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“A dream you dream alone is only a dream; a dream you dream together is reality.” — Yoko Ono
Jul
31
What should the punishment be for women who have abortions?
Filed Under abortion, activism, anti-choice extremism, legislation, politics, religious fanaticism, reproductive justice, sexism, social conservatives, women’s health | Posted by Cara |
You can find this video on Feministing and elsewhere, but it’s really too amazing and horrifying to not share again:
[Edit: Due to copyright claim, the video can no longer be embedded. It can, however, be viewed here.]
Anna Quindlen has also written an excellent column on the matter. My first reaction to seeing anti-abortion activists bluntly confronted with the fact that they haven’t thought their issue through is to laugh. My second reaction is crushing sadness. This is what we’re fighting. These are the people helping to take our rights away. This is what we’ve spent so much money and effort on, these people are the reason that women can’t obtain medical care without facing an angry, frightening mob. People who don’t even understand what they believe.
I don’t think there’s any more commentary to be made that I haven’t already linked to. But I would like to put forth a challenge to each and every one of my readers. The next time you meet someone who tells you that abortion should be illegal, ask them this question. Ask them what they think the punishment for having an abortion should be. And see if they have an answer. This video has opened my eyes. And I think that it can provide a new window through which to combat ignorance, to make these activists really think about their issue from a new light– maybe for the first time. I think that it’s an answer that can plant a seed.
As an (unpaid) employee, for security and public appearance reasons, I cannot confront the protesters outside of Planned Parenthood with these questions. But you can. And we both can confront the people we meet in our daily lives. So I ask you to. And if you feel like sharing, I’d love to hear the results.
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“Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.” — Susan B. Anthony
“This video is no longer available.”
ACK. Ok, it has been replaced with a link. The video can no longer be embedded. The YouTube page works fine, though.
I think they just want it to be NOT AVAILABLE. When they say “illegal” I think they just mean they want it to stop existing as an option.
But I have heard fundamentalists say that in the future we will look back on abortion like we look back on the Holocaust, and that women who do it in the future will be looked upon like Hitler. Seriously, I’ve had this said right to my face.
Yes. I have not had those words said to my face, but I have read the text on countless crazy signs.
I think that you’re probably right. And that shows just how out of touch with reality they are. Outlawing abortion never has and never will cause it to cease as an option. But anti-choice activists apparently don’t care how many women die from unsafe abortions when abortions are illegal. Or they just don’t want to know. Or both.
I’ve always told myself that if we ever did face the tragic day when abortion did become illegal in all or parts of America, that I would join an underground operation to help women who need abortions find safe options to do so. You only have to read a fraction of the horrors that occur when women cannot access safe abortion to recognize it as a cause for which it is well-worth going to jail. [Of course, I'm currently working on making sure that it never comes to that.]