Every semester I ask my students to write an essay and describe their ‘personal political identities’, giving policy positions as examples. Abortion is a popular issue. Oklahoma is a rural, conservative, and devoutly religious state. My class is comprised mostly of Freshmen taking their required Govt credit. Given this, I’m always surprised (impressed?) by the nuance and ambiguity of their abortion opinions. Yet, there is one thought meme that keeps appearing that really burns my biscuits (I stole that euphemism from Serena and I’m not giving it back).
Most think its wrong, but are uncomfortable with the idea that it should be illegal. Most contain underlying currents of respect for individuals’ right to control their bodies free from government interference. The one argument that they write again and again is not about the bible, or murder, or the sanctity of life, but about personal responsibility. It goes a little something like this (paraphrasing here):
It just isnt right that people should be allowed to act however they want and not have to face the consequences. If you are old/responsible enough for sex, then you should be old/responsible enough for a baby. The fact that people think abortion is okay means they just sleep around and don’t care. This encourages promiscuity/irresponsibility and thats bad for society.
This floors me. I just do not understand how the availability of abortion has any impact on sexual behavior that is different from the availability of condoms or birth control. I feel like this line of argument is a product of their youth, and the echoes of their parents advice still ringing in their ears.
Yet, this seems a popular talking points for full fledged talking head pro-lifers as well. Do you know any women (or men for that matter) that cheerfully reassure themselves before sex, ‘I can have as many abortions as I want! Bring on the dick! Woo hoo!’ Where does this insanity originate and whats the best way to pushback against it?
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Kate is a public policy expert with a vintage dress obsession. |
I would push back with the same line of reasoning. Abortion is often the most responsible decision women can make because they are either unwilling or unable to care for a child. It’s not like every patient who seeks an abortion is “sleeping around.” Many patients are married and already have children. Many are monogamous, on birth control, and use condoms. But no form of contraception is 100% – not even abstinence. (Just ask Bristol Palin – abstinence fails, yo.)
Women who are not financially able to care for a child at a particular point in life may feel like it’s more responsible to stay in school so that they are better prepared to financially care for a child later on in life.
There is a thread here. Your students are parroting (intentionally or not) an underlying ideology that, I think, needs to be challenged on several levels.
During the Clinton admin savvy feminist theorists began to point to an appreciable rise in neo-liberal rhetoric. Characterized by appeals for increased personal responsibility, neo-liberal thought gave rise to Clintonian Welfare reform as well as a number of other policy mistakes.
The rhetoric of personal responsibility completely ignores (and perpetuates) oppressive systems of power. Take, for example, what is often offered as an alternative to abortion–adoption.
Adoption sounds great on the surface–give the baby to someone who can provide it with a good life. The problem is, this thinking turns adoption into a means by which those who are worthy (those wealthy enough to afford a child) are granted the ability to purchase children from those our society views as unworthy (poor women). This is particularly true in international adoption cases.
The result is, since the poor woman having a baby she can’t afford problem is solved, nothing is done to change the circumstances that give rise to poverty.
“She should have been responsible enough not to get pregnant” works the same way (and with the same fallacies) that “see what she was wearing–she was asking to get raped!” works. It shifts the burden away from a society where women are far more likely to be poor than men, where women still make $0.78 for every $1.00 that men make, where draconian welfare policies make it impossible for women to break the cycle of poverty (the list goes on here) and adds it, on top of everything else, to the shoulders of those our society does the least to help.
The same way that a girl who has a beer at a party can’t prove rape because she wasn’t responsible enough–the burden is shifted away from a culture that perpetuates violence against women and onto the shoulders of a woman who is already traumatized.
All in the name of “personal responsibility.”
There are more examples–like “those people wouldn’t be upside down in their mortgage if they hadn’t bought a house they couldn’t afford.” Never mind that they had a bank officer telling them that their payments wouldn’t balloon out of control.
Anyway, for more on this check out “The Twilight of Equality” by Lisa Duggan. Its a fantastic book, and she does a great job of illustrating the points I am trying to make. In fact, much of my thinking on these issues is a direct result of her work!
It’s an artifact of their inexperience – -and not knowing someone who has had to have an abortion. It’s also a result of their own arrogance, and general stupidity.
I tech freshmen ethics, I feel your pain.
Mrs Maestro hits the nail on the head and said everything I was going to say. Bottom line, sometimes abortion IS the most responsible choice. In an ideal world, we would all have a conversation about safe sex with our partners before having sex, discussing birth control options, usage, and what would happen in the event of a pregnancy. But we all know that reality isn’t like that.
I have never understood the notion of a baby as a consequence, a punishment for sex.
I agree with all the comments and I see similar sentiment in my student’s writing. And while I agree with Serena when she notes that choosing an abortion is very responsible because many are choosing this because they can’t afford a child etc. I would also add that sometimes women just don’t want to grew, birth, and care for or adopt babies because they just don’t want them.
We should be ok with women not wanting any babies! I know this lends credence to the stereotypes about feminist being family/child hating but I worry that if we don’t recognize that some women do not want reproduce we will continue to idealize reproducing women.
And Shanman–I totally agree, and why aren’t men ‘punished’ for having sex?