Teleen's Journal

TRIGGER WARNING - RAPE, INCEST, MISOGYNY, AND ALL OTHER ISSUES ABORTION-RELATED

After seeing some anti-woman protestors on my former college campus today, seeing them use Nazi imagery and pictures of Pol Pot's Killing Fields to make their disgusting "point," I felt the need to express my rage with the following reasons why I'm Pro-Choice.

1) It's not my business what anyone else does with their body.
2) It's not anyone's business what I do with my body.
3) Savita Halappanavar of Ireland.
4) Beatriz of El Salvador - you can still speak for her.
5) Every woman who has ever died because of a "back alley" abortion.
6) The evidence supporting the idea that the crime rate drops when abortion is legal because wanted children are less likely to grow up in circumstances that lead them to become criminals.
7) Forcing a rape or incest survivor to carry her rapist's baby to term is a way of raping her all over again.
8) In 31 U.S. states, it is legal for a rapist to sue for visitation rights and/or custody of the child he fathered during the rape.  This is horrific on many levels, as it forces the woman to continue to have contact with the person who attacked her, which can be used as a way to leverage her into not pressing charges.  There's also the added horror of a convicted rapist being permitted to have a hand in raising the child to whom he donated genetic material during the attack.
9) The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads as follows:
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Forcing a woman to carry a baby to term against her will is involuntary servitude and violates the very Constitution that most conservative assholes seem to worship. Women are human beings, not the property of the state.  Giving women control over their reproductive choices is a form of empowerment.  Conversely, taking away those choices turns women into second-class citizens.
10) Forcing a woman to complete a pregnancy risks her life.  Not to mention that outlawing abortion risks the lives of women who have wanted pregnancies that are non-viable (see 3 and 4).  To those who want to argue that a woman can give the baby up for adoption, there is a lot of evidence that it is more psychologically damaging to give up a baby after giving birth to it than having an abortion.  Yes, a lot of people want to adopt, but that doesn't mean that a pregnant woman should act as their handmaid unless it is 100% HER CHOICE to do so.

Having given the reasons I'm pro-choice, I'd now like to address the arguments against my feelings.

I thought about getting into the philosophical debate of whether or not a fetus is "alive" or should be considered a person, but I realized that it doesn't matter if the fetus is a person.  The woman was here first.  The rights of the born must outweigh the rights of the unborn, otherwise a woman is no longer legally a person the moment the sperm hits the egg.

When does the fetus start to have rights?  A lot of people say, "In the third trimester, once it's theoretically possible for it to survive outside the womb."  Let's examine that.  Under what circumstances would a woman carry a fetus for twenty-eight weeks and then decide she doesn't want it inside of her anymore?  I can't imagine a circumstance, but if a woman is in that position, I don't think that the state has a right to block her.  Do I find the idea of aborting a nearly full-term or full-term fetus horrifying?  Fuck yes! But I believe that the circumstances under which that would be necessary are so rare that they shouldn't even be included in any arguments against abortion.

What about gendercide, i.e. abortion of a female fetus because the parents want a male?  Fix society so that women are considered equal to men, don't deny a woman her right to choose.

Abortion as birth control?  If someone wants to go through the pain of multiple abortions rather than taking birth control, it's their body, their choice.  Especially since birth control, even multiple forms used in conjunction, can fail.  That and, like it or not, abortion IS a form of birth control.

There's also the "one penis, no vote" argument, which I find repugnant simply because NO ONE but the pregnant person gets a vote.  I have a uterus.  Having one doesn't give me more of a right to weigh in on this issue than someone who doesn't have one.

And now we've come to men's rights.  If you are a man and choose to have sex with a woman, you accept that whatever she decides to do after you put her penis close enough to her for your semen to get inside of her is her decision.  You accept child support.  You accept that she may abort a fetus that carries your genetic material.  You accept that it is her body and her decision as to whether she's going to risk her life to bring your child into the world.  If you don't think that's fair, don't have sex.  ANY sex, not merely protected sex.  Even if the woman stops taking her pills or pokes holes in the condoms, you're still choosing to have sex with her.

Which brings me to woman rapists.  They exist and I believe they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.  That said, while I don't feel that you should have to pay child support if a woman rapes you, nor do you have the right to force her to have an abortion.  It's still her body in which the fetus is growing.  Is that "fair" when we chemically castrate some pedophiles and rapists?   Is it "fair" for a man to have that genetic link to a child that was conceived against his will?  No, but it's the woman's body in which said child grows, so sorry men, no forced abortions OR forced births, no matter what the circumstances.

Essentially, I'm pro-choice under all circumstances, with NO EXCEPTIONS.  Go ahead, come up with a scenario in which you think that abortion shouldn't be allowed and I'll tell you my reasoning for why it should be permitted.  I'll give you a hint: they're ALL going to start with, "It's not my business, nor is it yours." 

Originally posted by theljstaff at Help Us Support Planned Parenthood

Originally posted by theljstaff at Help Us Support Planned ParenthoodLast day to participate!! :)

Originally posted by theljstaff at Help Us Support Planned ParenthoodRe-posting because I feel this is important.

For those who can't see the video below, it's an ad for Dr. Pepper that parodies an action movie and says, "This movie isn't for you and neither is Dr. Pepper 10."

I usually don't see commercials because I DVR everything and fast-forward, but this one popped up on sf_drama and pissed me off enough for me to make a separate post about it for one reason and one reason only.

I love Dr. Pepper.  It's literally my favorite soda.  It's in my pantry and if it's on the menu, it's what I always order at a restaurant.  And now I can never drink it again because drinking it would literally leave a bad taste in my mouth.  I'm tasting bile right now because of it.  And yes, I do have more important things to be thinking about, which is, in part, why this is pissing me off so much.  I should be worrying about how my abortion rights are being curtailed.  I should be worrying about a GOP candidate who's so stupid that he thinks that the President signs Constitutional Amendments. 

Instead, I'm thinking about Dr. Pepper and about how a lot of women are BUYING it "in protest", basically giving in to the reverse psychology of this ad telling them they can't drink it.  Which is depressing, because the only way for a company to not do this shit is for people to NOT buy the product.  As I am doing.  Someone just told me to, "Have fun making absolutely no impact on Dr. Pepper's marketing strategies," which is a fair comment.  Dr. Pepper doesn't give a shit about whether or not I buy it - they just proved it with this ad.  So the only impact I'm going to try to make here is on my wallet.  Every time I see Dr. Pepper on a menu, I'm going to not order it and have water only instead.  I'm going to make a note of what it would have cost and stick that money in a jar somewhere.  When I would have bought it at the grocery store (along with Mt. Dew, because those are the two sodas I buy when Coke and Sprite aren't on sale), I'm going to save that money too. 

We'll see how much adds up in a year. 
( Cut for video of the ad. )

TW: This video contains a rape survivor telling her story. 

I found this when I was answering a comment on a previous post and watched the video that was attached again.  It's a bit old, but I doubt she's changed her mind at all.  As if I needed another reason to hate what Sarah Palin stands for:

If you are in the US, there is the Haven Coalition, which is a network of volunteers who provide a meal and a safe place to sleep for women who are forced to travel to New York City for second-trimester abortions. 

If you're in the UK, The Abortion Support Network provides similar help for women who are unable to obtain abortions at all in Ireland.

Thank you for your support of the rights of women to do what is best for them and their bodies.   

ETA: Thank you to darkfireangel who told me about Fund Abortion Now, which helps women to find a local abortion and depending upon the income of the woman involved, may partially pay for it.

Unborn Child To 'Testify' On Ohio Abortion Bill

An aide to committee Chairman Lynn Wachtmann said a pregnant woman will be brought before the committee and an ultrasound image of her uterus will be projected onto a screen. The heartbeat of the fetus will be visible in color.

This is the dumbest thing I've seen in the last three days, and as most of you know, I've seen some incredibly stupid shit in the last three days.

Fuck you, Ohio.  And fuck the stupid asshats in the Committee for letting this shit go forward. 

Neigh.

Not too long ago, someone commented in my journal with an icon that was a picture of Hitler with the caption, "My mommy chose life."  I banned the icon (it was the first time I'd ever deleted a comment, which caused a bit of angst for me because I'm just like that) and eventually the person who used it when they came back to be shitty because I'd made a public post supposedly 'shaming' them when all I was doing was essentially making a post for future reference - "Hey everyone, no Hitler or Nazi imagery of any type allowed here."    

That's not what you've all had happen, heh.

No, what happened was I later realized that the icon was not just offensive, it was also WRONG.  Hitler's mommy didn't CHOOSE life.  Hitler's mommy had no choice in the matter whatsoever.  When Hitler was born in 1889, his mommy had basically no rights as a person.  She couldn't vote, let alone go and get abortion, and was generally defined by her role as 'Hitler's mommy' or 'Hitler's daddy's wife'.  She wasn't a person - she was a broodmare and broodmares don't get to choose whether or not they stay pregnant. 

Using that icon as a dig at the Pro-Life crowd may get some surface attention, but it ignores the essential truth that Hilter's mommy was a woman and women don't get to make decisions about whether or not they have children.  Oh, we say they do now, but as I pointed out yesterday, with 87% of the counties in the US not having access to abortion providers, we really don't mean it.  At least not in the US or in other parts of the world where women are still chattel, which I believe comprises a greater percentage of the world's population than not. 

I didn't get to tell the owner of that icon any of this because I didn't realize it until WAY after the fact and wow, does it suck thinking of the perfect comeback a month later (or however long it's been), but hey, at least I get to share it with all of you, :).

ETA: Hilter's mommy's name was Klara.  Thanks, darth_eldritch.

I've been thinking about abortion a lot lately and something finally crystallized for me regarding the whole debate.  When a woman gets pregnant, there are no guarantees that the fertilized egg will actually become a person.  Miscarriage statistics vary widely, but I've known more than one woman who has had one.  In truth, I've known more women who have had spontaneous abortions than intentional ones.  And even if a woman carries a baby to term, it may still be stillborn, or die soon after birth. 

Bottom line: when a woman gets pregnant, there is no guarantee that a new life will enter this world.  All there is is the potential for new life.
( Cut for length. )

Statistics don't matter, though.  All that matters is the pregnant woman and what she wants.  Period.  Her body, her life, her choice, not mine, not yours, NOT EVER.  Your opinion doesn't matter and neither does mine.  The rights of the born outweigh the rights of the unborn, 100% of the time.  Period.