Many abortion rights advocates and some Democrats who want to dial down the culture wars want the White House to package the two parts of the plan together, as a single piece of legislation. The plan would seek to reduce unwanted pregnancies by funding comprehensive sex education and contraception and to reduce the need for abortion by bolstering federal support for pregnant women. Supporters of the approach say it would force senators and members of Congress on both sides of the abortion battle to compromise their traditional positions, creating true common ground that mirrors what President Obama has called for.
But more conservative religious groups working with the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships say they would be forced to oppose such a plan—even though they support the abortion reduction part—because they oppose federal dollars for contraception and comprehensive sex education. This camp, which includes such formidable organizations as the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops and the Southern Baptist Convention, is pressuring the White House to decouple the two parts of the plan into separate bills. One bill would focus entirely on preventing unwanted pregnancy, while the other would focus on supporting
pregnant women.
It would behoove the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops to spend the rest of their existence paying penance for their culpability in their priests' rape and molestation of children by trying to stop child abuse, but they would rather try to control The Other Group Of Children, which is how they see women. You won't need to have an abortion if you don't get pregnant in the first place, but these men still don't want women to have birth control because they don't want women to have control over their own lives.
It was never about the dead babies. We kill babies all the time, with neglect and abuse, war and cold, harmful policies. It was about control, because if you control reproduction you control women, and some people can never have too much control. Also, just as many males think gays are icky, many males think women are icky, and they will never, ever see them as equals. Anti-abortion battles are a means to an end. The elimination of contraception will be next, with the enormous loss of personal power and opportunity being seen as a positive consequence.
For men.
4 comments:
They're all haunted by the thought that somewhere, some woman is having fun.
It was never about the dead babies. We kill babies all the time, with neglect and abuse, war and cold, harmful policies. It was about control, because if you control reproduction you control women, and some people can never have too much control.
This is totally TRUE (caps intended). I speak with experience: grew up in fundie household, fundie myself to the age of 17 or so, naturally adhered to "conservative" views on abortion. Finally realized I was alone among anti-choice types in actually caring about children, and noticed the ones who do care about children were all on the other side.
The elimination of contraception will be next, with the enormous loss of personal power and opportunity being seen as a positive consequence.
For men.
Here I disagree. It doesn't logically follow that men would benefit from banning either abortion or birth control. When something is outlawed, whether contraceptives or cannabis, it doesn't give "men" any more control than before.
Whom it gives control to is a very small group of people who benefit from institutionalized hypocrisy. That may benefit patriarchy, but it certainly does not benefit men.
(I concede that women suffer greater hardships as a result of such legislative invasions than men do, but men not belonging to the aforementioned clique--viz., the vast majority--would suffer also.)
Many people depend on their feelings of male or white superiority to deal with insecurity. That's what I had in mind.
If women are unable to reliably control their fertility, they are ipso facto unable to control their lives.
Outlawing contraception wouldn't necessarily be advantageous for men in the emotional health and existential satisfaction areas of their lives, but they would have professional and economic advantages
Being unable to concentrate on learning their jobs, making contacts, navigating the politics, etc. without the constant interruptions and distractions of multiple pregnancies would stunt most women's careers.
Men, not having that "uncertainty handicap," would have the advantage in business and politics. As they did for all the centuries before the advent of relatively reliable contraception was available.
Post a Comment