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mahoganyThis was a comment that I wrote in response to a post about how the religious right was harming the pro-life movement. I am reposting here because it sums up my views on the issue:
I agree that judgemental pro-lifers are not helping, but I think the primary reason that the pro-life message is failing is that we (and I include myself in this because I have yet to come up with a good solution, and thus I too am failing women), as pro-lifers have failed to address the issues of genuine equality that women still face in the workplace; in the school place; in their family lives. Women are still vulnerable to sexual attacks. We have yet to address the fact that it is women who assume all of the responsibility of bringing a child to term. In some cases (cesarean, stretch marks), they bear the scars afterward. Any health complications arising from the pregnancy fall on the woman. In the case of teens, there is still the social stigma associated with teen pregnancy. The woman bears this. And I'm just talking about cases of pregnancy where the sex was consensual. I don't even need to go into the problems of rape and incest to show that the pro-life movement has work to do.
Abortion gives the illusion of a solution to these problems. As pro-lifers, we believe that this is not a solution. This is not an answer, but many people accept it as a panacea. This, I believe, is the real reason that the pro-life message is failing. Abortion has not made life any better for women. It has not solved their problems, but you know what? Neither have we! As feminists and pro-lifers, we need to come up with better answers than just, "Oh, you don't want the baby? Give it up for adoption." That's no more a panacea than abortion.
I agree that judgemental pro-lifers are not helping, but I think the primary reason that the pro-life message is failing is that we (and I include myself in this because I have yet to come up with a good solution, and thus I too am failing women), as pro-lifers have failed to address the issues of genuine equality that women still face in the workplace; in the school place; in their family lives. Women are still vulnerable to sexual attacks. We have yet to address the fact that it is women who assume all of the responsibility of bringing a child to term. In some cases (cesarean, stretch marks), they bear the scars afterward. Any health complications arising from the pregnancy fall on the woman. In the case of teens, there is still the social stigma associated with teen pregnancy. The woman bears this. And I'm just talking about cases of pregnancy where the sex was consensual. I don't even need to go into the problems of rape and incest to show that the pro-life movement has work to do.
Abortion gives the illusion of a solution to these problems. As pro-lifers, we believe that this is not a solution. This is not an answer, but many people accept it as a panacea. This, I believe, is the real reason that the pro-life message is failing. Abortion has not made life any better for women. It has not solved their problems, but you know what? Neither have we! As feminists and pro-lifers, we need to come up with better answers than just, "Oh, you don't want the baby? Give it up for adoption." That's no more a panacea than abortion.
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Date: 2010-10-01 07:18 pm (UTC)The way I see it, unwanted pregnancies are a kind of Sophoclean tragedy: you have to betray one 'good' for another 'good', or do something 'bad' to prevent another kind of 'bad'. Which choice do you make, as an individual and as a society?
Personally, on balance, I don't think abortions are a good idea - I think the killing aspect is pretty powerful - but as you've suggested above, often there are understandable reasons why people make that choice, when given the choice, in the world the way it is. We could change things so the balance is tilted more favourably toward life more often.
I think another divide that's often going on between the pro-life vs pro-choice movements is about sex in general. There's a huge gulf between those who believe sex is sacred & should only happen within marriage and should always be 'weighted' with the possibility of pregnancy, versus those who see it as a normal biological impulse that should be as 'light' and risk free as possible (with pregnancy being just another of the manageable risks).
Unfortunately that divide also seems to get in the way of providing the information and medical assistance required to minimise the number of unwanted pregnancies in the first place.
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Date: 2010-10-02 07:19 am (UTC)I think you're partially right, and I think this is one of the problems facing the pro-life movement at the moment. I must say, however, that there are plenty of pro-lifers who don't view sex as particularly sacred, and see it more as a biological impluse, however, they recognize pregnancy normal result of that biological impulse, and acknowledge that life in utero, should be protected.