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Cans of worms and opeing thereof
Feb. 26th, 2010 06:31 pmToday sucked. This week sucked.
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This woman is brave. She is doing a huge service for women, and for the feminist movement, in telling the truth about her abortion. There is so much gross misinformation being spread about the procedure, and the social stigma is enough to drive the procedure totally out of public discourse outside the context of political speeches and platitudes. And she is being utterly assaulted for her honesty and bravery. She's even an example of a person who fence-sitters feel they can give "permission" to have an abortion--already has a kid (a special needs kid, which takes reserves of energy those without special needs kids simply cannot imagine, and who she prioritizes above an embryo), in a stable relationship, used protection, etc. And the latter two are all well and good--no sane person uses abortion as a primary birth control method. Oh, and her HEALTH IS IN DANGER, another thing people seem to think makes abortion "okay". But for daring to come out and be honest about the procedure, she's crossed the line--people are angry. They think it should stay underground. They think it should be cloaked in shame. They think it's attention whoring and a flagrant display of moral depravity to talk about it.
The abortion pill, what Ms. Jackson is using, (RU-486) is safe, when used properly--it's safer than giving birth, and as safe as a natural miscarriage, neither of which are without risk. Nothing in life is. But it's time to debunk the Right-wing myths about what a 'horrible' and 'dangerous' procedure abortion is, like you can gross women out of it. And no more of this bullshit on how it raises your risk of breast cancer. It doesn't. It just fucking doesn't.
Make your arguments on moral grounds, but don't fucking outright LIE about the medicine behind it.
It's time for people to stand up and defend women who have had abortions. I trust women. I trust them to make decisions about their own bodies and pregnancies, based on their own life circumstances--and those decisions are always hellishly hard. And I don't think they should be sorry or ashamed, which seems to be the only way fence-sitters can stomach the procedure--it's okay if the women feel just horrible the rest of their lives about it, as though by feeling horrible, it shows they still have regard for the sanctity of life. It just doesn't work that way. And I'm also sick of people saying women who choose to have abortions just didn't "think about it enough" or really "know what they were doing". Maybe a few didn't. But most did.
There are stories of women who have had abortions and felt only immense relief. They're not sorry. And they don't regret it. And I bet there are countless more stories from women who don't want to face the harsh criticism of being something people think beyond reprehensible--a woman who had an abortion and isn't wracked with grief.
Stigmatizing abortion, making abortion illegal, does absolutely NOTHING to stop it. It just drives it underground. Read a paper that wasn't written by so-called "researchers" (statistics-benders with horrid research methodology) bought by the Christian right on the subject.
Yeah, my mom chose life. And I'm glad she had a choice. She had me when she was ready, when she was done with medical school and at a place in her life where she could support a child. I think all the "be glad your mom chose life" bullshit plays upon a fundamental human fear of being murdered--bringing up images of your own mother murdering you, a sentient being. But a zygote is not a sentient being. An embryo isn't either. It's potential, a state of flux. But we humans have a hard time conceptualizing Not Being; we equate it with death.
So, Angie Jackson, I support you, and thank you for breaking the silence.
--------------------------
This woman is brave. She is doing a huge service for women, and for the feminist movement, in telling the truth about her abortion. There is so much gross misinformation being spread about the procedure, and the social stigma is enough to drive the procedure totally out of public discourse outside the context of political speeches and platitudes. And she is being utterly assaulted for her honesty and bravery. She's even an example of a person who fence-sitters feel they can give "permission" to have an abortion--already has a kid (a special needs kid, which takes reserves of energy those without special needs kids simply cannot imagine, and who she prioritizes above an embryo), in a stable relationship, used protection, etc. And the latter two are all well and good--no sane person uses abortion as a primary birth control method. Oh, and her HEALTH IS IN DANGER, another thing people seem to think makes abortion "okay". But for daring to come out and be honest about the procedure, she's crossed the line--people are angry. They think it should stay underground. They think it should be cloaked in shame. They think it's attention whoring and a flagrant display of moral depravity to talk about it.
The abortion pill, what Ms. Jackson is using, (RU-486) is safe, when used properly--it's safer than giving birth, and as safe as a natural miscarriage, neither of which are without risk. Nothing in life is. But it's time to debunk the Right-wing myths about what a 'horrible' and 'dangerous' procedure abortion is, like you can gross women out of it. And no more of this bullshit on how it raises your risk of breast cancer. It doesn't. It just fucking doesn't.
Make your arguments on moral grounds, but don't fucking outright LIE about the medicine behind it.
It's time for people to stand up and defend women who have had abortions. I trust women. I trust them to make decisions about their own bodies and pregnancies, based on their own life circumstances--and those decisions are always hellishly hard. And I don't think they should be sorry or ashamed, which seems to be the only way fence-sitters can stomach the procedure--it's okay if the women feel just horrible the rest of their lives about it, as though by feeling horrible, it shows they still have regard for the sanctity of life. It just doesn't work that way. And I'm also sick of people saying women who choose to have abortions just didn't "think about it enough" or really "know what they were doing". Maybe a few didn't. But most did.
There are stories of women who have had abortions and felt only immense relief. They're not sorry. And they don't regret it. And I bet there are countless more stories from women who don't want to face the harsh criticism of being something people think beyond reprehensible--a woman who had an abortion and isn't wracked with grief.
Stigmatizing abortion, making abortion illegal, does absolutely NOTHING to stop it. It just drives it underground. Read a paper that wasn't written by so-called "researchers" (statistics-benders with horrid research methodology) bought by the Christian right on the subject.
Yeah, my mom chose life. And I'm glad she had a choice. She had me when she was ready, when she was done with medical school and at a place in her life where she could support a child. I think all the "be glad your mom chose life" bullshit plays upon a fundamental human fear of being murdered--bringing up images of your own mother murdering you, a sentient being. But a zygote is not a sentient being. An embryo isn't either. It's potential, a state of flux. But we humans have a hard time conceptualizing Not Being; we equate it with death.
So, Angie Jackson, I support you, and thank you for breaking the silence.
