The vast majority of abortions are due to reasons beyond, "I got drunk." For most, this is a deeply personal medical decision and, as with any healthcare decision, is not taken lightly and should be made by women and their families. I am not even sure how this got politicized, anyway. Proper healthcare is a moral issue? How so? Even if a case can be made, who gets to decide whose morals are superior. I find it highly immoral and unethical for anyone to decide that they can make decisions regarding my health for me.
Let me be clear here. I am a mother of three. Due to health conditions that have arisen since, I can not have any more children, nor do I want any more anyway. I have never had an abortion, though I have held the hands of friends as they had to make that decision. My husband and I have taken precaution (vasectomy) to avoid a potentially life-threatening pregnancy. Should that fail, however, I have three children that I need to be here for, this I know, as I lost my mother when I was eight. What say you to my situation? Should our measures fail, I will need access to safe, legal healthcare to ensure that my children will have their mother. No other healthcare decision is decided for the individual or family by a fanatical minority (with the possible exception of assisted suicide).
On a related note, the rate of unwanted pregnancies would be dramatically reduced if we got serious about education. It must be pointed out, as the two are inextricably related, that these same people who so vehemently oppose abortion are usually the first to fight when schools try to get serious about education and prevention. Every new form of preventative birth control has been met with passionate opposition.
The pill was a huge controversy when it was released, and has remained a bone of contention in some circles since. Plan B, RU-486, ellaOne and those like it are infinitely less invasive (physically, emotionally, mentally and financially) than a D&C, yet they are consistently being attacked and access to them all but blocked to those at highest risk. Sexual education is a joke in the schools and, too often, non-existent in the homes. The age at which girls begin the menstrual cycle is becoming younger by the century. Since it was decided that women are educable, more women are opting for education and career before marrying, with the result that there is now often a decade or two between puberty and marriage.
So, what to do? Oppose prevention education and readily available birth control (better yet, teach them "abstinence only," then when they get pregnant, they can be convinced that they should feel shame and they are managed even easier), thereby opposing an informed and prepared female population. Voila! You have taken a number of women out of the schools, and put them right back in the kitchen.
If this were all about "life," then, rather than criminalizing access to safe, affordable healthcare, we would be preventing the need by doing more to prevent violent crimes against women, getting serious about education in our homes, schools, churches and communities, and ensuring that access to information (about STDs as well as pregnancy) and contraception are available and affordable to all. We need to drop the taboos, and speak openly and honestly, and teach our children to do the same. We must teach our sons to drop the misogynistic, patriarchal thought patterns of the past, and to respect women's choices as of equal validity as their own. We must teach our daughters that their decisions are valid and that they are equals. We need to teach our children to respect and honor the decisions of others, without ridiculing and shaming those who make a different choice. Some are ready before others. No one should be pressured to do anything before they're ready, and no one should be ridiculed for becoming sexually active.
We are sexual beings. Unfortunately, abortion is sometimes necessary, as in the cases of rape, incest, or if the life of the mother is in danger. The numbers could be greatly reduced, though, if we took education and prevention of unwanted pregnancies seriously. Reproductive choice (including abortion) must remain legal, safe and affordable, as violence against women and girls is still a reality, and there are those of us for whom [another] pregnancy would be life-threatening. Preventative steps are being taken but, should they fail, I do not wish to be demonized for making the decision to be here for the children I already have - and I do wish to have legal access to safe healthcare.
No comments:
Post a Comment