Ricks' Mix

*Disclaimer: Though I will use the term in this post, I believe that ‘pro-life’ is not a fair term. I prefer anti-abortionist…everyone is pro-life. Everyone.

This whole Komen Foundation/Planned Parenthood thing has gotten people in an uproar over abortion. Not women’s health. Abortion. I find it hard NOT to be outraged by people who would end their support to Komen whether they provide funds to Planned Parenthood or not! Komen made a dumb move pulling their PP funding in the first place—they succumbed to political pressure from the right, apparently one specific Republican who doesn’t like PP and placed it “under investigation” because it provides abortions. And if you don’t believe that, or think it’s just my crazy leftist musings, that statement was made BY the Komen Foundation. See, what Komen found out is not that it was alienating pro-lifers by providing approximately $680,000 (not a lot of money when you look at the size and scope of these organizations) in funding to PP for breast cancer screening, but that by pulling that funding it was alienating its base—many of whom, apparently, are pro-choice. (Source: http://ideas.time.com/2012/02/03/susan-g-komen-apologizes-hoisted-by-its-own-pink-ribbon/)

People act like PP provides only abortions…or that it actually encourages women to have abortions. YES! Because everyone who is pro-choice or who goes to PP or who works for PP is FOR killin’ babies! I really enjoy slippery slope logic. (Source.) The truth is, abortion services are merely 3% of PP’s services. I, being an educator and graduate student know better than to present specific information published by other authors and present it as my own knowledge, so if you’d like to look at the PP annual report from 2009-2010 click here.
PP does so very much more than just provide abortions. PP does incredible work in making sure that all women AND men have access to more affordable healthcare. As someone who is at increased risk for ovarian cancer, I know the importance of a yearly checkup with the gynecologist. I also know what it is like to have insurance providers, such as my former, which refuses to cover yearly (very expensive) gynecological exams or important, potentially life-saving tests. And preventative treatments? Ha! Heck, even birth control isn’t covered by my current insurance. PP also empowers women (and men) by educating them about their general health and sexual health. I’m an educator, and I know that education is a giant first step in being able to change your life. Those education services (because very few other places, certainly not schools) are teaching people about sex and sexual health. Not just physical sexual health, but mental and emotional sexual health as well. That is a big, big deal. Education about sex is more than just STD and baby prevention for me, it is helping people, especially women, see that unhealthy sex hurts them in more ways than one. It is also empowering.

I would encourage you to review Griswold v. Connecticut for more of the organization’s history. One of the important realities that Griswold represents is class discrimination. A little background: Connecticut had this largely unenforced law banning contraception…and then the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut moved in and started providing medical council and birth control access to low-income women. THEN the law was enforced, but apparently only for PPLC. If you were a married woman who could pay to visit an OBGYN, you could get contraception with no flack from the government. So, essentially, what the government was saying was that it was just fine for more affluent married women to have access to health care and birth control, but fall at or below the poverty line and you’re up a creek. Oh, also, if you were unmarried, you were screwed either way, because clearly pre-marital sex did not exist then and you just didn’t need contraceptives no matter your socioeconomic status.
As an educator and graduate student who has devoted much of my studies to class and racial issues: I know that class issues are never just about class. Race plays a role, too. It just so happens that a majority of women from a low socioeconomic background are black (see: here). I will let you draw any links you wish, and allow you to dismiss that as well. That’s more of a side note from an observant student than a claim that you should follow. But it’s a thought… Anyway.

I am pro-choice. I am pro-choice because I believe in my rights to bodily autonomy. I also find it interesting that men are so interested in rushing to the abortion issue to claim sides. Oh, okay, cool, you know what it’s like to be a woman. You must also know and struggle with the fact that historically men have wanted to own you and your body, your rights, your freedom, and your decisions. Historically, you have been a second-class citizen. Awesome. Good. Aren’t uteruses great? Now, I’m not saying men can’t have an opinion on abortion, that would be asinine of me. Opinions are opinions and we’ve all got ‘em.
Here is where I take issue with some men (well, and women, too, I suppose) who are staunchly pro-life:
I was reading comments of a friend of a friend on Facebook in reply to something someone said about Komen and PP and all that jazz. This guy said something like this: “PP purports to provide these services in the name of women’s choice, while disabling the choice of thousands of unborn women every year.” Three men liked his comment. And I was like, “Oh heck no, Johannes, stop the press!” Though my rough representation of what he said may not capture it, that guy actually implied that the zygote, blastocyst, or fetus that my body carries within my uterus and provides life and nourishment for has equal or greater political rights than ME? Sorry, kid, but I’m not purchasing any of that Koolaid today. Or ever, for that matter. As long as a fetus is in my body, it is subject to my decisions, and anything I do to, for, and with my body. I drink alcohol? It does too. I smoke a cigarette? So does baby. You can see where I’m going with this… My point: It’s MY uterus, not my boyfriend’s, my husband’s, and certainly NOT the government’s. Speaking of the government, specifically Republicans who always talk of reducing the size of government…it seems to me that making abortion illegal not only extends the size of government but also the involvement of the government in our personal lives. So there’s that…
I’m very uncomfortable with the notion that an unborn child should have equal or greater rights than me. Essentially, a ban on abortion goes there, to that place where the zygote/fetus has rights that overpower my own. And this is a specifically female issue, men. Sorry, but until you have a uterus and vagina, and can subject your body to both physiological and homeostatic changes in order to provide life for a zygote/fetus, you may not be able to understand why I am uncomfortable with that notion. I am uncomfortable with the notion that men can purport to understand also what it is to carry to term a child you know you do not want to or cannot care for, to have to give that child up for adoption, or to face people who look upon you with dismay because you did not want to/could not provide care for that infant. Heck, I’ve never been there, so I can’t even understand it. But I respect the women who have been there and who have bravely made the choice to give life to their babies as well as the women who decided otherwise.
Lastly, I like religion and politics separate. I completely understand the religious justification for anti-abortionism, in fact I’d say that my reason to never have an abortion is mostly religious. If you believe in the Bible, it makes sense to personally never have an abortion. But guess what? Not everyone does believe in the Bible or Christ or God. I’m not ready to force my Christian beliefs on someone who doesn’t believe the way I do, say Muslims, Hindus, Mormons, et al. The Establishment Clause (First Amendment to the Constitution) prohibits the government from establishing an official religion or showing favor to one religion over the other, so maybe touting the religious sword for your beliefs on abortion isn’t the best way to go. I’d like to keep religious issues OUT of the abortion debate because there’s a fine line between banning abortion because it is biologically wrong and banning abortion because it is anti-Christian or anti-Muslim or anti-Mormon, etc.

God forbid I ever have to face the day that I find myself pregnant and considering abortion. I can tell you that I would not choose abortion, but to keep the baby. I believe that children are a gift from God (no matter how much they act like gifts from Satan at various points) that will enrich my life. That is where I am in my life…I’m an adult. But I will not enforce my will or my views on someone who disagrees with my position, and frankly, abortions don’t infringe upon any air-breathing human being’s rights. Making abortions illegal, however, would infringe on many people’s rights…including mine. And if that is a position that only me and my baby makin’ parts can understand, then so be it.

Ricks' Mix

I will NEVER do another 30 day challenge. Click this button: Tweet

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Yeah, I’m going there. Let’s talk about abortion…

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Set Fire to the Rain

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