Posted on 06/05/2003 6:34:38 PM PDT by Cathryn Crawford
OPINION PIECE FROM A PRO-LIFE FEMINIST by Marilyn Dickstein Kopp
This Saturday marks the twenty-sixth anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision, yet the abortion controversy continues to rage. In 1973, the nine- member, all-male Supreme Court legalized a procedure that, while intended as a last resort, has now become practically a way of life -- one out of four U.S. pregnancies today end on the abortion table.
While the media have cast the debate as liberals vs. conservatives and as those supporting women's rights vs. those supporting the rights of the fetus, perhaps some new questions are in order. Is defense of abortion a liberal concept? Can't one simultaneously support both women's and unborn children's rights, or are they mutually exclusive? Can women's rights exist independently of other human rights?
For the last quarter century, many prolifers have been frustrated by their portrayal in popular media (and therefore in public perception) as religious and political conservatives. While the "far right" make up one element of the pro-life movement, it's hardly the only one.
Consider the Seamless Garment Network (SGN), a strong but often ignored national coalition of diverse groups and individuals such as the Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians, Feminists for Life, the Dalai Lama, environmentalist Wendell Berry and civil libertarian Nat Hentoff. The SGN consistently seeks to protect all life, threatened, as their mission statement points out, by "war, abortion, poverty, racism, domestic violence, the arms race, the death penalty and euthanasia."
Prolifers are often painted as intolerant religious fanatics. Yet the abortion mentality that decrees, "It's a baby if I want it, it's a fetus if I don't" reflects the ultimate intolerance. History has shown time and again that when we value any class of individuals (be they women, minorities, gays, lesbians, Jews, the unborn, the disabled) based on our emotional reaction to them, we are simply rationalizing prejudice.
Feminist support for abortion seems particularly ironic considering that we have long ago rejected the notions that women are the property of their husbands or that a woman's worth depends on her desirability to a man. Is it not the height of hypocrisy to turn around and impose the same unjust standards on our children?
Many feminists insist that abortion is necessary for women to participate freely and equally in society. Anyone who disagrees, they argue, has merely adopted patriarchal standards and accepted women's "place" in society. Yet this argument demonstrates how deeply the roots of sexism run in our culture. Its premise is a sexist one -- that women are inferior to men and that in order to be equal, we have to change our biology to become like men -- wombless and unpregnant at will. What other oppressed group in history has had to undergo surgery in order to be equal?
What man has had to choose between a career and fatherhood? Between personal fulfillment and his child? Why are we putting up with this oppressive non- choice?
It's been said that if men got pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament. But as feminist historian Mary Krane Derr writes, "If we truly valued the people who got pregnant, pregnancy would be the sacrament." Then abortionists, she adds, would have to lay down their instruments and seek rightful employment.
Sound like an idealistic dream? Not really. There are more pregnancy care centers in the U.S. than abortion facilities. And while lunatic clinic shooters grab most headlines, few people are aware of the multitude of free abortion alternative services that are available in their own backyards.
Recently, Feminists for Life introduced a nationwide College Outreach Program. (College-aged women have the most abortions, and the group most supportive of abortion rights is college-aged men.) This program is designed to educate students and advisors about available resources so that no woman feels compelled to choose between her child and her college career. Ironically, the program -- which also lobbies for services such as housing for pregnant students, on-site day care, adoption counseling and maternity coverage in student health care plans -- was met by fierce opposition by many "pro-choice" groups.
Like the death penalty and military aggression, abortion reflects society's tendency to solve problems by violently disposing of those who present the problems. Giving voice to the voiceless -- not exerting lethal control over them -- always has been a priority of the left.
On this Roe vs. Wade anniversary, pro-lifers will undoubtedly continue to be stereotyped as intolerant, right-wing, misogynist homophobes. This stereotype might make people feel more comfortable, but it underestimates the diversity of the pro-life movement and the subtleties and depths of its arguments. Labeling is much easier than thinking.
Marilyn is past president of Feminists for Life of Ohio.
Prolifers are often painted as intolerant religious fanatics. Yet the abortion mentality that decrees, "It's a baby if I want it, it's a fetus if I don't" reflects the ultimate intolerance. Marilyn Dickstein Kopp
How's this?
Always much to say about abortion. However, this sentence completely muddies a necessary debate.
Unsourced and unclear, what does the author mean?
The College Outreach Program is designed to intervene with college students because most abortions occur during matriculation?
Is this true? Do statistics exist to prove this?
The group most supportive of abortion rights is college age men?
I believe the men on the Supreme Court who affirmed Roe vs. Wade were well past College Age (as one example of a group of men extremely supportive of abortion)
My comment: rewrite this article in a clear and coherent style as an excercise.
For what it is worth.
Best regards,
Don't ask me why, but I somehow think that someday soon someone's going to be writing an even more interesting column on this topic. ;-)
Ping me to your next work, and ditch the boyfriend. :^)
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