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I’m pro-choice because…

Posted by Maia | January 21st, 2007

Today is the 34th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, and also blog for choice day.* The topic is supposed to be ‘why am I pro-choice’. It seems a little trite, I’m pro-choice because I believe women are people, I’m pro-choice because I want to decide when I have a child, I’m pro-choice because I have two younger sisters, I’m pro-choice because I trust other women to make choices about their own lives, I’m pro-choice because sex should be awesome, I’m pro-choice because of all the women who have died and are dying from illegal abortions, I’m pro-choice because of all the women who have died and are dying because they couldn’t get an illegal abortion, I’m pro-choice because parenting is a hard important job and must be voluntary, I’m pro-choice because I know how hard women fought in New Zealand to ensure women would have access to abortion.

It probably says a lot about my life that, for me, those things go without saying. I have met with people who oppose abortion and regarded them as slightly quaint (or hated them passionately depending on the circumstances).** I got over a guy I’d had a crush on for way too long when I discovered he wasn’t pro-choice enough for me.

What I want to say about abortion isn’t anything to do with what I think the laws should be.*** There have been two things I’ve written about frequently on this blog the first that access is as important as rights and that the right to choose has to also include the right to continue the pregnancy.

Brownfemipower has some great posts about the US National Advocates for Pregnant Women conference (which she’s at at the moment). What they really made me think about is how much abortion is normally treated as a stand-alone issue, and how counter-productive that is.

It’s all pretty irrelevant in New Zealand; I’d guess we have more women fighting other reproductive issues (social welfare, medical care, women in prisons, violence against women) than abortion. But if I wanted to change that, if I had the energy to start fighting back then I would try and work with people who didn’t just want to focus on abortion laws (although our abortion laws are a piece of shit and I will not rest till I have danced on the grave of every man who voted for them), but saw that almost all issues that effect women’s lives, effect reproduction. We won’t be able to make meaningful choices until we create a very different world.

*I must confess to finding this a tad annoying - abortion rights don’t begin and end in the US, but you get used to it.

**I once had a half hour argument about abortion on a peace vigil with an ex-nun.

*** Although for the record I’m really hard case about abortion law and don’t accept any legal restrictions for any reason, don’t ever think it’s anyone’s business but the woman whose making the decision, and think that if you don’t like decisions people are making to terminate their pregnancies you should change the conditions under which they make the decision, rather than tut-tut about the decision itself.

| This entry was posted by Maia and is filed under Abortion & reproductive rights, Class, poverty, labor, & related issues, Feminism, sexism, etc, Gender and the Economy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

21 Responses to “I’m pro-choice because…”

  1. Thomas Ware Writes:
    January 21st, 2007 at 5:03 pm

    It’s all about taking away your right to live your life as you choose.

    I’ve surfed the net since about four o’clock this morning, you are the first to point out this anniverary. It ain’t enough that these bastas want to run my life…

    It ain’t about Roe v Wade, it’s about runnin’ you girls’ lives. Ain’t what I want to do.

    Get up, Stand up; Get up for your rights.

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  2. RonF Writes:
    January 21st, 2007 at 10:23 pm

    It’s all about taking away your right to live your life as you choose.

    With no consideration toward the life of the aborted fetus? Sounds pretty one sided to me.

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  3. Sylvia Writes:
    January 21st, 2007 at 10:41 pm

    Just as a quick note, Blog for Choice Day starts Monday (today). I was confused about the lack of posts yesterday, and I posted mine. Then I spotted the date on the little image didn’t match the one on my calendar… lol

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  4. Maia Writes:
    January 22nd, 2007 at 12:35 am

    Sylvia and Thomas - geography means I’m always going to be first for things like this - New Zealand is a day ahead of America.

    Ron (and anyone who wants to respond ot Ron) please go to one of the many other places on the internet where you can debate the morality of abortion.

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  5. Blogger on the Cast Iron Balcony » Blog Archive » Blog for Choice day: a tale from the front Writes:
    January 22nd, 2007 at 2:50 am

    […] Jill of Feministe got in early. Maia at Alas, a Blog gives the view from New Zealand. Here’s a few more bloggers weighing in: Brownfemipower, The opinionated Suki, Trish of Lone Sophist and Letters from the Front (similarity to the post title is completely coincidental). […]

    This comment was written by Blogger on the Cast Iron Balcony » Blog Archive » Blog for Choice day: a tale from the front.
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  6. sailorman Writes:
    January 22nd, 2007 at 8:09 am

    So, can we make this a big “why I’m prochoice” thread? that would be fun.

    Why i’m pro choice
    1) because I think it is better if we have complete bodily autonomy. i believe in abortion rights. i also believe in allowing voluntary organ sales, allowing folks to kill themselves who want to do so, and pretty much anything which a sane person wants to do to their body. i don’t think we are “holy” or “sacrosanct”.

    2) because i can see no way off the slippery slope that comes from compromise. So i don’t.

    I don’t claim pretend that the fetus doesn’t die (it does). And I don’t pretend that it doesn’t bother me, in that (just like everyone I know who has had an abortion) I wish abortions happened less often. And unlike many pro-choice folks, i don’t view abortion rights as “fundamental” mostly because I tend not to accept any rights as “fundamental”; i’m more relativistic than that.

    But I’ll be damned if I compromise. I am firmly prochoice.

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  7. stinger Writes:
    January 22nd, 2007 at 10:16 am

    I’m pro-choice because every child deserves to be a wanted child, every woman deserves autonomy over her body, every person deserves to decide for herself or himself whether to be a parent.

    Maia, please publish the date/s of key reproductive rights legislation in New Zealand, and I will happily Blog for Choice on that/those date/s as well. Can’t have too much of it!

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  8. Myca Writes:
    January 22nd, 2007 at 11:47 am

    I am pro choice because I believe firmly that women are people, and that all people have a right to their own choices and bodily autonomy.

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  9. debgpi Writes:
    January 22nd, 2007 at 2:26 pm

    Let’s see if we make it to 35 While I knew it was around this time somewhere, I saw on Alas that today is the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. It’s also Blog for Choice day. I liked whatMaia had to say about it: Today is the 34th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, and also blog for choice day.* The topic is supposed to be ‘why am I pro-choice’. It seems a little trite, I’m pro-choice because I believe women are people, I

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  10. Sufficient Scruples » Blog Archive » Blog for Choice Day Writes:
    January 22nd, 2007 at 2:49 pm

    […] But the relentless assault on women, in the US and around the world, requires moments of special notice as well as a persistent and thoroughgoing daily commitment. Today, the 34th anniversary of the day the Roe v. Wade decision gave back to American women their own bodies and lives, is Blog for Choice day, and this is one of those moments. The theme for today is “why I am pro-choice.” As I say above, I’m pro-choice because abortion rights are no more, and in no way less, than part of the most basic moral right of all persons, and that right must be defended in all its aspects. There are other good reasons to be pro-choice, though. Maia, from “Alas, a Blog”, gives some of them better than I could: I’m pro-choice because I believe women are people, I’m pro-choice because I want to decide when I have a child, I’m pro-choice because I have two younger sisters, I’m pro-choice because I trust other women to make choices about their own lives, I’m pro-choice because sex should be awesome, I’m pro-choice because of all the women who have died and are dying from illegal abortions, I’m pro-choice because of all the women who have died and are dying because they couldn’t get an illegal abortion, I’m pro-choice because parenting is a hard important job and must be voluntary, I’m pro-choice because I know how hard women fought . . . to ensure women would have access to abortion. […]

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  11. Richard Jeffrey Newman Writes:
    January 22nd, 2007 at 3:53 pm

    I set a trackback to this post from my own Blog for Choice Day post, but it is for some reason not posting here. So here ’tis: I’m pro-choice because I opposed slavery.

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  12. CJ Writes:
    January 22nd, 2007 at 5:15 pm

    I was pro-life. Then I spent the last few months on Alas, and learned the horror women were prepared to go through to to get an abortion. Women are stabbing themselves in the stomach.

    I’m beyond convinced.

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  13. FurryCatHerder Writes:
    January 22nd, 2007 at 9:15 pm

    I was pro-life for religious reasons, then pro-choice because a friend nearly died after she was denied an abortion she needed, then pro-life because I saw too many pictures of little fetuses with tiny baby fingers and tiny baby toes, then pro-choice after I finally stopped being so lazy by listening to other people and sat down and read everything I could find on the subject.

    I don’t see changing my mind again on the subject.

    Like someone else up thread, I’d like to see fewer abortions. I’d like for there to be better access to contraception, better sex ed that includes educating children that they don’t have to say “Yes” to sex to be cool, better education about the expenses of raising children so that people will wait, and so on, all of which, I think, can be used to reduce the number of abortions without ever having to tell a woman “You can’t do that”.

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  14. Glamour Diva Writes:
    January 25th, 2007 at 5:03 am

    You’ve inspired me Maia:

    http://sexandthesushi.blogspot.com/2007/01/i-am-pro-choicedeal-with-it.html

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  15. sylphhead Writes:
    January 26th, 2007 at 1:10 am

    I’m pro-choice because behind every lump of undifferentiated fetal cells are a few more undifferentiated fetal cells. And around them is a woman, who is just a bit more person-ish, from my perspective.

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  16. muttering in a corner Writes:
    March 21st, 2007 at 2:49 am

    I guess I’m really blogging about why I am pro-pro-choice, rather than why I’m pro-choice. Maybe it’s partly because I have such a hard time wrapping my brain around the opposing view, but I’m kind of with Maia at Alas about the “well duh” nature of the topic: for as long as I can remember being aware of the issue, it has seemed obvious that since my body is my own, and since my life is my own, no stranger’s beliefs should control either. I can’t think of another way

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  17. sarah Writes:
    April 5th, 2007 at 10:08 pm

    There needs to be better education all round.

    I am against surgical abortion ie the cutting up, or sucking apart of a foetus or baby who can feel pain. Yet I realise that there is a demand for abortion and so all abortions should be medical, ie RU486 or prostaglandin etc.

    What if after you had had an abortion and afterwards you looked into the science of foetal pain and you were horrified.
    www.justthefacts.org

    The baby is inside your body, attatched to your body, but not part of your body, for 9 months out of your whole life then you can do as wish and give the baby away for adoption.

    What if you had had an abortion then stared at you aborted baby in the face, and thereafter been so consumed with grief that you are not capable of having a normal life, like me. Do not laugh at me or attack me because I am not a pro life propagandist, I am a real person who is trying to live through this.

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  18. Ampersand Writes:
    April 7th, 2007 at 6:45 am

    I am against surgical abortion ie the cutting up, or sucking apart of a foetus or baby who can feel pain. […] What if after you had had an abortion and afterwards you looked into the science of foetal pain and you were horrified.

    Sarah, I think its awful that you’ve experienced such regret.

    But I think it’s even more awful because (as you say) you’re not a pro life propagandist; instead, you’re someone who has been taken in by pro life propaganda. The overwhelming majority of abortions happen long before there’s any chance that a fetus can feel pain.

    In August 1995 2005, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a review of the scientific literature on fetal pain (and a couple of related subjects). What legitimate research has found is that fetuses are not physically capable of feeling pain until sometime after the 28th week. (Which isn’t surprising — humans can’t feel pain, or anything else, without a working cerebral cortex).

    This article — which is, admittedly, on a pro-choice site, but it thoroughly footnotes the sources of all its factual claims — does a good job outlining the reasons why the vast majority of abortions are completely pain-free for the fetus. From the article:

    What of the claim by anti-choicers that even very early fetuses can feel pain? In fetal development, most major organs exist in rudimentary form by about 8 to 9 weeks. It takes several months for these organs to grow in size, complexity, and organization to the point they can function. For example, the myelin sheath—the insulating cover on nerve pathways that is required for efficient conduction of pain signals—does not begin forming around nervous system cells (neurons) in the spinal cord until about 24 weeks, and not till after birth in most of the cerebral cortex. Although sporadic brain waves can be detected by about 21 weeks gestation, genuine continuous brain waves do not begin until about 28 weeks,[9] indicating that the nerve circuits needed to carry pain impulses to the brain are not connected till then.

    Anti-choicers believe early fetuses feel pain because 8 week-old fetuses already have some peripheral nerve endings that are connected to the spinal cord, allowing them to react to touch and other stimuli. However, this is a simple reflex response that has no conscious awareness associated with it, such as when your lower leg jerks up when your knee is tapped. There is no experience of pain because the nerve circuit is not interacting with the brain. An analogy might be putting a light bulb in a socket and flipping the switch when there are no electrical wires connecting the two, and therefore no current either. Put another way, there is no necessary connection between fetal movement and mental awareness, as we know from the famous example of headless running chickens.

    Here’s a brief description of how pain impulses are transmitted through the body and brain. Nerve endings in the skin are the most common point of entry for a pain stimulus. From there, the pain impulse connects—or “synapses”—through the spinal cord, up to the brain stem at the base of the skull, and into the thalamus. The thalamus acts as a switchboard—it receives input signals from the body and transmits them to various parts of the brain. Pain signals from the thalamus go to the cerebral cortex—the thinking and feeling part of the brain. A highly-developed cortex is required to perceive pain signals. Activity at the nerve endings, spinal cord, or thalamus is not enough. At 13 weeks gestation, the brain stem and thalamus are not functional, anyway. Working connections between the thalamus and the higher cortex do not begin to form until about 20 to 26 weeks, with significant development of neuronal activity continuing after birth.

    Going back to what Sarah wrote:

    What if you had had an abortion then stared at you aborted baby in the face, and thereafter been so consumed with grief that you are not capable of having a normal life, like me.

    I’m sorry you’re so consumed with grief — that’s really awful. But I don’t think your grief justifies outlawing surgical abortion for everyone, as you propose.

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  19. mythago Writes:
    April 8th, 2007 at 2:14 pm

    The baby is inside your body, attatched to your body, but not part of your body, for 9 months out of your whole life then you can do as wish and give the baby away for adoption.

    You’re thinking of farm animals. If you take a calf away from its mother, the cow will bellow for a few days, and then the calf and cow will forget all about one another. It doesn’t work that way for humans, setting aside the whole issue of what happens during the nine months of pregnancy.

    I’m not laughing at you, sarah, but what Ampersand said is true. Please seek counseling to help you through this–from a person who will be sympathetic, not someone interested in using your pain as a club against you.

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  20. Me Writes:
    April 8th, 2007 at 11:56 pm

    There’s also a lot of pain associated with being a person whose mother never saw them, who was taken away at the moment of birth, placed with strangers to nurse them until they are placed with a “family”.

    Then they are placed with a family who, years later, say things like, “if you aren’t blood, get out of the picture.” Of course, they mean in-laws and berate you when you slink away.

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  21. debgpi - A Rational Girl in Irrational Times » Let’s see if we make it to 35 Writes:
    May 21st, 2007 at 8:08 am

    […] today is the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. It’s also Blog for Choice day. I liked what Maia had to say about it: Today is the 34th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, and also blog for choice day.* […]

    This comment was written by debgpi - A Rational Girl in Irrational Times » Let’s see if we make it to 35.
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