http://ourdescent.word
press.com/2007/10/15/common-ground-anti-ch
oice-hypocrisy-etc/
Common Ground, Anti-Choice Hypocrisy,
Etc.
October 15th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
(conservatives, the truth about many of
them, feminism, medical question the
puritans!, health/healthcare, politics,
sex)
Jill at Feministe wrote this interesting
post in response to this interesting post
about looking for common ground on
abortion. In the original post,
Morning’s Minion from the Catholic blog
Vox Nova gives a thoughtful list of ways
feminists and anti-choicers could
cooperate without either side compromising
its stated* principles. Morning’s Minion
notes, among other true things, that
abortion bans don’t stop abortion, and
that in order to actually reduce the
abortion rate, we can do things like
provide universal healthcare and fight
poverty. Jill adds that, of course,
contraception is just about the easiest
way to bring down the abortion rate.
First off, I want to say that I think
Morning’s Minion clearly has good
intentions and that I, like, oh, every
other pro-choicer in this great country,
would love to see anti-choicers joining in
on the tireless efforts of pro-choicers to
reduce the abortion rate with good,
comprehensive sex education, universal
healthcare, better support for families,
etc. etc., as well as broader progressive
goals like not going to war. I think
Morning’s post is one that needs to be
read primarily by anti-choicer folks
because, as Jill at Feministe notes,
there’s nothing we can do to minimize
the abortion rate that pro-choicers
aren’t already doing. There does seem to
be at least one actual pro-lifer in the US
— Morning’s Minion, who opposes unjust
war, nuclear weapons, and the death
penalty, and who is, I would imagine, a
vegetarian out of her** staunch commitment
to life. Truly pro-life folks could
further their cause quite effectively by
joining in with feminist and liberal
activists as we lower the abortion rate,
protest the current unjust war, agitate
for universal healthcare, etc.
Anyway, okay, all of that was just a big
excuse to talk about what I actually want
to talk about, which is a thought I was
having last night that just so happens to
be relevant.
There’s a billboard near here that Emily
and I have thought of vandalizing a time
or twelve, an anti-choice monstrosity
calling abortion the “American
Holocaust.” That’s a load of offensive
caca on all kinds of levels. It upsets me
as a feminist and as a Jew, but mostly it
upset me as an intelligent human who knows
that there actually was an American
Holocaust, a full-blown act of
state-sponsored genocide that went on for
generations. The victims were, of course,
American Indians, who were brutally,
unforgivably attacked with evil techniques
as varied as outright slaughter, forced
relocation to concentration camps, and
just about every other horror out there.
This is extra important as we’ve just
passed my second least favorite holiday,
Columbus Day, and are about to celebrate
my number one least favorite holiday,
Thanksgiving. The US is a country that has
two entire holidays dedicated to
glorifying the actual American Holocaust.
Anyway. My thought last night. If
anti-choicers really think abortion is
homicide and legal abortion is equivalent
to the Holocaust, what the hell is their
problem? Why aren’t they doing
everything in their power to (peacefully)
reduce the abortion rate? I’d like to
think if I were living in Nazi Germany
(and not Jewish) or living in Andrew
Jackson’s United States (and not
Native), I would do anything in my power
to save anyone I could, even one person. I
absolutely doing it would not do stupid
caca like agitate for, say, propaganda
campaigns in public schools that would
raise the death rate (abstinence only
“education”), or fight against safe,
effective measures that could hugely
reduce the death rate (contraception).
Duh.
So, it’s good to see at least one person
trying to do that (though I’m guessing
that, as a Catholic, Morning’s Minion
has no interest in making contraception
widely available). But I’m betting
we’re not about to see legions of
anti-choicers joining in.
Basically: common ground absolutely
exists, but anti-choicers aren’t willing
to go there (and pro-choicers are there
already!), because they’re not really
pro-life at all.
* “Stated” because, as Morning’s
Minion acknowledges, much of the
anti-choice leadership is concerned with
controlling women and sexuality, not with
protecting life.
** That’s “her” as a general
pronoun. I have no knowledge of
Morning’s gender identity.
