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more pro-choice stuff
May. 7th, 2022 05:15 pmwell Kansas is going trying to be the first batter up to limit abortions with a constitutional amendment in August. The US is looking at my state. The amendment we're voting on will state that the legislature can make whatever abortion restrictions it wants to, the constitution does not guarantee any abortion rights.
GREAT.
Obviously I'll be out there voting no, but in the meantime every time I turn on any social media I'll be subjected to some vote yes anti-choice opinion and I am so sick of it. I'm ashamed to say I used to be "both pro-life and pro-choice" before I realized what the "not pro-choice" side was all about. you can see it on any debate thread. There will be personal stories of women who had to terminate a pregnancy for a million reasons. Frequently it's for their health and safety, maybe it was a wanted pregnancy that turned deadly or they were escaping from abuse or the baby had been diagnosed with a tragic condition that guaranteed a short painful life and the family did the compassionate thing, there are a million reasons and frankly I don't care, I am now of the opinion that "I'm pregnant and I don't want to be" is an extreme circumstance and a woman should get a right to an abortion.
BUT in all these heart-wrenching stories there will be three types of comments...
1) The pro-choice, simply saying "this is why I'm pro-choice"
2) The terrifying opposite side: "But God is amazing! I just know you can pray your way out of an ectopic pregnancy, wasn't it worth a try?"
3) The confusing middle: "Okay. I have heard your story, and have decided that in THIS CASE your abortion was okay but I still think it should be illegal for everybody else."
I can't even with the terrifying opposition... but the right-leaning middle is equally frustrating. What are the other reasons that think are so wrong? What do they want the world to look like? What magical abortion fairy do they think will make every decision in a way that lines up with their perfect view of the world? Do they want every woman to go before a judge? Do they think every rape victim can move her case from accusation to conviction in six weeks? Or worse... do they really think that unless we have some legislation, perfectly healthy women will seek abortions at nine months along just to be mean because women are bad like that and doctors will go for it. So let's get some laws! They can see, right there in the comment above them, what laws the anti-choice side really wants. It's not a slippery slope strawman thing, it's posted right there all the time.
On the other hand the most radical pro-choice activists I ever met were the ones who say abortion should be free for everybody at every age and available every 10 miles. Fine. That's as crazy as they get. They're not out there trying to end pregnancies. They HAVE BABIES. They're mothers like me, maybe with daughters, they want women to have the pregnancies they want to have and have the babies they want to have, they usually also want free contraceptives and sex ed to prevent pregnancies and abortions. They're working to reduce abortion rates.
I decided that if that's the radical pro-choice side, I can be on their side. I HAVE to be on their side to avoid the violence and judgement and tone-deaf mental gymnastics on the anti-choice side, because the world they want is downright scary. The "middle", that wants to start legislating women's right to end pregnancies, doesn't understand what they're signing up for. The Texas law starts at SIX WEEKS, before many women even know they're pregnant. Those are the laws that happen... without exception, without compassion.
again, happy mother's day.
GREAT.
Obviously I'll be out there voting no, but in the meantime every time I turn on any social media I'll be subjected to some vote yes anti-choice opinion and I am so sick of it. I'm ashamed to say I used to be "both pro-life and pro-choice" before I realized what the "not pro-choice" side was all about. you can see it on any debate thread. There will be personal stories of women who had to terminate a pregnancy for a million reasons. Frequently it's for their health and safety, maybe it was a wanted pregnancy that turned deadly or they were escaping from abuse or the baby had been diagnosed with a tragic condition that guaranteed a short painful life and the family did the compassionate thing, there are a million reasons and frankly I don't care, I am now of the opinion that "I'm pregnant and I don't want to be" is an extreme circumstance and a woman should get a right to an abortion.
BUT in all these heart-wrenching stories there will be three types of comments...
1) The pro-choice, simply saying "this is why I'm pro-choice"
2) The terrifying opposite side: "But God is amazing! I just know you can pray your way out of an ectopic pregnancy, wasn't it worth a try?"
3) The confusing middle: "Okay. I have heard your story, and have decided that in THIS CASE your abortion was okay but I still think it should be illegal for everybody else."
I can't even with the terrifying opposition... but the right-leaning middle is equally frustrating. What are the other reasons that think are so wrong? What do they want the world to look like? What magical abortion fairy do they think will make every decision in a way that lines up with their perfect view of the world? Do they want every woman to go before a judge? Do they think every rape victim can move her case from accusation to conviction in six weeks? Or worse... do they really think that unless we have some legislation, perfectly healthy women will seek abortions at nine months along just to be mean because women are bad like that and doctors will go for it. So let's get some laws! They can see, right there in the comment above them, what laws the anti-choice side really wants. It's not a slippery slope strawman thing, it's posted right there all the time.
On the other hand the most radical pro-choice activists I ever met were the ones who say abortion should be free for everybody at every age and available every 10 miles. Fine. That's as crazy as they get. They're not out there trying to end pregnancies. They HAVE BABIES. They're mothers like me, maybe with daughters, they want women to have the pregnancies they want to have and have the babies they want to have, they usually also want free contraceptives and sex ed to prevent pregnancies and abortions. They're working to reduce abortion rates.
I decided that if that's the radical pro-choice side, I can be on their side. I HAVE to be on their side to avoid the violence and judgement and tone-deaf mental gymnastics on the anti-choice side, because the world they want is downright scary. The "middle", that wants to start legislating women's right to end pregnancies, doesn't understand what they're signing up for. The Texas law starts at SIX WEEKS, before many women even know they're pregnant. Those are the laws that happen... without exception, without compassion.
again, happy mother's day.