue of the eighth amendment demands that no criminal punishment be cruel and unusual, affords more human rights to criminals than such legislation affords women. Just ask Carolyn Jones who suffered through this macabre ordeal in Texas when she and her husband decided to terminate her second pregnancy because their child would have been born into a lifetime of suffering and medical care. Her story is nearly unbearable to read which speaks to the magnitude of grief she must have experienced.
The governor of Pennsylvania, who supports legislation in his state that will require women to get an ultrasound before an abortion, recently suggested women simply close their eyes during the ultrasound. They will, apparently, let anyone run for office these days including men who believe that not seeing something happen will make it easier to endure.
Georgia State Representative Terry England suggested, in support of bill HB 954 which would ban abortion in that state after twenty weeks, that women should carry stillborn fetuses to term because calves and pigs do it too. Then he tried to backtrack and say that’s not what he meant. Women and animals are not much different for this man or for most of the men who are trying to control the conversation and legislation regarding reproductive freedom.
Thirty-five states require women to receive counseling before an abortion to varying degrees of specificity. In twenty-six states women must also be offered or given written material. The restrictions go on and on. If you think you’re free from these restrictions, think again. In 2011, 55% of all women of reproductive age in the United States lived in states hostile to abortion rights and reproductive freedom.
Waiting periods, counseling, ultrasounds, transvaginal ultrasounds, sonogram storytelling, all of these legislative moves are invasive, insulting, and condescending because they are deeply misguided attempts to pressure women into changing their minds, to pressure women into not terminating their pregnancies, as if women are so easily swayed that such petty and cruel stall tactics will work. These politicians do not understand that once a woman has made up her mind about terminating a pregnancy, very little will sway her. It is not a decision taken lightly and if a woman does take the decision lightly, that is her right. A woman should always have the right to choose what she does with her body. It is frustrating that this needs to be said, repeatedly. On the scale of relevance, public approval or disapproval of a woman’s choices should not merit measure.
*
And what of medical doctors who take an oath to serve the best interests of their patients? What responsibility do they bear in this? If medical practitioners banded together and refused to participate in some of these restrictions, would that make any difference?
*
This debate is a smokescreen but it is a very deliberate and dangerous smokescreen. It is dangerous because this current debate shows us that reproductive freedom is negotiable. Reproductive freedom is a talking point. Reproductive freedom is a campaign issue. Reproductive freedom can be repealed or restricted. Reproductive freedom is not an inalienable right even though it should be.
The United States as we know it was founded on the principle of inalienable rights, this idea that some rights are so sacrosanct not even a government can take them away. Of course, this country’s founding fathers were only thinking of wealthy white men when they codified this principle, but still, it’s a nice idea, that there are some freedoms that cannot be taken away.
What this debate shows us is that even in this day and age, the rights of women are not inalienable. Our rights can be and are, with alarming regularity, stripped away.
I struggle to accept that my body is a legislative matter. The truth of this makes it difficult for me to breathe. I don’t feel like I have inalienable rights.
I don’t feel free.
There is no freedom in any circumstance where the body is legislated, none at all. In her article, “Legislating the Female Body: Reproductive Technology and the Reconstructed Woman,” Isabel Karpin argues that, “in the process of regulating the female body, the law legislates its shape, lineaments, and its boundaries.”
Right now, too many politicians and cultural moralists are trying to define the shape and boundaries of the female body when women should be defining these things for ourselves. We should have that freedom and that freedom should be sacrosanct.
*
Then, of course, there is the problem of those women who want to, perhaps, avoid the pregnancy question altogether by availing themselves of birth control with the privacy and dignity and affordability that should also be inalienable.
Or, according to some, whores.
Margaret Sanger would be horrified to see how 96 years after she opened the first birth control clinic, we’re essentially fighting the same fight. The woman was by no means perfect but she forever altered the course of reproductive freedom. It is a shame to see what is happening to her legacy because we are now seemingly forced to argue that birth control should be affordable and freely available and there are people who disagree.
In the early 1900s, Sanger and others were fighting for reproductive freedom because they knew a woman’s quality of life could only be enhanced by unfettered access to contraception. Sanger knew women were performing abortions on themselves or receiving back alley abortions that put their lives at risk or rendered them infertile. She wanted to do something about that. Sanger and other birth control pioneers fought this good fight because they knew what women have always known, what women have never allowed themselves to forget—more often than not, the burden of having and rearing children falls primarily on the backs of women. Certainly, in my lifetime, men have assumed a more equal role in parenting but women are the only ones who can get pregnant and women then have to survive the pregnancy, which is not always as easy as it seems. Birth control allows women to choose when they assume that responsibility. The majority of women have used at least one contraceptive method in their lifetime so this is clearly a choice women do not want to lose.
The year is 2012 and here we are, having inexplicable conversations about birth control, conversations where women must justify why they are taking birth control, conversations where a congressional hearing on birth control includes no women because the men in power know women don’t need to be included in the conversation. We don’t have inalienable rights the way men do.
Arizona has introduced legislation that would allow an employer to fire a woman for using birth control. Mitt Romney, a supposedly viable candidate for president, declared he would do away with Planned Parenthood, the majority of whose work is to provide affordable healthcare for women.
A mediocre, morally bankrupt radio personality like Rush Limbaugh publically shames a young woman, Sandra Fluke, for having the nerve to advocate for subsidized birth control because birth control can be so expensive. He calls her a slut and a prostitute because in his miniscule mind, these are bad things.
What is more troubling than this oddly timed debate about birth control is the vehemence with which I have seen women needing to justify or explain why they take birth control—health reasons, to regulate periods, you know, as if there’s anything wrong with taking birth control simply because you want to have sex without that sex resulting in pregnancy. In certain circles, birth control is being framed as whore medicine so we are now dealing with a bizarre new morality where a woman cannot simply say, in one way or another, “I’m on the pill because I like dick.” It’s extremely regressive for women to feel like they need to make it seem like they are using birth control for reasons other than what birth control was originally designed for—to control birth.
*
I cannot help but think of the Greek play Lysistrata.
*
What often goes unspoken in this conversation is how debates about birth control and reproductive freedom continually force the female body into being a legislative matter because men refuse to assume their fair share of responsibility for birth control. Men refuse to allow their bodies to become a legislative matter because they have that (inalienable) right. The drug industry has no real motivation to develop a reversible method of male birth control because forcing this burden on women is so damn profitable. Americans spent $5 billion on birth control in 2011. There are exceptions, bright shining exceptions, but men don’t want the responsibility of birth control. Why would they? They see what the responsibility continues to cost women publicly and privately.
The truth is that birth control is a pain in the ass. It’s a medical marvel but it is also an imperfect marvel. Most of the time, women have to put something into their bodies that alters their bodies’ natural functions just so they can have a sexual life and prevent unwanted pregnancies. Birth control is expensive. Birth control can wreak havoc on your hormones, your state of mind, and your physical well being because depending on the method, there are side effects and the side effects can be ridiculous. If you’re on the pill, you have to remember to take it, or else. If you use an IUD, you have to worry about it growing into your body and becoming a permanent part of you. Okay, that one is just me. There’s no sexy way to insert a diaphragm in the heat of the moment. Condoms break. Pulling out is only reasonable in high school. Sometimes, birth control doesn’t work. I know lots of pill babies. We use birth control because however much it is a pain in the ass, it is infinitely better than the alternative.
If I told you my birth control method of choice, which I kind of swear by, you’d look at me like I was slightly insane. Suffice it to say, I will take a pill every day when men have that same option. We should all be in this together, right? One of my favorite moments is when a guy, at that certain point in a relationship, says something desperately hopeful like, “Are you on the pill?” I simply say, “No, are you?”
*
Reproductive freedom has been on my mind a great deal lately. How could it not be? I’m a woman of reproductive age.
The other day, I was fuming after reading the news. With shocking clarity, I thought, I want to start an underground birth control network. Of course, I also thought, “That’s crazy. These smokescreens are just that. Things are going to be fine,” and I made a joke about starting an underground birth control railroad on Twitter. Later, I realized, the belief, however fleeting, that women might need to go underground for reproductive freedom is not as crazy as the current climate. I was, in my way, quite serious about creating some kind of underground network to ensure that a woman’s right to safely maintain her reproductive health is, in some way, forever inalienable.
When I started imagining this underground network, I had a feeling, in my gut, that women, and the men who love (having sex with) us are going to need to prepare for the worst. There is ample evidence that the worst, where reproductive freedom is concerned, is not behind us. The worst is all around us, breathing down our necks, in relentless pursuit. Either these politicians are serious or they’re trying to misdirect national conversations. Either alternative continues to expose the fragility of women’s rights.
An underground railroad worked once before. It could work again. We could stockpile various methods of birth control and information about where women might go for safe, ethical reproductive healthcare in every state—contraception, abortion, education, all of it. We could create a network of reproductive healthcare providers and abortionists who would treat women humanely because the government does not and we could make sure that every woman who needed to make a choice had all the help she needed.
I spent hours thinking about this underground network and what it would take to make sure women don’t ever have to revert to a time when they put themselves at serious risk to terminate a pregnancy.
It surprises me, though it shouldn’t, how short the memories of these politicians are. They forget the brutal lengths women have gone to in order to terminate pregnancies when abortion was illegal or when abortion is unaffordable. Women have thrown themselves down stairs and otherwise tried to physically harm themselves to force a miscarriage. Dr. Waldo Fielding noted in the New York Times, “Almost any implement you can imagine had been and was used to start an abortion — darning needles, crochet hooks, cut-glass salt shakers, soda bottles, sometimes intact, sometimes with the top broken off.” Women have tried to use soap and bleach, catheters, natural remedies. Women have historically resorted to any means necessary. Women will do this again, if we are backed back into that terrible corner. This is the responsibility our society has forced on women for hundreds of years.
It is a small miracle women do not have short memories about our rights that have always, shamefully, been alienable.
39 responses
excellent piece, thank you for it
Thank you, Roxane. The misogyny of the right is truly head-spinning and most infuriating of all, it’s as if life only matters — is only worth protecting or caring for at all — in its fetal state.
it’s not just some men who feel this way. plenty of women feel the same way, too. to me, rick santorum is saying a lot of the same things taliban members say. but there are women who love that shit.
As a man and husband, I am ashamed at the male political perspective in this debate. I have not seen any argument or even discussion about the responsibility of men in putting all the burden on women when it comes to pregnancies and/or the prevention of pregnancies. If this is such a moral dilemma, then why don’t more men refrain from having sex with their female partners? I am certain in most cases, the man is not being forced to have sex with women. Wouldn’t that simply solve the issue? So the woman is exWhy is a woman labeled a slut or whore for having pre-marital sex, while preventing an unwanted pregnancy, yet the man intimately involved in said pre-marital sex, is not even mentioned or ethically and morally questioned??? I wonder if there would be such a raging debate over birth control if men weren’t as interested in sex as women? What say you, Rush?
As Canadian living in France, I am watching The War Against Women in America from a distance and it looks remarkably like a gong show gone wild. Thank you for this insightful piece.
THANK YOU, Roxane. “What gives light must endure the burning.”
YESYESYES.
Here’s to the day when voicing this truth will come as a toast, as a remembrance, a recollection of life as it once was, and shall never need be again. A hurdle, at long last taken with all the grace and poise of an athlete, the determination of a species composed of a wisdom, a compassion and a respect.
May we all find within ourselves the strength to support each other through whatever times, and the serene composure to at very least give the appearance that we were behind each other all along. A lot of us do care, and for the rest, those on the fence, I sincerely believe they just need a nudge.
Beautiful nudge, Roxane. Cheers dear.
My grandmother, who is 101 now, will testify to what happens when you can’t get contraception or an abortion. She had 2 kids more than she wanted, in part because when she found a “doctor” who would help her, the “office” was so dirty she fled in terror. She was a terrible mother, and 2 of her 3 surviving children don’t speak to her. In my teens she told me that if I got in trouble, to come to her and she’d take care of it (I was flattered since I was a late bloomer and no one was interested at that point in getting me in trouble). I guess the point is that it’s not that long ago. Everyone forgets. Not my grandmother — my whole life she told me to get an education, make my own money, and never to depend on a man … Her life would have been so different if she’d had control of her fertility.
Thank you, Roxane.
This is why I have such a difficult time with organized religion. Nearly every time women’s rights are under attack it seems a major organized religion or a government influenced by such a religion is behind it. Why are organized religions so afraid of a woman being sovereign over her own fertility? I can’t think of one major world religion that treats women and men as true equals (yes, Buddists, I’m speaking even to you). It amazes me they are so uniform on their fear of female power and there are no large-scale mainstream alternatives.
Ready to buy my tickets to the Lilith fair.
I was actually having a conversation online a few days ago about an underground railroad for reproductive choice–how to make sure women have the access and support, both emotional and material, that they need. I’m seriously thinking about the logistics.
Very good read but I think people are ignoring some facts.
Preventing Pregnancy: Part 1
Contraceptive is very cheap, and readily available. You can buy condoms pretty much anywhere, and some places even give them out for free. Any 711 or gas station can provide you with them for less than $5. Also, Planned Parenthood hands out birth control like it’s candy. My GF gets it for free all the time and just donates $20. No paperwork necessary.
Preventing Birth: Part 2
Of course, preventing pregnancy is the responsibility of the man and woman. I doubt anyone is claimed otherwise. It takes two to tengo. So it is equally a mans responsibility to make sure condoms (or other birth control methods) are used as it is the womans. No finger point here, boys and girls.
Aborting Birth: Part 1
I think women should be able to have abortions, but there needs to be more than a “my way or the highway” approach from BOTH sides. The pro-life side should not just say “You MUST Have the baby regardless” and the pro-choice side should not just say “I can have an abortion regardless”. Life is just not that simple. There needs to be a discussion. How far a long is the pregnancy? Does the mom want the child? Does the DAD want the child? (everyone conveniently forgets that question) and of course, was rape involved, is the baby’s life in danger, the mom’s life, etc. etc.
Playing devil’s advocate here, but how many pregnancies, as a %, actually result in significant health issues to the mom or child? I ask not to be rude, but to pose a point. I HAVE known someone, 1 person, who died in child birth. I know HUNDREDS of women who survived childbirth. So, as much as I think this may be an issue, I have to pose the question: Is it as much of an issue as pro-choice people make it out to be, and if not, is it just a ploy to take the focus off the real reason for wanting an abortion: that people just don’t want to take responsibility for their actions.
I am not saying “Don’t have sex” What I am saying is people need to stop looking at it like it’s just fun and games. SEX IS FUN. Very fun. But that doesn’t mean you get to abandon accountability. My GF and I have talked, AT LENGTH, about what we would do if she were to get pregnant. And it may sound weird, but we did this before being sexually active. That is a discussion you need to have before getting someone knocked up, not after.
Remember, it might be “a womans’ choice” but when you get an abortion, you are ALSO killing someone ELSES child. You had damn well make sure that someone else doesn’t mind.
In the end, I am a libertarian and would/do not support legislation banning abortion, but that doesn’t change my personal opinion and handling of the issue.
Saint–here’s the thing. When you say “it might be a ‘womans’ choice’ but when you get an abortion, you are ALSO killing someone ELSES child,” you are incorrect. It is NOT a child, and it is NOT a murder, so using the words “kill” and “child” are inflammatory and inaccurate. Naturally, the decision to abort a fetus affects the male-bodied person in the situation, but it is NOT their decision because it’s not their body. It’s really that simple. IT’S NOT YOUR BODY. You can voice your opinion, sure, but you do not have anything resembling a final say on what happens to that body. The owner of that body says what happens. The thing about you’re “Life is just not that simple” theory is that it really is that simple. It’s not your body, it’s not your decision. IT IS THAT SIMPLE. I don’t get a flying fuck WHY a woman has an abortion. It’s her body. It’s not my problem. Why is it anyone’s problem but hers and her partner’s? IT’S NOT.
There are no words for the shame I feel when I listen to these arguments. Have we fallen so far that now we’d take out our aggressions on the women who love us, on their health and wellbeing? Why is that being allowed? I wish I knew. I don’t.
Of course women deserve and have rights to this issue (reproductive freedom, choice, privacy, etc). But, the question remains, should WE the tax payers PAY for the choice they make (whether that be an abortion, contraception, medical care)? If it is going to be a private right to choose, and a private decision then take care of ones own choice without burdening the tax payer. Whatever choice that may be. That is the true debate, not whether women have the right, but who is responsible for the choice an individual makes?…
Mia, rock on. I am a mom of two great kids. I thought being a mom might make me “less” pro-choice. Instead it has made me more militantly pro-choice. The sheer hours, effort and money it takes to raise two functioning human beings well is STAGGERING. I have EVERY advantage–health care, a husband, we both have good jobs and sometimes I still find it impossible to balance everything.
Saint poo-poos the risk to women during pregnancy and childbirth to women but I know many women who have gotten toxemia (both before AND after delivery), diabetes, infections in the areas of their C-sections, mastitis, have gone septic from mastitis, etc. etc. The health risks of pregnancy are very real and anyone who doesn’t take them seriously is ill-informed. Yes, it is a natural process. So is passing a kidney stone. So is dying.
Every person I know who has had an abortion has done so only after much thought and soul-searching. To say abortion is not taking responsibilities for one’s action is like blaming someone for getting in a car accident or telling a hemophiliac to stop bleeding. And even if abortion WERE a result of irresponsibility on the MAN and WOMAN’s part, do you WANT irresponsible people raising children? Do you want someone who would get an abortion without the blink of an eye raising a child?
Thank you so much for this. There’s so little about this debate over birth control, abortion, etc that I can find at all reassuring, and it’s articles like this that give me just a little smidgen of hope.
I will soon be a nurse and I will always stand with women and their right to choose. even if every other damn person in the hospital refuses to assist with an abortion, I will always be ready and willing to assist.
oh and an underground railroad? YES, PLEASE. you can stay at my house. I’ll put a candle in the window.
Oh, but there *is* a railroad for abortion access. A hundred abortion funds all over the country, paying for abortions, contraception, and travel costs for women who have to run around the country to avoid the shitty laws in their own states. And, basically, now’s the perfect time to make it as robust as possible. Click on my name to see what I mean.
that’s a whole lot of assumption, Saint.
You assume that “The Pill” (sic) will always be readily available at Planned Parenthood, whose funding and very existence are under constant assault.
You assume that anyone can take this cheapest form of pill, many cannot, in fact many women I’ve known have had to try several to find one that they could tolerate.
You assume that women give no thought to a man’s position in an unwanted pregnancy.
You seem to be assuming that death in childbirth is the sole risk to a mother. There are many other health risks, the effects of many of which do not end at with pregnancy, diabetes being just one.
You assume that people “don’t want to take responsibility for their actions”, but abortion IS a legal option, and when you are disinclined or concerned they are incapable of being a good parent, either emotionally or financially, not taking on parenthood IS the responsible choice.
You assume that people DON’T have the conversation as to how an unintended pregnancy would be handled before having sex.
If a man “minds” that a woman who doesn’t want to have his child but instead abort it, that man should only be having sex with a woman who is willing to continue an unplanned pregnancy.
Not trying to make light of the issue, but you know regarding reproductive rights, I have only one solid opinion on this issue. Â I have met a few people in my time that should not be allowed to reproduce. Â In fact we may all have been better off if their parents had been given free contraceptives prior to their conception. As a man I can only speak from an abstract position, because of my physiology I will never have to personally face the consequences if access is restricted. Religious and moral objections aside, when contraceptive measures fail, or when the couples fail to use them, abortion or birth are the only options left. The economic and social impact of a birth to an unprepared single parent or couple is well documented and usually has a outcome which has the highest likelihood of failure. I will concede that there has only been one reported case of immaculate conception so we all know there is only one fool proof way to not get pregnant. People would not reasonably expect consenting adults to practice celibacy but as a practical matter it is reasonable to expect couples to act in a responsible manner and take every reasonable precaution. After all abortion is a termination of an unwanted and likely preventable pregnancy which if the abortion is not preformed typically results in the birth of a human being.
There are already underground networks operating, supplying early abortion drugs to women in countries without access (click my username to see). Now is a great time to support womenonweb and similar organizations in their work. If current trends continue, they may have to expand their operations to include the US.
Like you, I’m scared. I currently live in a country with good access to abortion, but there has been a lot of political noise lately about chipping away at that access. I have been educating myself about how to induce a miscarriage, how to get hold of mifepristone and misoprostol and how to administer them, and the legal consequences of these options. Make abortion illegal and we will not just lie back and accept pregnancies; we will fight tooth and nail to get these invaders out of us.
Side note: The people who go on and on about “cost to tax payers” regarding medical care who also support these ultrasound laws might be conveniently forgetting that ultrasounds cost money to conduct too. Judging by a recent medical bill I’ve seen, uninsured, it’s to the tune of $300.
Anyway, like Roxane said, the fact that limiting women’s healthcare is “the issue” over the slew of problems that need attention? Thoroughly ridiculous.
@benjamin @mia well said.
I am British and we are seeing the stirrings of this debate here, most notably from MP Nadine Dorries– and even though – currently–75% of the UK population are pro-choice I can see this changing with the right’s ever growing influence.
Pro choice only advocates a woman’s right to whatever choice, and its consequences.
A woman’s body is HER possession. Not the taxpayer’s, and CERTAINLY not possession the person who impregnated her.
One last thing–why are so many “pro lifers” pro the death penalty?
http://m.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/27/abortion-debate-government-pro-life?cat=world&type=article
This is the letter I had published thin the UK broadsheet, “The Guardian” where I think I said it better!
Hi all – before I went to medical school I was a contraceptive counselor in a reproductive clinic. It was one of my last jobs before starting the road to my MD. It was also one of my my first volunteer jobs as a teenager: to counsel women about to have an elective or medically mandated abortion. I have marched on Washington for our right to reproduce. I had signed countless petitions related to this cause. I have sent emails and made phone calls. Bearing that in mind, I would like to make sure everyone knows this: there are medically valid reasons for having a pre-termination ultrasound and there are excellent reasons for have pre-procedure counseling.
Everything in life is about the execution and the intent behind it. The last state in which I worked as an abortion counselor was Massachusetts, is not a hostile place to women’s rights. In my clinic we always connected ultrasounds (us) for safety reasons. In the first place, we had to know that there was a fetus there at all-as opposed to a cancerous growth such as a choriocarcinoma. We had to know that the fetus was in the uterus and not in another location, such as in a tube or in the peritoneal cavity. If the fetus was grossly mal-featured, implying an underlying genetic issue, the woman had the right to know that in future pregnancies genetic screening might be appropriate. If the physiology of the female patient turned out to be unique – I saw my share of bicorniate (two bodied) uteruses – we were able to give the surgeons the forwarning that they needed to render the high quality of care that the patient deserved. In short, there are many major potential advantages to having a pre-procedure sonogram. I would not have a termination without receiving one, nor would I perform a termination without conducting one. Also, as the intent would be to protect the patient’s health, the contents of the US need not necessarily be disclosed. So it is in the *forced disclosure of the sonogram information*, not in the sonograms themselves, where these matters of law go awry. It is in their spirit and intent. The take-home: pre-abortion sonograms are not inherently evil.
Second point: pre-procedure counseling is extremely important. That is the time when the woman, and perhaps the accompanying loved-one, will learn when the procedure is like, how long it takes, what the side effects can be, how to care for themselves when they go home, what their physical restricts are afterwards, etc. Surgical abortions are just that: surgeries. One never undertakes a surgical procedure lightly. Even the medical abortions undertaken with medication have effects and side effects that need to be understood. Moreover, it is a time when I could ask a woman, apart from her parents, partners, etc, if they were choosing to undertake this procedure *of there own free will*. Some of the answers I received were VERY interesting. The take-home: pre-abortion counseling is not inherently evil.
Re: The Underground Reproduction Protection Railroad. I am a massive proponent and activist for women’s rights and human rights overall. I am also a scientist. I advocate for the use of our powerful mental resources. Let’s think this through: Oral contraceptive pills cannot just be handed out willy nilly. They must be avoided in women who smoke, who have a history of clotting, who have a history of migraines…etc. So just handing those out is out. We can hand out nueva-rings like candy…but that would cost a fortune. The patch is pretty cheap…but only has enough drug in it for people below a certain weight. Are we sensing a trend here? All hormonal-based contraceptives require medical follow-up. IUDs do too. Diaphrams require fitting…so what CAN we hand out willy-nilly?
That’s right: Condoms. Female and male. So, can we start doing that RIGHT NOW?
You bet we can.
If we really want to win this fight, all we have to do if find everyone who agrees with us and get them to put a condom dispenser in their place of business. In new york city, there are even bars and bus stops that have them. There’s even an iphone app to help you find them (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nyc-condom-finder-by-nyc-health/id418902795?mt=8). We don’t need to wait until doomsday, whatever form that may take. We can start flooding the landscape with bright and colorful condoms. This will naturally enrage the right, make them come out swinging against our condom tsunami.
Good. A) they won’t have time to pass legislation if they are fighting something else (see the Bill Clinton era) and 2) It’s about damn time we had a public shouting match about how sex is NOT immoral in the grand scheme of things and condoms are therefore COMPLETELY appropriate. So aim your high and mightiness to god, and leave our rubbers alone.
At the end of the day, If we really really want to fix things, we’ll fight for free public health. Every hour, every day we don’t have it is a travesty. Open access to healthcare means that we don’t have to battle employers for rights to access health: because health is a guaranteed right that we all possess. Any one who thinks that an underground reproductive rights train is a good idea: please call your political representatives RIGHT NOW, and once a week, and ask them for guaranteed public healthcare. Ask and ask and ask again. Ask until we are answered. And then this fight that shouldn’t be a fight at all, along with so many more calamities in our society, will come to an abrupt and long-over-due close.
Your reps:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
It amazes me the way some people try to insist the issue comes down to cost: “I don’t want to pay for someone else’s birth control.” People who make this argument also, interestingly, often add that birth control is cheap, so people should be able to afford it themselves. If it’s so cheap, why is it so terrible that you have to help people pay for it? I would so much rather pay for someone else’s birth control than have to pay for the problems that tend to come with overpopulation (such as poverty and crime). Heck, I’d rather pay for other people’s birth control than most of the things in the federal and state budgets. At least there I know there will be results, and because I myself don’t want to be pregnant all the time, I can completely understand the huge benefit this would have to people’s quality of living.
Its always so strange to see random people approach a pregnant woman to touch her stomach. It’s weird and still an invasion of privacy and personal space!
Thanks for your comment, Shey. Very helpful. I don’t think anyone’s disputing pre-counseling. What they’re doing in Texas in other states, though, is not pre-counseling. As you say, what matters here is intent and execution. It’s unfortunate that the intent and execution, in too many states, is inhumane.
Thank you for this eloquent and clear-headed article. I myself have recently snapped into white hot anger from a previous state of disbelief – a state I was able to live in for a while because this debate *is* so absurd. (Now to find something useful to do with this outrage…)
As a conservative, I laugh out loud when I hear the term “FREE HEALTHCARE”. Really I hope we are not that nieve. Ok nuff of that, I actually agree that health care should be accessable to all. If we agree as a society we are going to treat every human being who shows up at the emergency room door regardless of their ability to pay then I would much rather see someone access a primary care physician when their cough is just a slight case of bronchitis, rather than in the ER when it has morphed into pneumonia. Looking around I came up with an average of $900.00 for a visit to the emergency room. With a visit to the doctors office about $80.00, and another hundred for drugs if paid out of pocket, the cost of one visit to the ER can pay for numerous visits to a primary care physician. Besides, by keeping the population generally healthy they miss less work, earn more, spend more, and yes pay more taxes. Regarding access to birth control and abortion, as a volunteer fireman I sometimes come across the lost causes. The emotionally abandoned, neglected, ignored and abused children littering our landscape cast aside by families who were unprepared to provide for the needs of that child. Hell they are not even prepared to provide for their own needs. Through no fault of their own these children are forced to endure an entire childhood of pure misery. If the misfits who brought them into this world had unfettered access to abortive services choosing to terminate may very well been an act of kindness on their part, considering the alternative I see daily.
Reminds me of the recent Australian policitcal storm surrounding a tax on menstruation products (tampons, pads etc) as they were classed as a ‘luxury item’. In that case it was again men deciding that these products were ‘not essential’ and therefore able to raise revenue.
Brilliant, stirring article, and thank you for writing it. I do have one quibble though: whether you go by legal definition, or whether you base a label on a comparison of effect and impact on the coerced victim, these ultrasound laws really do constitute state-mandated mental torture and rape. I’ve been looking through enough law texts to be certain of the first (trying to imagine how I would try a case like this in court if the defendent were a person rather than a government), and I can offer second-hand experience observing the second.
Hmmm- shall we fund free birth control for the masses, or how about welfare and WIC and Medicaid for ALL THE UNWANTED CHILDREN that result when people can’t afford birth control??? How the fuck are they going to afford children????? I can’t even think straight I get so angry when I see this debate being considered a real issue.
Thank you again, Roxane, for saying what needs to be said.
first of all, I have a general comment/debate forum question: when people are about to say something inflammatory/derailing, why do they use lots of question marks??????? (as if to say, “no, really, it’s an important question!”)
anyway. to address the CONDOMS-ARE-CHEAP/FREE and TAXES-ARE-NOT arguments, here we go:
there is currently a cheap and therefore affordable to all method of birth control/contraception. it is called the condom. it is–wait for it–male based, meaning it acts in regards to the male input in the creation.
there is NOT currently a cheap and therefore affordable to all (I like the word “accessible” to mean affordable to all) method of contraception/birth control that is FEMALE based. The pill is the closest thing we have to that. (how many times has a hetero couple used a female condom? do sex ed classes even cover this one in more than a list?)
This is why the pill should be covered, if only to be fair and equal, because that’s what all these guys are crying for, fairness, right?
I completely agree with Saint. The father of a child should have equal right to the decision over the child’s life. That’s why, during my GF’s pregnancy, I’m going to give myself a daily suppository that will make me nauseous for about a third of my life (at random intervals). The formula’s been improving over the years, but there’s still a good chance it could give me a deadly reaction and I’d end up out of work for months with thousands upon thousands of dollars of hospital bills, if not dead. And when the baby comes, I’ll be in the bed next to her getting a taint-ectomy. I’m not ashamed to say on this liberal site that I pay for my own medical care–it was my choice that led to this painful operation and it should be my own hard-earned money payiAAOOOOW MY TAINT
Men would want the same set of rights as women. Until women realize that they will always be stuck as feminists that are just a reflection of 50’s chauvinism.The only viable solution is state sponsored parenting where the man and woman are given the opportunity to buy their privacy and support themselves. all else is folly.
You are an amazing writer. Thank you with all of my heart.
Click here to subscribe today and leave your comment.