Blogging for Choice - The True Choice
My personal philosophy on abortion?
Those not born with the ability to conceive, really have no vote in the matter. I know if I really wanted to (for instance) sterilize myself badly enough, you can bet I'd find a way. The potential for procreation is enough motivation.
Ok. Now that that's out of the way, what is the real choice here? Is it as the pro-lifers say, a choice to affirm life, or to opt for personal convenience (and murder)? OR is it the ability of a woman to choose how, when, and for what her body is used? Yeah, no, I don't know, who cares. Absolutism in the defense of ideology is the norm. God. I am so sick of the debate being framed in those terms.
I care about the enforcement end of the first position's characterization.
Yeah, I'm talking Johnny Law. You know. We write the laws, he enforces them. Does anyone in their right minds think that, for instance, South Dakota's recently defeated Rapist's Parental Protection Act would be the final stop on the war to control the act of conception? That law banned all but a single type of abortion procedure; those performed "when the life of the mother was in immediate danger." So the logical target for enforcement efforts would be the abortion providers. The doctors and clinics could no longer provide the procedure legally and would cease altogether. A static target taken out, victory for the God Squad. And - the number of abortions sought and received by the women of South Dakota would.....drum roll please!.....Not be zero? I can guarantee that. I can also guarantee that those who can afford it, will take a trip to Iowa or Colorado or Canada and reclaim control of their bodies.
Ahh, now the race to the bottom begins. The theocrats will next demand laws to prohibit interstate travel for having an abortion. And no, you can't take someone else there. Looks like we'd better revamp the state border crossings to include an area for strip searches and pregnancy tests. Enforcement, remember? Meanwhile, on the medical front, a thriving black market in Plan B pregnancy prevention doses and probably abortifacients like RU-486 begins to create incentives for other drugs or genetically derived solutions to the New Prohibition. So, now we need regular blood tests too.
I've written previously about what I think the theocratic agenda is on sex in general. In the long run, the only solution, the only way to know if a woman has prevented a pregnancy, or has somehow acted to end a pregnancy (and therefore has sinned against the government of Jesusland) is to count those eggs, baby. They'll have to start monitoring before the first ovum is released and will need an explanation for how that egg and each of the following eggs ended up. "You had a miscarriage? That must be the 100th time I've heard that one. Put on the hood, ma'am. Let's go."
I hereby nominate James Dobson as the first Minister of the Ovarian Census.
Is the true choice clearer now?
Those not born with the ability to conceive, really have no vote in the matter. I know if I really wanted to (for instance) sterilize myself badly enough, you can bet I'd find a way. The potential for procreation is enough motivation.
Ok. Now that that's out of the way, what is the real choice here? Is it as the pro-lifers say, a choice to affirm life, or to opt for personal convenience (and murder)? OR is it the ability of a woman to choose how, when, and for what her body is used? Yeah, no, I don't know, who cares. Absolutism in the defense of ideology is the norm. God. I am so sick of the debate being framed in those terms.
I care about the enforcement end of the first position's characterization.
Yeah, I'm talking Johnny Law. You know. We write the laws, he enforces them. Does anyone in their right minds think that, for instance, South Dakota's recently defeated Rapist's Parental Protection Act would be the final stop on the war to control the act of conception? That law banned all but a single type of abortion procedure; those performed "when the life of the mother was in immediate danger." So the logical target for enforcement efforts would be the abortion providers. The doctors and clinics could no longer provide the procedure legally and would cease altogether. A static target taken out, victory for the God Squad. And - the number of abortions sought and received by the women of South Dakota would.....drum roll please!.....Not be zero? I can guarantee that. I can also guarantee that those who can afford it, will take a trip to Iowa or Colorado or Canada and reclaim control of their bodies.
Ahh, now the race to the bottom begins. The theocrats will next demand laws to prohibit interstate travel for having an abortion. And no, you can't take someone else there. Looks like we'd better revamp the state border crossings to include an area for strip searches and pregnancy tests. Enforcement, remember? Meanwhile, on the medical front, a thriving black market in Plan B pregnancy prevention doses and probably abortifacients like RU-486 begins to create incentives for other drugs or genetically derived solutions to the New Prohibition. So, now we need regular blood tests too.
I've written previously about what I think the theocratic agenda is on sex in general. In the long run, the only solution, the only way to know if a woman has prevented a pregnancy, or has somehow acted to end a pregnancy (and therefore has sinned against the government of Jesusland) is to count those eggs, baby. They'll have to start monitoring before the first ovum is released and will need an explanation for how that egg and each of the following eggs ended up. "You had a miscarriage? That must be the 100th time I've heard that one. Put on the hood, ma'am. Let's go."
I hereby nominate James Dobson as the first Minister of the Ovarian Census.
Is the true choice clearer now?
posted by Scoop | 5:48 PM
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