The higher morality of reproductive choice
Published on Intrepid Report, by Dennis Rahkonen, July 10, 2014.
Abortions are often necessary, and only each female, in her own unique circumstance, can determine what constitutes a legitimate abortion need. No one has the defensible authority to second-guess or demonize any woman who arrives at that conclusion. The death of even a single already-born, living, breathing, socially functioning female from medical complications, wire hanger/back alley desperation, or suicide—because safe, legal pregnancy termination was unavailable to her—is a far worse travesty than the “holocaust of murdered babies” in which “of” is the sole, not-wildly-inapplicable word.
That’s why we must always defend the ability to choose. Girls and women have an unequivocally valid claim to personhood rights. Zygotes and embryos do not. What’s most offensive is the constant, cruel depiction by conservatives of those who obtain abortions as being “irresponsible” or “selfish.” Why are the boys and men who get females pregnant never so described? … //
… Compulsory birth, ordered under some sort of fascistic edict, shouldn’t be tolerated. Those who disagree should listen to what medical professionals so horrifically experienced as they treated women whose lives bled away in hospital emergency rooms before Roe v. Wade.
Going back to that dreadful era would be an abomination.
We need comprehensive sex education and ready contraceptive availability, not ignorance-promoting “abstinence only” indoctrination or punitive Hobby Lobby-style American Talibanism. We must additionally demand humane governmental policies providing the healthcare, nutrition and other supportive aid that, if present, would go a long way toward eliminating the fear and frequent, actual impossibility of bringing children into a painfully unjust society.
Tellingly, the same conservatives who champion “babies” in the womb often lose all interest after they’re hungrily crying in impoverished mothers’ arms, as proven by their recent willingness to cruelly slash food stamps (SNAP). Choice must prevail, or wide-ranging subjugation and suffering will surely result.
(full text).
(Dennis Rahkonen of Superior, Wisconsin, has been writing progressive commentary with a Heartland perspective for various outlets since the ’60s).
Related Links:
- Connecting the Dots: LGBT Equality, Reproductive Rights, and Religion, on RH reality check, by Rev. Harry Knox, July 9, 2014: as a minister who spent most of my career working for LGBT equality, served on President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and is now serving an interfaith organization dedicated to reproductive justice, there is one fundamental connection that I hope we can all see given the events of the last two weeks. It’s that the struggle for LGBT rights and the struggle for reproductive rights are inseparable—and that we have to change the role religion is playing …;
- Tough reproductive choices after autism, on IrishHealth, by Deborah Condon, June 19, 2014;
- An Open Letter on the Importance of Reproductive Choice, on RH reality check, by Ann Furedi, June 5, 2013;
- Remaking the case for a woman’s right to choose, on Reproductive Review.org, by Ann Furedi, April 26, 2013;
- Planned Parenthood Gives Up the “Pro-Choice” Label: What Does It Mean for the Movement? on RH reality check, by Tfracy Weitz, Jan 13, 2013;
- Reproductive rights on en.wikipedia are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health.[1] The World Health Organization HO defines reproductive rights as follows: …; Reproductive rights rest on the recognition of the basic right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children and to have the information and means to do so, and the right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health. They also include the right of all to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence.[2] Reproductive rights may include some or all of the following: …;
Websites:
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Growing Influx: Germany Caught Off Guard By Surge in Refugees, on Spiegel Online International, July 7, 2014, (Photo Gallery – Translated from the German by Daryl Lindsey and Thomas Rogers);
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Graham Hancock Breaks the Set on TED: Censorship, Lost Civilizations & War on Consciousness, 13.25 min, uploaded by breakingtheset, June 27, 2014: Abby Martin interviews author and philosopher, Graham Hancock, about the mysteries of ancient civilization, hidden societies from the past, censorship by TED Talks and the difficulty in getting these ideas accepted by mainstream archaeologists and historians …;