The term "pro choice" has such an antiseptic sound to it. Does it mean I like fancy steak? Or does it mean support a wide array of political alternatives? Let's cut to the chase. It means that you want abortion to be legal. It does not mean that you should have the freedom to educate your children in private religious schools unless you are willing to pay tuition on top of your taxes. Are abortion rights central to women's rights? Feminists for Life makes a persuasive case to the contrary on their web site.
'The feminist movement was born more than two hundred years ago when Mary Wollstonecraft wrote "A Vindication of the Rights of Women." After decrying the sexual exploitation of women, she condemned those who would "either destroy the embryo in the womb, or cast it off when born." Shortly thereafter, abortion became illegal in Great Britain.
The now revered feminists of the 19th century were also strongly opposed to abortion because of their belief in the worth of all humans. Like many women in developing countries today, they opposed abortion even though they were acutely aware of the damage done to women through constant child-bearing. They opposed abortion despite knowing that half of all children born died before the age of five. They knew that women had virtually no rights within the family or the political sphere. But they did not believe abortion was the answer.
Without known exception, the early American feminists condemned abortion in the strongest possible terms. In Susan B. Anthony's newsletter, The Revolution, abortion was described as "child murder," "infanticide" and "foeticide." Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who in 1848 organized the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, classified abortion as a form of infanticide and said, "When you consider that women have been treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit."
The modern day opponents of abortion are like the child who brings home a goldfish in a plastic bag. He loved the fish> He wanted to bring it home. But it needs a tank, a filter, gravel and food. You cant' skimp on the accessories.If you are pro life, you must be pro labour. If you are pro woman, you must recognise that which makes her unique and irreplaceable rather than regard it as an inconvenience. Women stand at the frontier where one life touches another. She is the first source of sustenance for an infant. The father can be miles away or even unknown at the time of birth but the mother is always there.
Fighting the Democrats who are pro abortion is easy. It is for them that I posted the chilling, gory video at the end of this article. It is the conservatives, those who wave American flags made in China who have a real attitude problem. They remind me of the line from the Jim Croce song. "You say you love the baby but you crucify the man." A lot of our problems raising children can be traced to modern day serfdom in which the rent or the mortgage takes such an obscenely high percentage of income that the parents are out working all the time. The children in such a situation may have a fine house, but it is barely a home. Part of this problem is also that of consumerism in which needs are created to keep the economic wheels turning.
Class hatred is a two way street. It is most often portrayed as greedy unions choking a profitable business. There are certainly examples of this. But a business owner who puts his workers out on the street as he moves his factory to China is equally a part of the problem. Workers and entrepreneurs need each other. It hurts both for them to see each other as enemies.
I have worked in the garment industry and seen workers suffer grueling conditions with long hours and low pay. Who assigns the value to their labour?
I have walked down the street and seen fashionable women wearing patterns I had a hand in printing on fabric. I smothered the spark of recognition that would have seen both forward and implausible. Such moments of fleeting connection are reminders that we are all connected in a vast complex economy of which we all are a part.
We are now discovering that all of the children we planned out of existence could have been adults by now, paying into the Social Security system that is now faltering.
Values come with a price. Being pro life means caring about the well being of parents who must raise a child. Being pro choice means giving workers choices in how to raise their children and not claiming the right of indoctrination as the price of nanny state patronage. It is far more revolutionary to develop an economy in which workers stand independently with clear title to their wages and the right to spend them independently on raising their families in the values they have inherited or chosen. This is far better than the gilded shackles of the welfare state.
Pro life, fro family, pro choice. Everyone is talking. But do they even listen to themselves? Values come with a price.
Some of the pro abortion crowd think this video is in bad taste. Ain't that just too freakin bad! This is what they want legal. Let's just get it on the table.
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