In the time of my life before Andrea Smith's Conquest and Jennifer Baumgardner's Abortion and Life, I was one of those 'Against abortion? Then don't have one' bumper sticker-havers that was INYOFACE about my prochoicenss. I've mellowed some since then--to the extent that I'm willing to have a civil conversation or only slightly heated Facebook debate about the issue of life v choice. But really, life v choice isn't what's at hand here--at least not in its traditional political sense. No, what's at stake is the bodies of women--itself a random happenstance of biology--bodily integrity itself. I went through their site and Youtubed their videos, coming to the conclusion that it's about fifty-fifty for trite and legitimacy. Italicized are direct quotes from their official Youtube channel; below are my comments.
Abortion is a reflection that we have not met the needs of women.
Acutally, I absolutely agree. Abortion is a product of social problems, NOT the cause. American women face systematic discrimination in terms of birth control; anti-choice pharmacists are not held accountable for "running out" of contraception, nor are birth control methods easily accessible or affordable. Though I don't get the vibe that the Fems4Lyf were going quite in this direction with the quote, but adoption is often not a viable choice for women--prenatal care is hella expensive (just like any other health care in America without upper midde class insurance), and legal action can be taken against women who give up their babies to adoption if they do not have regular check ups. Bull. Shit. This is where CPCs, or "crisis" pregnancy centers (I use the quotes ironically because I do not believe a natural process of women's bodies constitutes an emergency) come in handy, because they do indeed provide women with care, physically and otherwise. My beef with them, however, comes in that they deliberately lie and give women misinformation about abortion, usually from studies done circa the 1970s that have since been disproven several times over (abortion does NOT cause breast cancer. SERIOUSLY. STOP.).
Almost half of all abortions are performed on college-age women.
I technically can neither affirm nor disprove this as they fail to cite their source, but considering that a lack of citation often denotes a crock o' opinionated-rather-than-factually-based bullshit, I'm gonna just go ahead and say women from all walks of life choose abortion. AND THAT MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT AND OTHER FIRST-WAVE FEMINISTS WERE NOT NECESSARILY PRO-LIFE, AS SUCH A POLITICAL CONCEPT DID NOT EXIST DURING THEIR TIME. Plz to stop decontextualizing history to put cherries in yer bowl of non-argument. Kthnxbai.
Without housing, daycare, or maternity coverage, it doesn't feel like I have much of a choice.
Again, I absolutely agree. So what are Feminists for Life as an organization doing to aid women who desire to keep their children? To tell you the truth, I have no idea--their website tells me jack doo except how to purchase bumper stickers and other "covetable stuff." And no, I didn't make the "covetable stuff" part up, they legit have a trademark symbol after it. [Barf.] I can find out how to book speakers--woo hoo! That will solve the problem of the feminization of poverty and the myth of everyone being middle class!
Women deserve better.
You know what? Women do deserve better. They deserve not to be lied to; they deserve health without wealth*; they deserve the right to move within public space wearing whatever they damn well please without threats to their bodily integrity. Most of all, they deserve to be heard--our stories and lives are personally and politically valid, and whether we self-identify as feminist, pro choice or pro life, we deserve a space to be heard. It is only through honest and open discussion that these contentious topics are resolved. And you know, I'm not even sure if that's the right word, resolved...come to terms, perhaps? In current polical framing, I'm pro choice, but within my own conceptions of the implications of abortion, I feel I'm pro life--I'm pro people who are already alive and are struggling to be seen, heard and validated in a society that so belittles them socially and politically. I'm pro universal healthcare and pro public funds for education beyond high schoool, because the most effective way to prevent poverty is through health and education. Most of all, I'm pro choice in the most literal sense of the word: "preferential determination between things proposed; selection, election (OED choice n.1a)."
*In the sense that health is a human right and you shouldn't have to take wealth to have access to basic services. Didn't want to muck up that alliterative brilliance with this explanation. :)
"Almost half of all abortions are performed on college-age women."
ReplyDeleteI technically can neither affirm nor disprove this as they fail to cite their source...
They do cite sources on their website. Looks like almost all their stats come from the Guttmacher Institute, former research arm of Planned Parenthood. Here's an example.
"Without housing, daycare, or maternity coverage, it doesn't feel like I have much of a choice."
Again, I absolutely agree. So what are Feminists for Life as an organization doing to aid women who desire to keep their children? To tell you the truth, I have no idea--their website tells me jack
Their website is filled with information about work they're doing. They fought child exclusion provisions in welfare reform; promoted prenatal care in the prenatal care the State Child Health Insurance Program; advocated enhanced child support enforcement legislation; served on the National Task Force on Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence to pass the Violence Against Women Act; worked with the ACLU and NYCLU against pregnancy discrimination; worked with both pro-life and pro-choice groups to develop and launch resource kits for student leaders, advisors, counselors, health clinics and libraries; worked to promote state and national legislation that would offer incentives to schools to provide pregnant and parenting students a location on campus where they can acquire information about resources and support; moderated Pregnancy Resource Forums on college and university campuses across the country, bringing about remarkable transformations at some (like Georgetown University); etc.
The central answer to the question what they are doing about "Without housing, daycare, or maternity coverage, it doesn't feel like I have much of a choice"? is that they're actively advocating the development and improvement of housing, daycare, maternity coverage, and much more, on college and university campuses. Apparently that's what they go to schools to do. This study is particularly interesting.
Alice: Perhaps I am being nit-picky, but it is good form to ALWAYS cite your sources right after you statements such as "Almost half of all abortions are performed on college-age women." That being said, the study is nearly ten years old--that should be explicitly noted as the information is outdated.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your input--I am unwaveringly pro choice within the current political dichotomy of choice v life, but I admire the work that FFL does because advocating on behalf of women's health is an important task indeed. I think a long term goal of both pro choice and pro life feminists should be to make abortions safe, legal and rare--it cannot and should not ever be completely banned.
Can I ask how you found this blog?
Ten years old now, not when they cited it.
ReplyDeleteAlso Feminists for Life contributed to the Affordable Care Act.
Your blog showed up in a Google search for something else.
Recent stats from the same source:
ReplyDelete"teens aged 18-19 obtain 11% [of all abortions].... women aged 20–24 obtain 33% of all abortions" (May 2010)
44% = "Almost half of all abortions are performed on college-age women."
"little changed in the profile of women obtaining abortions between 2000 and 2008.... 59% had at least some college education" (May 2010)
I'm not sure where you're going with all these statistics...? You've not responded to my general thesis of bridging the gaps between the pro choice and pro life camps. I assume you're pro life per your comments on the blog...what are you trying to accomplish by citing websites?
ReplyDelete