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  •  postscript of sorts (4.00 / 13)

    No, they haven't won the war, not yet anyway.

    But it's going to take a lot of women speaking about their experiences- outting themselves- often at high personal risks, (and don't underestimate those risks) and placing value judgements on those experiences. Back to the T-shirt (as I commented below), "I had an abortion" isn't enough, that merely marks you as a member of class of women. We're going to need to talk about the realities of our experienes, and how no, abortion is not horrible- for many of women it has been damn good.

    Further, we're going to have to gage who we're talking to. We're going to need to explain to those who are 'educatable', and stop wasting time trying to please those who aren't. Some people are not going to be persuaded no matter what the words. the only answer for them is get your damn boot off my neck- or uterus as the case may be.

    As for everone else, 'friends' need to stop telling us what we've done is varrying versions of bad and how much they wish the 'issue', (and thus we ourselves), would just go away so they can get back to (vainly) trying to win the hearts and minds of those who will not be wooed.

    What provoked this diary was yet another attempt at marketing issues that tramples women's realities- the realities of our lives.

    I'm tired of having to explain this over and over to 'progressives', 'liberals' 'democrats' and other assorted and assundry 'allies'. Either we have autonomy or we don't.

    Either we own our own bodies- or someone else does. And if that 'someone else' does, be it the state, churches, or just plain old abusive boyfriends, what are the consequences to individual women?

    Further, if we can be (to use the relgious language referenced above in my diary) 'enslaved' in these ways, what are the implications for others? What kind of society does that create, and what are the implications for those  'progressives', 'liberals' 'democrats' and other assorted and assundry 'allies'?

    No, it not some 'war' we choose. A friend in the abortion fiend refers to us as 'relectant warriors'. This came to us, and is being waged on our very bodies.

    When abortion, and therefore women who have abortions are labeled horrible by alledged 'friends' they become just another form of attack, on our most basic autonomy- our 'self rule'. Anyone who thinks that's not fair game for criticism should take a good long look in a mirror.

    barf.org : a resource for all who work to monitor and counter the Biblical America movement.

    by stormcoming on Mon Jun 13, 2005 at 03:14:33 PM PDT

    [ Parent ]

    •  Reality (4.00 / 8)

      For a good thirty years or more, each month, a woman faces the fact that she is either pregnant or not pregnant.  

      You bleed or you don't bleed.

      Or you worry that you haven't bled.

      Or you hope/pray that you won't bleed.

      Even if you aren't having sex, you are reminded monthly that you are not pregnant.

      It is a normal part of our lives.  

      How often do men think about pregnancy? How regularly do men think of pregnancy?

      Pregnancy, birth control, and abortion are not issues that we can have the luxury of waxing philosophic about and making grand pronouncements for the masses.

      We do not have the luxury of deciding if abortion can be a "winning strategy" or if the word "abortion" should be considered "horrible" and swept under the carpet.

      It's all too real for us.

      Thanks, stormcoming, for pointing this out.

      IMPEACH

      by Maria in Pgh on Mon Jun 13, 2005 at 06:10:31 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

    •  Autonomy IS (4.00 / 4)

      a core value that, on my list, comes before privacy.
      You wrote (and I listed them reversed):
          When abortion, and therefore women who have abortions are labeled horrible by alleged 'friends' they become just another form of attack, on our most basic autonomy- our 'self rule'.
          We're going to need to talk about the realities of our experienes, and how no, abortion is not horrible- for many of women it has been damn good.

      I have always believed that women (and men) who feel  this way, should stand up and be bravely direct as you have been with this commentary. It is good for a woman who needs/wants/has to get an abortion that she be supported in HER decision WITHOUT judgement since IT IS HER BODY and not some pod somewhere in lala land that provides the environment in which the zygote/embryo/fetus develops.  I have witnessed much relief and sometimes joy on the faces of women of different ages I helped as clinic escort or when providing transportation to and from an abortion clinic.  I know women who admitted to being happy that they had an abortion when the time for a child was not right.

      No, abortion is not a "horrible" thing.  For me, it is lifesaving:  my own life, since I decided that if I am in a situation in which I cannot terminate an unwanted pregnancy, I would by any means not continue the pregnancy. Least one thinks that is extreme, remember that the women who today, in many parts of the world, get back-alley abortions KNOW that the procedure, by the very dire conditions in which it is performed, can lead to their own deaths.  They knowingly choose a possibility of death over an unwanted pregnancy.

      Thank you for an excellent diary.

      The time has come for religions made by men for men about men to stay out of women's lives.

      by Ayanora on Mon Jun 13, 2005 at 06:15:03 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

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