Last week, Bernie Sanders campaigned for Heath Mello, an Omaha, Nebraska mayoral candidate with a history of backing anti-choice legislation. Mello is part of a chorus of legislators attacking Nebraska abortion clinics. He opposes abortion rights, and in 2009 he sponsored legislation that would require doctors counseling abortion-seeking women to tell them about the availability of an ultrasound.
Sanders has remained unapologetic. Much of the Democratic party has stood behind the decision. “Heath is a strong progressive Democrat, and he is pro-life, and you can be both things,” said Jane Kleeb, chair of the Nebraska Democratic party.
It’s not the first time that abortion rights specifically, or women’s rights in general, have been treated as little more than optional checkboxes. When it’s politically expedient, even progressives are willing to throw half the population under the bus. It’s time for pro-choice activists to stop allowing other to treat the cause as shameful, and to demand that this be the last time women are left out in the cold.
Abortion Rights and Women’s Rights: Inseparable
For decades, Democrats have attempted to distance themselves from the issue of abortion. Far from being a fundamental right worth fighting for, male Democrats seem to view abortion as something shameful. Abortion is not rare. It’s not something that only happens to a certain kind of woman, or only to women that Democratic politicians don’t know. According to 2008 abortion figures, 1 in 3 women will have an abortion at some point.
It’s time to put that lie to rest once and for all. Abortion rights and women’s rights are inextricably linked. When a woman can’t control her fertility, she can’t control her destiny. We already know what happens to women denied abortions, so the notion that women’s rights are bound up with abortion rights isn’t speculative. Consider the following:
- Banning or limiting abortion doesn’t make it go away, according to data from the World Health Organization. It just drives it underground. And when abortions go underground, women die. 50,000 women die every year from unsafe abortions.
- Women who are denied abortions don’t suddenly find ways to create lives more favorable for children. Instead, they’re more likely to live in poverty, to depend on government assistance, and to stay with abusive partners. The children of women denied abortions are more likely to go hungry, to see their mothers be abused, or to be abused themselves.
- Women’s mental health gets worse when they can’t access abortions. 97% of women say they do not regret their abortions.
- When Ecuador banned abortion, the suicide rate among women and girls surged. Suicide is now the third leading cause of death among pregnant women.
The Myth of the Good Abortion
Progressives who support some abortion restrictions often lean on the myth that there’s a “good” type of abortion. Then they try to limit other forms of abortion. Abortion should only be legal when the woman’s life is in danger, they say. Or when a woman has been raped. Or when a child has the permission of her parents (even if one of those parents abuses her). Or when a judge thinks it’s ok. Or when the fetus has a specific defect. Or when the woman meets the moral standards a man outlines.
These limitations make intuitive sense at first blush, particularly to men who are uncomfortable with giving women full bodily autonomy. But consider this: if abortion is limited only to women who are raped, who decides what rape is? Who decides which conditions truly endanger a mother’s life? What level of danger must a woman encounter before she can abort? Who gets to decide when a fetus is viable? Should that decision really be left up to a legislator?
Abortion rights are built on the belief that a woman knows her circumstances best. Acting in concert with her doctor, she is the person best equipped to determine her own medical fate. Anything less than a full embrace of choice leaves men to determine what happens to the bodies of women.
Abortion Rights Are Not Up for Debate
It’s time for progressives to stop treating debates over women’s right to control their bodies as little more than a source of intellectual amusement. The discussion is not philosophical. There is no common ground to be found with people who think women should be forced to give birth to their rapist’s baby, or that a man’s personal opinion about an experience he’ll never have should trump the views of a woman and her doctor.
Defenders of anti-choice politicians argue that the progressive movement should be a “big tent” movement. But a political organization that excludes half the population at the outset, or that treats the willingness to control someone else’s body as a valid political viewpoint, can never be a big tent party.
It’s time for pro-choice activists to make progressives re-earn their trust. Democrats should be working hard to earn the trust of women. Women shouldn’t be bending over backwards to accommodate men who believe they know what’s best for a woman’s body.
Being pro-choice can never again be optional.