Advertisement
“A dream you dream alone is only a dream; a dream you dream together is reality.” — Yoko Ono
Dec
5
What’s Your Roe IQ?
Filed Under abortion, feminism, reproductive justice, slut-shaming, women’s health | Posted by Cara |
Okay, so I know that I’ve been a little slack on blogging lately, and I assure you that I intend on fixing that very, very soon. In the meantime, though, here’s a bit of morning fun:
I’ll admit that I did worse than I expected. I went against my better judgment on question 8, and the answers to both 10 and 11 genuinely did surprise me (my answer to 11 was definitely wrong, but I’m pretty sure that the right answer only wins on a technicality). Do better, I dare ya!
The quiz is part of a serious study to test public knowledge and awareness of Roe. For that reason, only take the test once so that you don’t screw up their findings. But do pass it on! And let us know how you did!
UPDATE: Apparently, this quiz is sponsored by Focus on the Family, et al. It’s not listed explicitly anywhere on the site, except apparently when you send the quiz out to friends through email. Thanks, Rachel, for catching the sneaky fuckers. This explains question 11, but I’m fairly certain that all of the other answers are accurate. I’d also now encourage you to go ahead and take the damn quiz as many times and in as many wacky ways as you’d like. Or to just swamp them with “I’m pro-choice” answers and give the fuckers heart attacks.
Comments
21 Comments so far
Subscribe to The Curvature
“Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.” — Susan B. Anthony
Just curious – did you know the test is co-sponsored by ultra-conservative groups Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, and the Alliance Defense Fund? That explains what I interpreted as a somewhat anti-choice slant of the test.
Rachel
Nope. Dammit! How did you find that out?
When you complete the quiz, it allows you to submit email addresses to forward it to. After you do that, it takes you to a page that allows you to elect to receive email newsletters from the co-sponsors – the ADF, CWA and FotF.
Sigh.
Ah. Fuckers.
I found the quiz through the feeds on RH Reality Check. Being early in the morning, it didn’t register with me that everything that shows up in their feeds isn’t necessarily supported by them. Duh.
In any case, the answers do for the most part seem to be accurate — the exception being question 11, as I’m really quite sure that it’s easier to get an abortion in England than the U.S. Again, the question might be technically correct because it asks about the laws specifically, but it’s misleading. So it’s still kind of cool for curiousity’s sake, but yeah, I take back my encouragement to pass it on.
Sneaky bastards, aren’t they?
Ha, as if that’s news! In any case, though, it’s a lesson learned :)
It makes sense that FotF sponsored this. There was a lot of conservative/anti-choice slant, so I was kind of suspicious.
You see, normally I pick up on stuff like that. But maybe I’m just so incredibly pro-choice that it doesn’t strike me as a problem to point out that Roe itself didn’t place restrictions on abortion and that only a small number of abortions are due to rape/incest. I’m just going through them thinking “Roe was great before it was gutted!” They’re just kind of facts to me — and positive ones at that. As for the quote from Ginsburg, unless it’s taken out of context, I’d just say that’s good information — that even our most liberal judge isn’t very liberal. But yes, I can certainly see upon reflection that these questions have a somewhat anti-choice slant.
Interesting. I got 10 out of 12, but a couple of them were guesses on my part. I couldn’t have told you how many abortions had been performed since Roe, for example. I missed 10 and 11. *doh*
I remember when I was 18 and first away at University in London I had to get a pregnancy test. The doc asked me what I would do if it were positive and I said I would need an abortion. He nodded matter of factly and gave me some leaflets (which included counselling, but nothing with an anti-choice slant.) The test was negative, thankfully, but I’ve always been grateful for the attitude of that doctor, and I have no reason to believe things have changed in England in the last 20 years. To imply that it is easier to get an abortion in the US than in England is misleading to say the least.
Thanks for sharing, Anna. I think that the world needs a lot more doctors like that. Tons and tons of praise for all of the good ones.
What I think the quiz is going off of, I believe, is the fact that England has a law requiring that two doctors sign off on an abortion, but the U.S. has no such federal law. Of course, that fails to take into account that the two doctor approvals are as simple as fuck to get, and the fact that there are all kinds of inconsistent and crazy laws in the U.S. on a state basis. Which are facts that are really easy to ignore when you’re going for anti-choice propaganda.
I think if I hadn’t already read that this was sponsored by an anti-choice group, question #9 would have set my radar off. (Which of our nation’s founding documents contains the phrase “right to an abortion”?) And as far as question #11, that’s probably a pretty carefully chosen group of countries… Canada for one doesn’t have any legal restrictions on abortion at all.
Just wanted to share a slightly different experience in the UK. About 10 years ago I went to see a doctor for a pg test. I told him I would want an abortion (he didn’t ask, I had to ask about it myself) but he just bluntly told me I’d have to go through counselling and that it would be too late, and provided no other information whatsoever – which is just as well because what he did tell me was not true!
So yes, in the UK if you know how to go about it and can afford to pay for an abortion, you can get two doctors to sign the forms with no real questions are asked. But if you have to do it on the NHS it really, really depends on the doctor you get. Some NHS GPs definitely are anti-abortion, and they do not have to tell you that they are anti-abortion or even provide you with any information about abortion if it is against their conscience.
PS I picked Finland. I assumed they would be pretty liberal but maybe not!
I picked Finland, too, Maia. I was really surprised to find out that abortion is illegal there . .. though once I heard it, I do think that it’s come up before and I was just as surprised then.
I was surprised at how many I totally missed, but picked up on the anti-choice slant, as well. :(
I knew I got the “how many abortions…” because that number was drilled into us at catholic school, but was really surprised at the low percentage of rape/incest abortions. I suppose its fitting with the low amount of rapes that are even reported.
Why would an “anti-choice slant” matter if the quiz is factually accurate?
1. We’ve already established that not all of the answers are entirely factually accurate.
2. The way that questions are framed, particularly when purported to come from a neutral source, has an effect on public discourse.
3. There’s a good chance that the information they gather is going to be used to inform all of their crazy anti-choice tactics.
Furthermore, they did not accurately represent the abortions that Roe allowed. That case allowed for first trimester without question, third trimester only in extraordinary circumstances, and the second trimester wasn’t remarked on, if memory serves. It was ANOTHER court case which added the second trimester to the first. Their own support material confirms this.
They also lie by omission and implication. It is true that abortion in the US is legal for all nine months. That fact, when standing on its own, implies that obtaining an abortion at eight months is as easy as obtaining one at two months. This is a lie. late term abortions are rare. Doctors do not perform them on healthy women with healthy fetuses. Furthermore, left to their own devices, almost all women in their third trimester will carry their pregnancy to term. Late term abortions only occur when there is a serious threat to the life or health of the woman, or the fetus has a fatal birth defect. The person that can best determine whether that is the case is the doctor, not the law, which is why the law should stay out of it.
Oh, and Ginsberg was quoted out of context. I’ve heard many pro-choicers say that Roe could have had better reasoning. However, that does not imply that they believe abortion should be illegal. It’s disingenuous to insinuate this.
maatnofret, if my memory serves, Roe didn’t actually set limits by trimester, they just established the trimester rule and outlined how state governments could restrict later abortions. It pretty much gave them an anti-choice blueprint, but I’m quite sure that it didn’t actually create the restrictions.
But it’s good to know that Ginsburg was quoted out of context. Also, I’m just going to take your word on it, because I really do need to have some kind of faith in at least one of our Supreme Court Justices, and she’s kind of the only one left.
I also wish that Roe had been decided under better reasoning. If it had been, there’s no doubt that it would still be under attack, but it also probably wouldn’t look as flimsy as it does now.
Ginsburg did say that and it is only taken out of context if you assume that by it she was condemning Roe. She was just stating a fact, that Roe was based on weak law. Anyone who has observed the way Ginsburg has voted knows her decisions are all based on a liberal point of view and that she has never foundered on her pro choice viewpoint. But a fact is a fact; Roe was decided on weak law. Also, Roe did not provide abortion on demand. Doe did. And Doe was decided on the same day. So Roe or Doe, they go hand in glove.
Here’s another question for you. Did you know that Norma McCorvy (Roe), Sandra Cano (Doe) and Bernard Nathanson (cofounder of NARAL)are all vocal prolifers now?
And did you know that Sandra Cano never agreed to put her name on the affidavid that became Doe vs Bolton? And Norma McCorvy never did get an abortion even though her attorney, the infamous Sarah Weddington, got one after filing the affidavid. Weddington used McCorvy’s unplanned pregnancy to her advantage instead of helping McCorvy get an abortion. There’s a lot of interesting information out there. You just have to dig for it sometimes.
Actually, Jo, some of your information is off there. McCorvy was chosen for the case because she tried to get an illegal abortion but couldn’t travel to do so, not because she was duped. Secondly, she now says that she didn’t want one, so which is it? Weddington duped her into putting her name on the case even though she didn’t want an abortion or she was duped into not getting an abortion by an ambitious lawyer? Also, while Weddington may have had a legal abortion that I don’t know about after Roe, the abortion you’re probably referring to was illegal, quite a few years before Roe (she was still in law school) and in Mexico.
As for what is true, yes, I do know it. I’m not really sure how it’s extremely relevant, but I know it all the same. I do my fair share of reading and digging.