Aljazeera: Fault Lines investigates the forces behind the so-called war on women in the US. (TW)
9:47 pm - 09/09/2012
Possible trigger warning for "aborted fetus" photos and anti-choice rhetoric
It has become one of the most vicious, important and divisive battlegrounds in the 2012 US presidential election.
Since it was legalised in 1973, the issue of abortion has polarised the US, but now the battle has been taken to a new level.
"What is abortion? Fundamentally it's the killing of an innocent child. If you can't get the life of an unborn baby right, I can't trust you with my taxes, education or anything else."
- Troy Newman, the president of Operation Rescue
Last year, an unprecedented number of laws have been passed across the US, all aimed at restricting abortion or reproductive rights.
But the fight goes far beyond the medical procedure, with Republican politicians even attacking the Obama administration for making contraception more readily available.
The US has seen more anti-abortion violence than any other country in the world. Since 1993, at least eight abortion providers, including four doctors have been killed. And there have been over 200 arsons and bombings against reproductive healthcare clinics since 1977.
Why is a medical procedure being reframed as a deeply divisive moral issue in the US?
Fault Lines travels to California to meet the next generation of frontline troops fighting to ban abortion, and to Ohio and Tennessee to investigate what lies behind the so-called war on women.
"It [Ohio's heartbeat bill] really only sees a woman as a carrier and she has no other right beyond her ability to reproduce. One of the reasons that these abortion bills are so dangerous is because it chips away at the notion of personal liberty, your right. And what can be more fundamental to your personal liberty than being able to control your own body ....
Women died trying to get back-alley abortions. Do we want to get back to that in the land of opportunities, the land of freedom? When did it become a sin and a shame to be a woman in this country? But that is what is happening in the 21st century in many states across this country and also in our congress and it's just absolutely shameful to me."
Nina Turner, Ohio state senator
Source
The video is about 25 minutes long and infuriating at points, but well worth the watch. I had no idea that CPC's (anti-choice organizations basically) are federally funded and unregulated. There's a part, I'd say about half way through, where the interviewer asks a Ohio legislator why some women have abortions and he's utterly stumped, yet he sponsored the heartbeat bill.
It has become one of the most vicious, important and divisive battlegrounds in the 2012 US presidential election.
Since it was legalised in 1973, the issue of abortion has polarised the US, but now the battle has been taken to a new level.
"What is abortion? Fundamentally it's the killing of an innocent child. If you can't get the life of an unborn baby right, I can't trust you with my taxes, education or anything else."
- Troy Newman, the president of Operation Rescue
Last year, an unprecedented number of laws have been passed across the US, all aimed at restricting abortion or reproductive rights.
But the fight goes far beyond the medical procedure, with Republican politicians even attacking the Obama administration for making contraception more readily available.
The US has seen more anti-abortion violence than any other country in the world. Since 1993, at least eight abortion providers, including four doctors have been killed. And there have been over 200 arsons and bombings against reproductive healthcare clinics since 1977.
Why is a medical procedure being reframed as a deeply divisive moral issue in the US?
Fault Lines travels to California to meet the next generation of frontline troops fighting to ban abortion, and to Ohio and Tennessee to investigate what lies behind the so-called war on women.
"It [Ohio's heartbeat bill] really only sees a woman as a carrier and she has no other right beyond her ability to reproduce. One of the reasons that these abortion bills are so dangerous is because it chips away at the notion of personal liberty, your right. And what can be more fundamental to your personal liberty than being able to control your own body ....
Women died trying to get back-alley abortions. Do we want to get back to that in the land of opportunities, the land of freedom? When did it become a sin and a shame to be a woman in this country? But that is what is happening in the 21st century in many states across this country and also in our congress and it's just absolutely shameful to me."
Nina Turner, Ohio state senator
Source
The video is about 25 minutes long and infuriating at points, but well worth the watch. I had no idea that CPC's (anti-choice organizations basically) are federally funded and unregulated. There's a part, I'd say about half way through, where the interviewer asks a Ohio legislator why some women have abortions and he's utterly stumped, yet he sponsored the heartbeat bill.
Summarises perfectly why I scoff at the term "pro life" and its belief that I am somehow an advocate of genocide.
The first time I ever heard about abortion I must have been what, 11 or 12? And one of the first things I remember feeling on the issue was relief that childbirth was an option.
Not to mention the fact that I've never heard "pro-lifers" protest the U.S. military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan (or the U.S.-funded violence in Palestine) - which has directly lead to scores of maimed and killed children. Nor have they commented on the use of enriched uranium during the Iraq conflict, which is directly linked to severe birth defects. Nor have they actively worked to fund child-welfare programs in their own control. Nor have they tried to make birth control available and accessible to low-income women.
I know you're a youngin and all but you want to know how to get rid of abortions?
Hand out condoms instead of Dead Baby Photos.
Tell them it's okay to talk about sex and how to have sex safely. And get your facts about birth control straight too.
I think you'll have better success.
Edited at 2012-09-10 01:34 pm (UTC)
God, I hate these dipshits.
Basically, if they follow their logic all the way through, then they are saying that my mother should have died that I should have never been born. She had an ectopic pregnancy before having me, and if getting rid of a fetus/embryo is ~murder~ and that all pregnancies should go to full term, well then THAT WOULD HAVE FUCKING KILLED MY MOTHER WHEN THE EMBRYO WOULD HAVE GROWN AND BURST HER FALLOPIAN TUBES.
FUCK. YOU. YOU EVIL MOTHERFUCKERS.
Oh, but if they would have ~allowed~ my mother to have an abortion, well then they're fucking worthless hypocrites who need to stfu and stfd.
This shit makes me so angry, I could scream.
THAT'S REAL LOVE, YOU NASTY, EVIL FUCKHEADS.
Edited at 2012-09-10 01:28 pm (UTC)
I'm pro choice which is not the same thing as pro abortion. I want abortions to be as rare as possible, as early as possible and as safe as possible. I also want STDS to be as rare as possible and caught and treated as early as possible and for cervical and other cancers to be prevented where possible and caught quickly when they occur.
And that means good sexual health education ( Taught not caught).
Good, accessible and free at the point of use care, counselling and contraception services for both genders ( including of course good services for LGBT people).
Excellent screening services and prompt , free treatment where indicated.
The morning after pill should be easily obtainable as should condoms and other forms of contraceptive.
And any shame factor taken out so that those in need of counselling which might lead to termination of pregnancy could get help quickly and, if their choice is a termination it will be medical rather than surgical in most cases.
Oh and whilst we're at it free, high quality ante natal, maternity and post natal care and a welfare net which protects children when born.
Sadly many Americans think I'm asking for the moon on a stick but actually all I'm asking is for all women to get the kind of support which I get under the NHS.
Now the NHS is far from perfect and under attack from the Right Wing government of the UK ( which is still to the left of Obama BTW) and I'd like to see far more proactive services in this country especially when it comes to supporting parents and siblings of children who have disabilities.
But what's happening over the pond scares the heck out of me!
I think Detective Tutoula of Law and Order: SVU phrased it best: "So which are you, pro-choice or no-choice?" Indeed.
THIS. That's what it will come to if nothing is done about it. Women will be seen mainly as baby incubators, with no rights of our own. No rights to contraceptives, no rights to an abortion if we so choose, no rights even to undergo sterilization.
Everything the GOP are doing right now to chip away at abortion, including their ridiculous personhood bills, saying life begins two weeks before actual conception, making women undergo invasive ultrasounds if they decide to have an abortion, trying to redefine the definition of rape, their frighteningly casual attitudes towards rape, their woefully misinformed ideas of conception where it pertains to rape... this is what the GOP are about now. Controlling... Restricting... and Silencing Women if we dare speak up against their idiocy.
And I find it interesting that most of these people who want to take away our reproductive rights are MEN. Mostly white, old, rich, privileged, cis, straight, Christian men who apparently find intelligent, independent, ambitious, strong, opinionated women so threatening that they feel they need to do everything they can to control and shut us up, bring us back to the days of June Cleaver. Well sorry fuckers... myself, I'm for progress, not regressing to your idea of 'the good old days'.
Edited at 2012-09-10 04:09 pm (UTC)
This shouldn't be an either/or argument but an education process to help women make the choice they want to make and not a "choice" that has been predetermined for them by everyone but they themselves.
I'm so sick of Xian/fanatic fuckheads and dumb-ass MEN trying to make laws about stuff that's utterly and without doubt none of their business.
I don't see any of 'em trying to regulate if a woman gets a boob job. It could screw up her ability to breastfeed! Think about the baaaaaaaaaay-beeeeeeeeees!!
*gags*
As horrible as these people are, you CAN convince them to stop being douche bags. I did.
(Admittedly La wasn't ever a douchbag, and isn't religious, but still.) It is possible to turn an anti-abortionist into a pro-choices, even if it is a reluctantly pro-choice.
Edited at 2012-09-10 08:57 pm (UTC)
Is there a website that has stories of people getting abortions? Bust did an article a few issues ago detailing getting an abortion-- I'm sure there's a website like it, but tbh I'm scared to Google because of the overwhelming bullshit.
Also, someone please tell me that the rumor that an abortion activist used a photograph of creepy dead baby Voldemort thinking it was an aborted fetus is true.
And I think that rumour is true!
How's that for a double entendre.
All of the stuff going on here scares the crap out of me, tbh. I'm getting sterilized tomorrow and though slightly scared because omg surgery, it's going to be SUCH a huge relief. Either way, if I ever get pregnant again I'll have to have an abortion, but now it's a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a chance.
Of course my Catholic family were like OMG BUT THE UNBORN BABIES, and I was like "are you serious, they're not even conceived yet." BUT GOD KNOWS YOU BEFORE YOU'RE CONCEIVED.
Then I guess he doesn't know anymore kids of mine because guess what NOT HAVING ANY MORE KTHX!
Anyway, this doc was great, even if the subject matter literally makes me fear for the future of the country. :/
I saw this on Rachel Maddow on Friday, and it was mind-boggling. He was like, "You know, I've never thought about that before!" with a smile on his face.