Exactly. Forced childbearing is a cornerstone of patriarchal control.
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No no no the problem is obviously women having babies! The solution isnt proactive and comprehensive sex ed or freely available birth control and family planning! The solution is test tube babies! Obviously!
Shush shush shush
… we don’t need to talk about how we’ll stop people having sex and getting pregnant outside of machines! By that time we’ll have solved sex!
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Yeah, sometimes I look back on my decisions and think about how many people would see them as shameful sins; yet I just see most of them as what I felt was best at the time.
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I’ve had two abortions, and I thank Ms McCorvey (and the courts) for allowing that to happen, even if she later changed her mind.
Mine were done in Australia and I’m grateful for that too, that I live where abortions can be obtained without too much rigmarole.
The circumstances were this: in my early 20s, unstable relationship and so clinically depressed that I wasn’t taking birth control pills regularly. Less than a year later, I was less depressed but now the pill failed. And the psychiatrist said, when I discussed continuing the pregnancy, that because of the anti-depressants I was on, the likely result was a child “not just a little bit disabled, but like something from outer space”.
Do I have regrets now that I’m 44 and without children? Sure. But not about those abortions. They seemed to be the best option for me at the time.
And as I said to the odious little man wearing a sign with plastic models of foetuses on it, protesting outside the clinic while on my way for the second abortion: “You? When you’ve got a womb, that’s when I’ll have time for you.” I may have scared him. I was walking quite fast and he took several steps backward and fell in a heap into the gutter. And I laughed my arse off at him.
/confession
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I have held this stance at various points in my life. Being a committed pacifist takes a lot of effort, and it was hard to keep up with without feeling like a hypocrite much of the time. I respect this position and sympathize with it, even if I’m not totally in agreement. But yeah, anything less than this is not pro-life, it’s anti-abortion, and I question the motives of any politicians holding this stance.
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When you aren’t having sex that leaves a lot of time and energy to make mischief. Idle hands do the devil’s work.
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It kind of sounds like the pro-choice people made it easy though. McCorvey complained that she felt used by her lawyers. That what she really cared about was getting an abortion and that one of her lawyers had had one herself two(?) years prior and so knew where to send her. Instead they said nothing because she wouldn’t have standing if she was no longer pregnant. So she ended up carrying it to term and giving it up for adoption.
Apparently McCorvey didn’t find out that info until like 20 years later. She had every right to be pissed too, they passively prevented her from having a choice in order to further their own goals. If they had offered to help her get the abortion and she had made the choice not to in order to have standing to sue, then that would be OK. But with-holding that choice is pretty machiavellian — the sort of thing privileged people would do to a poor person because the ends justify the means.
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Is that an innuendo?
When presented as a single word on an internet forum it seems insincere / sarcastic but when I say “congratulations” to you I do sincerely mean it.
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I can’t think of this as a confession, because you did nothing wrong. Thank you for sharing your story.
Edit: Substituted “can’t” for “won’t”.
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What does “pro-life” really mean? Even assuming the term is restricted to human life, does it mean “let’s have as many humans as possible?” We’d have a lot of life, but not much quality of life. Abortion and euthanasia free up space and resources for the rest of us. Overcrowding and poverty lead to deadly diseases and starvation — not things I’d expect anyone who calls themselves “pro-life” to be in favor of.
The inconsistency gives us a good idea of their real motives, as already expounded upon by other commenters.
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Hey JamesBean, I’m interested in that story. Do you have a link or any further info? The stories I’ve read on the internet don’t so far offer that information - about the lawyers not helping her get the termination because they wanted her case.
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I read it here:
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Why, thank you! I do appreciate it!
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That’s an interesting take. I find the various things said about her pretty intense.
For me, the most reliable source is perhaps her daughter, as she has less political interest in painting McCorvey one way or another. I do feel that there is some evidence that McCorvey isn’t the most reliable of tale tellers, and I don’t say that lightly; I believe political motives can make anybody twist their story, and people have words put in their mouths more often than others.
Nevertheless, she seems to change tones to suit her environment.
Being forced NOT to is also patriarchal control. Being forced to do anything by men is patriarchal control.
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Thanks! I know I did nothing wrong, but am also certain I’ll be judged by some. The ‘confession’ tag was a bit tongue-in-cheek because the post was longer than what I normally write here.
Off-topic: to continue my uncharacteristic verbosity for a moment… on the way out of the clinic after that second abortion, some reprehensible women were shouting at me ‘I’ll pray for you and the baby you just killed’. Despite being dazed and groggy from the anasthetic (sp?), I yelled back: ‘Yeah? I’ll see you in hell!’. Was pretty proud of that comeback, given the circumstances!
/I’ll shut-up now
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Kind of interesting that you consider the issue of abortion to be about a woman’s right to choose. But if she chooses a view of abortion that goes against yours, then she has obviously lost the capacity to choose and must have been brainwashed. Only one right opinion to choose, I guess.
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You seem to be misreading, to come to that conclusion.
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It actually is. Moreover, Roe V. Wade was decided on privacy rights, actually. You have no business making medical decisions for others. None. If you think you do, you’re mistaken.
You are welcome to believe that abortion is the wrong choice and to not make that choice for yourself - I can understand that point of view and respect it in how you live your life. However, you have no right to make that decision for others.
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