23 January 2008

35

Tuesday (January 22) was the anniversary of the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade decision. Thirty-five years of choice for women.

Without a doubt that decision means the most to me of any decisions made in recent history. I grew up under the permissive climate of Roe, and unlike my foremothers have never needed to seek a back-alley abortion. I never lost a college classmate to the horrible complications that arose from those procedures. I never had to live in a world where I was limited in the decisions I could make about my own body.

I have contemplated such worlds, though. They are the stuff of my nightmares. That we would go back to a climate where abortion is illegal is terrifying to me.

The anti-choice folks frighten me a whole lot too. NPR usually makes some mention of the anniversary of Roe when it rolls around, and Tuesday was no exception. They broadcast a story about the "human life amendments" which declare that a fertilized egg is a person, from the second of conception. Bible Belt states, and, surprisingly, Colorado, have these initiatives on the November ballots. Interestingly, most of them never mention the word abortion. Making it easier for the anti-choice movement to get them passed, of course. Remove that oh-so-crucial controversial word, and even folks who are informed about the issue get confused.

According to NPR, some of these misguided attempts at legislation could possibly make it illegal for a woman to have a miscarriage. There's a thought for the folks that call themselves 'compassionate conservatives.' What's compassionate about charging a woman who has had a miscarriage with murder? As if she's not dealing with enough already.

It is so hard for me to be calm about this issue.

The most strident anti-choice folks I've ever met are men. I don't understand where they get off with their holier-than-thou attitude; until YOU can get pregnant....well, I used to say that when men could get pregnant, then they could have a choice. I no longer have such a hard line attitude. But I still feel that the issue is one of control; as I see it, our misogynistic society wants to keep women in their little boxes, keep them from being able to make decisions about their own lives and bodies, keep them from being able to behave, in short, as men do. Multiple conquests and promiscuity are OK in our culture for men. Not so much for women.

Freedom, to make a choice yourself, no matter how difficult that choice may be, is paramount. By keeping abortion legal, we are not allowing the Congress or the Supreme Court, or our individual states for that matter, to make these decisions for us.

2 comments:

Candace said...

If Men Could Get Pregnant,
Abortion Would Be Sacred.

Lucy Arin said...

LOL, ain't that the truth?

Thanks for commenting.