This week’s readings focused on abortion and how it is a very controversial issue with varying viewpoints on it from women alone. After reading these articles, especially the ones that were personalized and discussed womens’ real-life experiences with them, I definitely gained a broader perspective on abortion, although I still stand firm in my personal beliefs on the issue. A common theme that I found in these readings, particularly Inga Muscio’s and Allison Crew’s, was that of society and its influence on women. These two authors expressed their discomfort with society and the power it seemed to have on them as they tried to make their decision as to whether or not they should have an abortion. Judith Arcana’s article also seems to relate to this idea as she expresses the idea that it is the woman who should make the decision, nobody else. Before we can make connections though we must understand each reading individually.
Inga Muscio’s, “Abortion, Vacuum Cleaners, and the Power Within”, is a story of Muscio’s personal experiences with abortions. As soon as I began reading her article, I immediately felt that Muscio was a hypocrite. How could she start her story off telling readers that “ABORTION SUCKS”, and that she is “adamantly against clinical abortions” (112), and then go on to tell us that she had three of them? It is confounding to me that she could say this, and actually bothers me. She uses the metaphor of an abortion as a vacuum cleaner, cleaning up our messes that we have made. Muscio’s first two abortions went terribly, and she felt horrendous during and after them. She was scarred from the first abortion, so it is a little unsettling to readers that she wound up having another one after making a bad decision again. I found her perspective on abortion after she got pregnant the second time to be interesting. She says, “ I had the same choice as before, that glowing, outstanding choice we ladies fight tooth and nail for: the choice to get my insides ruthlessly sucked by some inhuman shit pile” (114). While this is true that women fight endlessly for the right to have an abortion, most of us do not know what it is like to get one. It is very possible that after having one, we might change our opinion on them. Muscio presents the idea of “healing from within”, and how “in this society, we look to the outside for just about everything”, including healing. Her idea of internal healing is very motivating, whether it’s in terms of abortion, or anything else for that matter. She expresses her self-control and asserts her power over that which society has over her. After she gets pregnant for the third time, she decides to give herself an abortion, with the help of her friends, massages, herbal medicines, and reflexology. Her most powerful statement to me was, “The real fight for human rights is inside each and every individual on this earth” (117), showing how much she believes in healing from within and breaking free from the mold that patriarchal society has placed women in. Lastly, she tells readers that she is not ungrateful for all that her predecessors did for her and the rights they gained so she could benefit from them, she simply states that now, with this right, she has realized that clinical abortions are “and oppressive diversion to one’s own power” (117). She strongly believes in the power of the individual and the personal act of an abortion.
In Allison Crews’ “And So I Chose”, she discusses her personal experience with abortion as well as women’s rights and her feminist website. She was raised in a pro-life home, which wound up greatly affecting her decision later in life to get an abortion. She mentions an experience when she was 12 years old as she marched outside of a Planned Parenthood and yelled as a young girl entered with her mom. Crews would never forget the girls face when she left, and her shaking body, as a man yelled at her “The blood is on your hands!” (144). When Crews got pregnant at the age of 15, she made numerous appointments to get an abortion, and kept canceling them out of fear and confusion. Eventually, it was too late to get one, so Crews had the baby. Crews sought solace in the online community of young mothers, yet she was berated with “Irresponsible teenager” and “hopeless breeder” (146), which only made matters worse. She found that her soul was confined, and that those that were supposed to be close to her and help her through the difficult time “were all trying to knock the very ground” she stood on from under her (146). I related this to Muscio’s article because Crews too found that she had to conform to what society created for women, and that if she didn’t, people turned against her. For example, she was told she could not make the adoption decision on her own and she wanted to birth on her own and was laughed at. After having given birth, Crews states, “He was my choice, and, finally, this was my life” (148). This outlook is extremely powerful after she states, “people-who seemed to come at me from every angle and direction-trying to deny me my right to reproductive freedom”. She was able to overcome the boundaries society placed on her, and feel powerful again. She concludes with her idea of “pro-choice” and how it is not about which choice we make, it’s that nobody can deny any of us our right to make these choices.
I found Judith Arcana’s “Abortion Is A Motherhood Issue”, to relate strongly to the articles mentioned above, especially Crews’ article. Crews’ idea on what pro-choice means to her is a lot like Arcana’s ideas in her article. Arcana discusses how abortion is a motherhood issue and should not be separated from them. Mothers are the ones that got pregnant and therefore should be the ones that determine whether an abortion is right for them or not. These mothers should solely be responsible for this, and nobody else should control them, and nobody should be judged if they choose to have an abortion. Arcana says, “every woman who chooses to abort a pregnancy is justified in her decision” (226). No matter what the reason is, if it is not right for the mother to have the baby then who is to say that is wrong? I enjoyed reading Arcana’s article because I appreciated her stance on abortion. She does not criticize those that get them nor does she encourage them. She simply writes to express her neutrality on the issue and her support for mothers to make decisions that are best for them. We have a responsibility to choose.
“Opinion of the Court” discusses Roe v. Wade and the story behind the case. Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee, both lawyers from the University of Texas Law School, met Norma McCorvey, a pregnant woman that wanted an abortion. At the time, abortion was illegal in Texas and there were just abortion-referral services. Weddington and Coffee studied the abortion law and eventually “filed a federal suit challenging the constitutionality of Texas’s antiabortion statute” (Feminism In Our Time, 400). This began one of the most influential court cases ever, Roe v. Wade. Thanks to Weddington and Coffee, abortions became legal for women in 1973. This was “a major contribution to the preservation of individual liberties” (Feminism In Our Time, 400). The excerpt provided gives readers insight into what went on during the court case and how the jurisdiction made the decision.
Looking back on all of these readings I took from the authors that it is important to do what is best for you in terms of abortion, and not let society influence you. The mother has total control and authority to make this decision, and nobody else. I am curious where the male steps in here. Do we think that the man should have any say in the issue? It is the woman’s body and she should be able to do as she pleases, but what role does the man play? What if the man wants the baby and the woman does not? How can we reconcile these two differing views?
No comments:
Post a Comment