(no subject)

[explorateur]

This is an odd moment for me in my life.

I think I'm coming to terms with being a pro-choice but pro-life inclined feminist. It's odd, my whole life I've been adamantly pro-choice but over the past 2 years I've been pro-life inclined. Maybe the problem is the labels both sides place on the argument.

I had conference with Lyde today and we talked about my Third Wave Feminism paper.

"The third wave makes me feel more pro-life," I said to her in a dreadful tone.

"What's so wrong with that?" she asked.

And maybe for the first time I realize that there's nothing wrong with feeling that way. Maybe the problem is trying to fit into the box of pro-life or pro-choice. Maybe the problem is pro-choice often means the right choice is abortion and it's not about choice at all. I think 3rd Wave feminists get into this rut that abortion is the only choice and that if you choose to bear children you are somehow playing into the white man's patriarchy.

Also if we lived in a country that had comprehensive sex education, I think it'd be easier for me to be more pro-life (god, that term makes me cringe), but a lot of things have to change fiscally with the government before that happens. Not just fiscally but ideologically. If you don't want women to have abortions, then you have to give them knowledge and the power to know her options, not just slap her on the wrist for not knowing.

Some Interesting Statistics

49% of pregancies are unintended
24% of these pregnancies end in abortion

2/100 women age 15-44 every year have an abortion
48% (about 1/100) have had at least 1 previous abortion
54% of these women used contraceptives in the month they got abortion
8% have never used an contraceptives

<lj-cut text="On a lighter note, things that happened on August 12!!) According to Wikipedia, on August 12 (my birthday): 30 BC - Cleopatra died 1851 - Isaac Singer granted a patent for his sewing machine (yay for clothes!) 1898 - The Hawaiian flag is lowered from Iolani Palace in an elaborate annexation ceremony and replaced with the American flag to signify the transfer of sovereignty from the Republic of Hawaii to the United States. (Go Imperialization!) 1952 - The Night of the Murdered Poets - Prominent Jewish intellectuals were murdered in Moscow. (Go killing Jews!) 1990 - Sue, the most complete skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex, was discovered near Faith, South Dakota. (Ew--dinosaurs)

Comments

[specialmei.livejournal.com]

Although I like to think of myself as someone who wouldn't be dumb enough to get pregnant (I'd have no excuse, having been educated about the way babies are made), someone very close to me had an abortion recently (and she isn't an idiot either), so I think that even the smartest of us can slip, and I'd like to have options.

[explorateur.livejournal.com]

Yeah I'm not sayign there shouldn't be options but i just don't know, speaking only for myself, if I could ever have an abortion or advise a friend to do so. Everyone has to make their own decision, that's what i think.

[unsay.livejournal.com]

I am one of those annoying Catholics who doesn't believe in abortion. But at the same time, I recognize that if it became illegal, desperate women will be getting abortions in alleys with coathangers and crochet hooks. There are freak pregnancies and rape and a slew of other things that can make abortion a viable option. I just don't think it should be used to shirk responsibility. The first step toward decreasing the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions is, like you mentioned, to have sex education and contraceptive availability in all states (Texas, are you listening?).