ThreadingWater is chillin’ in a foreign land. Enjoy this summer rerun.
On this, the 33rd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, I have pledged to blog for ‘choice.’ Recently, though, I have been having second thoughts. Not about a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy, but second thoughts about the language we use in our battle for reproductive rights; specifically the word ‘choice.’
It was the publication of Linda Hirshman’s article in the American Prospect that first got me thinking about how a feminist dependence on ‘choice’ language has been used against us by our enemies, and mangled and diluted by those who claim to be our allies.
We are admonished by the anti-abortion right to ‘Choose Life’ and told that ‘It’s a Baby – Not a Choice.’ Others on the political right promote ‘choice’ schools as a method to siphon-off public funding for private education with less accountability. Even those who would cloak themselves in feminist ‘choice’ language often misunderstand what true opportunity and decision-making choices really look like, as pointed out in Ms. Hirshman’s article about women who leave the workforce in order to stay home and raise children.
‘Choice’ is right. ‘Choice’ is left. ‘Choice’ is sprinkled throughout our vocabularies as good and desirable for everything from ketchup to car insurance. The use of ‘choice’ infers that one has the freedom to choose among a number of fairly equal options.
Surely, for a pregnant woman, the options are nowhere near equal. There are only three: motherhood, adoption or pregnancy termination. Each is a life-altering path with its own health, financial and psychological components. The methodology for deciding which path to follow cannot and should not be determined, or restricted, by those who believe that – as a matter of faith – a fertilized egg or a fetus is deserving of constitutional rights equal to that of a pregnant woman.
One’s faith and spiritual belief system are powerful allies against the struggles that life hurls at us. But, faith and spirituality are uniquely personal. A woman facing a decision that is more self-preservation than a matter of ‘choice’ is entitled to receive health information from her physician, drug information from her local pharmacy and spiritual counseling from her church.
This isn’t a choice, it’s a right.
Thank you. What a beautiful post. I wanted to post something about this as well, but feel inadequate to say anything of consequence.
And thank you for posting earlier about the Madrona Fiber Festival. Had NO idea that there was one (and I’m not too far away, in Federal Way)
Come on along Carry! It’s gonna be fab.
Great post, AL. I have felt for a long time that the pro-choice lobby has shot themselves in the foot, one for the choice word as you point out, and two for being willfully blind and dumb regarding the emotional toll that abortion takes on women who have them. That emotional toll is a feminist issue, too, and by denying that pain we’re not pro-women.
I wish the Democratic Party would take a strong stand pro RIGHTS as you say, and anti-abortion, by mailing every voter in America a condom and a chart showing people how to measure a woman’s cycle and her most likely fertile period. This would help lower the abortion rate and hopefully shut up some virulent pro lifers.
You are blogging for choice
What better way to celebrate the anniversary of Roe v. Wade than with a look at a few of the pro-choice voices out there. To see all of the bloggers who have signed up to Blog for Choice today, click…