One of the most emotionally laden topics in today’s political climate is abortion. Many who would prohibit abortion do not realize that it is misogyny at its worst.
“It’s my body,” Angela cried. “Don’t tell me what I can and cannot do with it!” “It’s my body,” she screamed, “and my life. My life belongs to me, and not to you or anybody else, especially the state of Texas!” She was crying now when she was told that the law prohibited her from getting an abortion. She was 20 weeks pregnant, almost destitute, and had been unable to find a clinic within driving distance due to the state of Texas regulations.
Update June 3, 2021. Texas passed a very restrictive anti-abortion bill. Starting in September, there will be a ban on abortions that take place after 6 weeks of pregnancy, regardless of whether the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest, before many women are aware that they are pregnant. See a very moving speech by Lake Highlands High School valedictorian Paxton Smith.
This story repeats itself many times, too many times. Who does a woman’s life belong to? Is it you? Is it me? Is it a majority of Texans? Denying a woman’s right to control her own body is misogyny at its worst.
On the issue of abortion, many people focus on when they think human life starts and how that relates to rights. For an excellent discussion on the concept of “rights” see the article by Andrew Bernstein The Right to Abortion as an Application of Individual Rights. That brings up the issue of just what is meant by human life. When does an organism became a human being and acquire the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? What are the characteristics of an organism that would allow us to identify when it becomes a human being?
When does life begin as a human being?
We start with biology and facts of reality. The fetus is a non-air breathing umbilical-cord-connected organism living inside a woman and is totally and physiologically dependent on the woman for its sustenance.
If the woman dies, the fetus dies. This means the woman has biological primacy over the fetus.
This biological primacy thus gives her primacy of rights, meaning that until birth, when the fetus, a potential human being, becomes an actual air-breathing, non-umbilical-cord-connected human being and can live outside the woman even if the woman dies, the woman has all rights and the fetus has none. Yes, the newborn requires care to survive, but is not physiologically dependent on anyone.
In other words, rights belong to actual human beings, not potential ones.
The fetus is a potential human being
Notice I use the word “fetus” rather than “baby.” It is vital to be very precise in one’s language, especially on an issue as important as this. Calling a “fetus” a “baby” or a “human being” is an equivocation, a logical fallacy, trying to slip in one concept for another.
They are different. As described above, a fetus, a non-air-breathing, umbilical-cord-connected organism living inside a woman, is a potential human being whereas a baby, living outside the woman, breathing air, and not umbilical cord connected, is an actual human being.
This is analogous to the fact that a chrysalis is a potential butterfly, and only when it breaks out of its cocoon does it become an actual, flying butterfly. It is a logical fallacy to call a chrysalis a butterfly.
To prohibit abortion is misogyny at its worst
“Right to life” advocates are advocating misogyny. Misogyny is woman-hatred and includes not recognizing and treating a woman as an independent human being who owns her own body and her own life and has the right to decide what she can or cannot do with her body and her life. To prohibit a woman’s right to control her own body and her own life is misogyny at its worst.
Opposition to abortion demonstrates a dangerous disregard for individual rights.
“Right to life” legislation and hindrances through regulations (such as we have in Texas) are simply other dimensions of misogyny. The bottom line is that it is immoral for you or I or the Texas legislature to decide what a woman can or cannot do with her body.
I am “pro-life” AND “pro-choice”
When confronted with an unwanted pregnancy, the woman is in the difficult/impossible position of making a personal, none of your business, medical decision with her doctor. In this case, I am pro-life – the woman’s life. Here are some examples.
- I’m pro-Becky who found out at her 20 week anatomy scan that the infant she had been so excited to bring into this world had developed without life sustaining organs.
- I’m pro-Susan who was sexually assaulted on her way home from work, only to come to the horrific realization that her assailant planted his seed in her when she got a positive pregnancy test result a month later.
- I’m pro-Theresa who hemorrhaged due to a placental abruption, causing her parents, spouse, and children to have to make the impossible decision on whether to save her or her fetus.
- I’m pro-little Cathy who had her innocence ripped away from her by someone she should have been able to trust and her 11 year-old body isn’t mature enough to bear the consequence of that betrayal.
- I’m pro-Melissa who’s working two jobs just to make ends meet and has to choose between bringing another child into poverty or feeding the children she already has because her spouse walked out on her.
- I’m pro-Brittany who realizes that she is in no way financially, emotionally, or physically able to raise a child.
- I’m pro-Emily who went through IVF, ending up with SIX viable implanted eggs requiring selective reduction in order to ensure the safety of her and a SAFE amount of fetuses.
- I’m pro-Christina who doesn’t want to be a mother, but birth control methods sometimes fail.
- I’m pro-Jessica who is FINALLY getting the strength to get away from her physically abusive spouse only to find out that she is carrying the monster’s child.
- I’m pro-Vanessa who went into her confirmation appointment after YEARS of trying to conceive only to hear silence where there should be a heartbeat.
- I’m pro-Lindsay who lost her virginity in her sophomore year with a broken condom and now has to choose whether to be a teenage mom or just a teenager.
- I’m pro-Courtney who just found out she’s already 13 weeks along, but the egg never made it out of her fallopian tube so either she terminates the pregnancy or risks dying from internal bleeding.
You can argue and say that I’m pro-choice all you want, but the truth is:
- I’m pro-life — their lives—women’s lives.
- I am pro-choice and pro-womens’ rights to their own bodies.
- I’m pro— it is none of your damn business!
You don’t get to pick and choose which scenarios should be accepted. Women’s rights are human rights and are meant to protect ALL women, regardless of their situation!
H/T to Lara Flook for this section.
“Pro-choice” does not mean pro-abortion
“Pro-choice” does not mean pro-abortion. “Pro-choice” means that no matter what your personal feelings or beliefs about abortion are, you understand it is not your place to make a decision for another woman about what she can and can’t do with her body and her life. The choice is hers and hers alone.
Would you want the state to tell you what you can or cannot do with your body and your life?
As a woman, you may decide that you would not have an abortion. That is fine, because your life is your own. By the same token, let other women decide for themselves, rather than force your views on them in the form of laws and regulations. It is their life. And if you happen to find yourself in a similar situation, remember, that it is your life and yours alone.
Photo credits
- Two chrysalises and butterfly: Suzanne D. Williams on Unsplash
I disagree that pro-life is misogyny. The male who created that fetus should also have a choice since he helped to create it. Being for the prohibition of abortion in most circumstances has nothing to do with hating women. It really has to do with loving them.
There are serious moral and emotional consequences to aborting a baby. I have witnessed with my mother and with a cousin the devastation of forced adoption and forced abortion in a time when having a baby out of wedlock was taboo. Nobody wants to go back to those times which were in place when Roe v. Wade was established. That taboo no longer exists (also a moral issue; especially in certain cultures and among those of low socioeconomic status).
There is the possibility of creating life when the copulation occurs between a male and a female. Choice begins here. Both parties are responsible for potentially raising a child until grown. Abortion is not intended to be a form of birth control. Legislation prohibiting abortion when a heartbeat is detectable does allow parties who have failed to prevent pregnancy in the heat of passion an option if they don’t want to or are unable to take on the responsibility of a child. Personally, I have a moral and religious opposition to this, but I cannot impose that on others.
Scientifically saying life begins at a heartbeat uses the same standard of when life ceases. Saying the child is dependent on the mother is true, but those who are on ventilators are also dependent on a machine. Try unplugging a ventilator without a living will.
If the mother dies with child (another term we use), that’s different than killing the fetus alone (and it is very gruesome). Killing a mother, with child, results in the murderer being charged with double homicide. You use the term fetus, but science has proven that a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks!
It is not just the mother’s life, John. She is the most affected emotionally and morally, but many others are involved too: dad, grandparents, siblings, and even society as a whole. A society’s lack of respect for the purpose and responsibilities that come with sex and for the sanctity of life will impact the success or failure of that society.
Thanks for commenting, Jack. It is obvious you have thought a great deal about the subject.
It is not loving a woman if you prevent her from controlling her own body. Such prevention treats the woman as an object to be controlled, not as a person with her own life and aspirations. In other words, such prevention is misogyny. And that is certainly a moral issue.
Having a heartbeat is not a sufficient condition to be classified as a human being with rights. Clearly, breathing air and not being inside a womb are two necessary conditions for such classification. This is an epistemological issue on concepts and definitions, in particular for “human being.”
I think we will have to agree to disagree, which is ok. Also, thanks for a calm discussion of a “lightening rod” topic without any ad hominem or name-calling.
I heartily disagree. It is not the father’s body that’s being used to sustain the fetus. It is not his health or life that is at risk carrying and birthing it. Yes, in many cases, his opinion should be sought. But it is the mother’s body which is being used, and the decision is ultimately hers. The belief that he should have the right to force her to let someone else use her body against her will is misogynistic.
Your mother and aunt were forced to give their baby up/have an abortion. That is wrong, too. That was also someone else telling them what to do with their bodies and lives. Forcing someone to have an abortion is just as wrong as forbidding it.
Rarely is abortion used as birth control. I won’t say it doesn’t happen. However, it’s more likely that the birth control fails. Mine did. And contrary to what you’ve being told, a couple who find themselves with an unplanned pregnancy don’t have a full 6 weeks to pursue an abortion before a “heartbeat” can be detected. Allow me to educate you on biology. Gestational age is measured from the first day of a woman’s last period. So, the first week of that 6, she’s on the rag, and not actually pregnant. The second week, she hasn’t ovulated yet, and is not actually pregnant. The third week may lead to a fertilized egg, but that egg won’t implant until close to the end of that week, which is when she finally becomes pregnant. So, for half of those six weeks, the woman isn’t even pregnant yet! Then, it takes a few more days for her body to produce enough hormones for the pregnancy to be detected. Which means, IF she discovers the pregnancy as soon as possible, she’ll only have 2.5 weeks in which to decide to have an abortion and get through all of TX obstacles. That is not a reasonable expectation. Also, most women who aren’t actively trying to get pregnant won’t take a pregnancy test until they’ve missed a period, which means they have less than 2 weeks to do all that (I know I couldn’t have), and that’s just for women who have regular cycles of 4 weeks or less. So in reality, it’s a 2 week ban for women with regular periods whose bodies send clear indications that they’ve conceived. For everyone else, it’s a total ban.
Legally, a person is not considered dead when the heart stops, but when brain activity ceases. So a heartbeat is not the standard of when life ceases.
Science has not proven that a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks. Yes, it will react to being poked, but the connections from the periphery to the cortex that scientists believe are necessary to perceive pain don’t develop until about 24 weeks. That is another lie you’ve been told.
Yes, many others are affected by the end of a pregnancy. But once again, it is the woman’s body that is being used, and as a living, breathing, independent human, she has the right to bodily autonomy, which is a human right. It means a person has control over who or what uses their body, for what, and for how long. It’s why you can’t be forced to donate blood, tissue, or organs. Even if you’re dead. Even if you’d save or improve 20 lives. It’s why someone can’t touch you, have sex with you, or use your body in any way without your continuous consent.
A fetus is using someone’s body parts. Therefore, under bodily autonomy, it is there by permission, not by right. It needs the person’s continuous consent. If they deny or withdraw consent, the woman has a right to remove them from that moment. A fetus is equal in this regard because if you need someone else’s body parts to live, they also can legally deny you their use.
By saying a fetus has a right to someone’s body parts until it’s born, despite the woman’s wishes, you’re doing two things:
1) Granting a fetus more rights to another person’s body than any born person.
2) Awarding a pregnant woman less rights to her own body than a corpse.
So, making abortion illegal is misogyny because it is taking away a woman’s human rights and therefore treating her as less than a person.
You are welcome to believe abortion is wrong, and even to discourage anyone who asks for your input from getting one. But as soon as you support laws that restrict or outlaw abortion, you’re forcing those views on others who may not share them and taking women’s human rights away.
We come to the same conclusion by a different path. Thanks for reading my post.
You are so wrong life begins at conception abortion is murder
Hi Charlotte,
Thanks for reading my post. I guess we will have to agree to disagree on when human life begins and on respect for a woman’s right to decide what to do with her body and everything in it. Thanks again.
John
We as a society need to GO BACK to those days of taboo – where having sex before marriage and an out of wedlock child was seriously frowned upon. That’s because we’re supposedly “liberated” & have gotten rid of God. What a bunch of garbage. Since that has happened, out of wedlock kids, single parent households, drug use, welfare roll numbers & crazy sex numbers have exploded. Having premarital sex has caused more damage, worldwide & has led to this catastrophe of abortion. Marriage needs to be promoted. God needs to be reinstated in our lives. Living morally, cleanly, traditionally, with ethics, values, etc needs to be upheld. As a society, we’ve accepted the cop out as normal. Time to put self control, dignity and doing the right things back on the table. Then maybe we can try to reverse the mess we’ve made.
Kara,
Thanks for reading my post. My rationale is based on the nature of human beings and the notion of rights. Yes, there is a lot going on in society which is detrimental to flourishing, productive, and happy individuals, some of which are in my posts on Critical Race Theory and on Individualism and Collectivism.
Again, thanks for reading and taking the time to comment.
Thank you, John for you insight.
I agree with you that the right to continue or to terminate a pregnancy must ultimately rest with the woman involved.
Please keep stating the obvious.
So musch is at stake here.
Love & Peace. ❤
Thank you. Yes, there is so much at stake.