Blog for Choice Day

Today was the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. The theme of Blog for Choice day this year was "Trust women" (what does it mean to you?) There are some great entries on that topic listed over at feministing. I will be writing about what Dr. Tiller's phrase "Trust Women" means to me later on, but first I want to address something that is even more basic.

A lot of anti's try to distort what abortion actually is by using euphemisms, sensationalistic labels, and outright lies... in order to rationalize the fact that being "pro-life," at its root, isn't about life at all, it's about keeping women in their place. And not to mention that they have to lie to make it sound like some horrible thing or else nobody would listen to them. (Except that all of their lying, while it garners lots of attention, just makes them look even crazier in the end...)

So, I think it's very important to bring up several things that anti-choice people like to claim abortion is equal to (or is similar/comparable to.)

What Abortion is NOT:

Abortion is not murder. See here for my most recent thoughts on that subject.

Abortion is not genocide. A lot of hyper-emotional, hysterical "pro-lifers" like to claim that abortion is genocide. This is an extreme leap off of the edge of reason/logic and an extremely gross distortion of a word that is usually reserved for a terrible tragedy, like the Holocaust or the genocide in Darfur. In fact, I think it is extremely insulting to the victims of the Holocaust (or Holocaust survivors) to try to claim that abortion is genocide. It's disgusting and insensitive to try to politicize the word "genocide." Try telling a Holocaust survivor that her experience in a concentration camp, watching her entire family die, is comparable to that of a woman choosing a safe and legal abortion for an unwanted pregnancy. Really, just fucking try it.

If you're still not convinced, then let's look at the definition of genocide:
"1.The systematic killing of substantial numbers of people on the basis of ethnicity, religion, political opinion, social status, or other particularity.
2.Acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group."

1.A zygote/embryo/fetus does not qualify as a person. And I am sure we can all agree that a z/e/f is not a people.
2.The condition of being a zygote/embryo/fetus (an undeveloped human that can't survive outside a woman's womb) does not belong under the categories of any of those groups (ethnic/racial/religious,etc) in the definition of genocide.

History has shown us that when genocide is occuring in some country or region of the world, then force or use of violence is often necessary to stop the continued sytematic killing of a group of people. Therefore, by calling abortion "genocide," you are inciting and allowing violence against women and against abortion providers to occur when people like Scott Roeder actually believe they are "preventing genocide" by killing a doctor.

Further reading here.
And further reading here on how you are promoting, condoning, and inciting violence and condoning the killing of abortion providers by claiming that abortion is "genocide."

Stop politicizing the word "genocide" to use for your own twisted beliefs. End of story.

Abortion is not black genocide. You'd think that I wouldn't even have to bring this up, but it's truly sickening that a substantial number of naive "pro-lifers" actually believe this. This is basically what a conspiracy theory looks like at its absolute worst. Some of you might have heard of a film called Maafa 21 which tries to claim that the history of contraception, abortion, and Planned Parenthood are all tied to racism and an attempt to exterminate African Americans. If you think that sounds like a good movie, then I'm sure you'll also love Loose Change! Sigh... idiots.

The basis for the idea that abortion is black genocide stems from Margaret Sanger's writings on eugenics. (There will be an in-depth blog entry about that subject in the future). In spite of this, I do not think that Planned Parenthood started as an inherently racist organization. Furthermore, abortion obviously existed on a large scale before Planned Parenthood/Margaret Sanger, so what conspiracy theory would you apply to it then?

If you think that abortion is black genocide, then you are living in a totally different reality than the one I live in. First of all, you are implying that black women are being coerced or forced into having abortions. You are insulting the intelligence and autonomy of African American women who have made this decision on their own terms. Next, even if you skip the logic I used in discussing that abortion is not genocide, and you still insist that it is some kind of secret plot to exterminate African Americans... then you might have noticed that it's not working! The total fertility rate of the African American community is 2.2 compared to 2.0 for "white" Americans. (see wikipedia if you don't believe me.) Also, by 2042-2050, African American people combined with other non-whites will be the most prominent race in the United States (that is, there will be more black people than white people in 2050. Here's an article about that.) And that's a damn good thing! Personally, I am getting sick of this whole notion that America is an English-speaking-only, "whites-only" corporate playground. I'm really sick of the stale, pale, white male culture. I'm sick of living in white-washed rural communities and white flight. ugh. On a side-note, the most interesting time of my life was when I lived in the DC metropolitan area. My neighborhood was comprised of African Americans, El Salvadorians, Chinese immigrants, Pakistani, Indian, and white people. My high school was mostly Hispanic. I really enjoyed growing up there and I miss all of the different cultures and experiences. I can tell you right now that the "black genocide" conspiracy theory is total bullshit and is usually touted by sheltered, religious whites who grew up in stale all-white communities. But I digress.

Let me finally address the question of why there are more Planned Parenthood centers in traditionally black neighborhoods and why abortion rates may be higher in the black community. Due to the ingrained, seething racism that is still prevalent in this nation, the African American community experiences gross economic disparity to this day. As a result, this income disparity also greatly affects family planning. Why? Because family planning requires economic resources. Family planning requires insurance to pay for a doctor, to pay for contraception from that doctor, to pay for a car to get to the doctor, to pay for car insurance to drive that car, to pay for condoms, to pay for an abortion, and to pay for the gas that will get you to that clinic which is probably way out of town. African American women are clearly at a great disadvantage. Because of the racist and classist principles that still corrupt our society, they do not have the money or the education for family planning. That is exactly why they are more at risk for already having a big family and needing an abortion. And that is why you will see more Planned Parenthood centers in traditionally black neighborhoods, because they are there to help African American women and mothers choose to take control of their own lives and reproductive health... with family planning that is cheap (or free) and close to home.

So you can just throw away that conspiracy theory right now.

Abortion is not comparable to slavery. This comes from the pro-choice saying, "Against abortion? Don't have one!" Anti-choice people like to try and counter that with, "well, that's what people said about slavery: 'Against slavery? Don't have slaves!' It's not a good excuse!" Look, you're really not getting it here. Zygotes/embryos/fetuses do not qualify for personhood. They develop inside of a person, and by granting rights to a z/e/f, you then strip the actual person - (the woman) - of her rights and bodily integrity. Slaves were full-grown, fully-sentient people with families and hopes and dreams. It's insulting to imply that a developing human embryo should have as many rights and faculties as a born adult person.

I know it's ludicrous that I even need to say this, but let me make it clear: The z/e/f's condition is that it exists inside of a full-grown person and depends on that person's body for development. The slaves as adult people did not exist solely inside of a person's body and did not physically depend on a person's body for development and continued existence. The anti-choice crowd can't seem to get it through their heads that an autonomous child/adult person is somehow equal to a developing embryo attached to a full-grown woman. A woman is not an incubator.

And as with the genocide comparison, it's just completely fucking insulting for you to imply that choosing to abort an unwanted pregnancy is somehow morally comparable to owning slaves. What in the hell is wrong with you? That doesn't make any fucking sense.

On the other hand, I could see how restricting access to abortion could be comparable to slavery. You would essentially be making women a slave to the natural functioning of her body, unable to control her own biological destiny, and reproductive life. You would essentially be condemning all sexually active women of reproductive age to be baby-makers, whether they like it or not. Every woman would be a slave to the label of "pre-pregnant: handle with care." Every woman, as a slave to her sole functioning as an incubator, would have no right to control her own destiny, and to make the choice of becoming a mother. Motherhood would become a horrible looming burden on the horizon every time someone just wanted to hook-up and their contraception happened to fail. We cannot label ourselves "automatic parents" or "potential parents" every time we just want to have sex.

Abortion is not a lucrative industry.

Abortion is not harmful to women. Feminists for Life especially like to use this as a little front for their bullshit: that abortion is somehow "harmful" to women. As if we need some paternalistic protection from the choices we might accidentally make, oopsie. It's already been proven that there is no link between abortion and breast cancer, so they fall back on the "psychological" aspect of abortion. They just can't wrap their fucking heads around the fact that not every woman in the world wants to be a mother or has maternal instincts or that not every woman is ready to accept having another child after they'd only ever made plans for 1 or 2. They can't wrap their heads around the idea that women are smart enough to make decisions about their own body and - gasp - choose an abortion. They can't believe that a WOMAN would want to terminate HER OWN pregnancy. Oh, so shocking, I know. So they try to scare people by saying there will be grave psychological consequences. As with any important decision, I'm sure there are women who become extremely distraught after choosing abortion and need help, but the fact is... there is no such thing as Post Abortion Syndrome in medical or psychological literature. There IS, however, Post Natal/Post-Partum Depression and Post-Partum Psychosis(!) Interesting how that speaks volumes about what we're dealing with. Nobody ever wants to warn you about the risks of choosing to have a child, because they actually believe that you're nothing but a child-bearing vessel, (so any risks you may encounter don't really matter as long as you do your womanly duty and pop out some babies.)

---

Next time, following a similar format: What gay marriage is NOT...