clovenhooves The Personal Is Political Reproductive Rights Social Media “we have fewer rights to protect our bodies than an old man in georgia has to protect his old, junked out car.”

Social Media “we have fewer rights to protect our bodies than an old man in georgia has to protect his old, junked out car.”

Social Media “we have fewer rights to protect our bodies than an old man in georgia has to protect his old, junked out car.”

 
Clover
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Yesterday, 12:31 AM
#1
Found this post on Tumblr that frames the frustrations around the abortion debate well.

https://www.tumblr.com/holyvomitus/792057602193473536/so-i-used-to-do-outreach-for-a-reproductive-rights

holyvomitus so I used to do outreach for a reproductive rights organization for a few years and have talked to literally hundreds of people about abortion as a result. a lot of anti-choice people really only focus on the argument that a fetus is equal to grown, born humans in terms of life and rights. and they really, really don't know how to deal with it if you accept that premise and still argue in favor of abortion.

one of the most fascinating points I've seen made was by an older fellow in a dinky little town outside Atlanta. he believed fetuses are human beings and that abortion is murder, but was still in favor of abortion rights. his reasoning? "A guy tried stealing my El Camino (a car) and I shot him, and nobody had a problem with that." he still had the car and showed me the bullet holes.

and that was actually a really good argument. there's the whole thought experiment about "can the government force you to donate a kidney?" and that is a great argument. but it doesn't address the extremists who dismiss it as "refusing to do something isn't murder."

like we do have situations where we both morally and legally justify murder, such as self-defense or against home invaders and thieves. very few conservatives in the US will argue against having the right to shoot someone for trying to steal their El Camino, a literal object, or for breaking into their home or for mugging them.

the conversation fascinated me so much because, despite doing outreach in several states over the course of a couple years, I'd never thought about how we take for granted the right to protect property, inhuman objects, for granted while women are barred from protecting their actual bodies, their physical being, from pregnancy, which causes permanent bodily changes in most cases (if you don't believe me, talk to p much any woman who has been pregnant or given birth) and actual death in some. In the time since talking to this man, I've brought it up to anti-choice people and never gotten a real response as to why we can kill over an El Camino but not over our physical and mental safety and health.

we have fewer rights to protect our bodies than an old man in georgia has to protect his old, junked out car.

Some other questions I have for pro-forced-birthers are, like, are pregnant women allowed to eat whatever they want? Should pregnant women who miscarry because they had a salad that had listeria, or from contaminated raw fish (sushi), should those women be prosecuted for manslaughter? Second degree murder? No prosecution? I'm just curious where the line is on this stuff, since they can outlaw abortion all they want, women will still not want to be pregnant.

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Yesterday, 12:31 AM #1

Found this post on Tumblr that frames the frustrations around the abortion debate well.

https://www.tumblr.com/holyvomitus/792057602193473536/so-i-used-to-do-outreach-for-a-reproductive-rights

holyvomitus so I used to do outreach for a reproductive rights organization for a few years and have talked to literally hundreds of people about abortion as a result. a lot of anti-choice people really only focus on the argument that a fetus is equal to grown, born humans in terms of life and rights. and they really, really don't know how to deal with it if you accept that premise and still argue in favor of abortion.

one of the most fascinating points I've seen made was by an older fellow in a dinky little town outside Atlanta. he believed fetuses are human beings and that abortion is murder, but was still in favor of abortion rights. his reasoning? "A guy tried stealing my El Camino (a car) and I shot him, and nobody had a problem with that." he still had the car and showed me the bullet holes.

and that was actually a really good argument. there's the whole thought experiment about "can the government force you to donate a kidney?" and that is a great argument. but it doesn't address the extremists who dismiss it as "refusing to do something isn't murder."

like we do have situations where we both morally and legally justify murder, such as self-defense or against home invaders and thieves. very few conservatives in the US will argue against having the right to shoot someone for trying to steal their El Camino, a literal object, or for breaking into their home or for mugging them.

the conversation fascinated me so much because, despite doing outreach in several states over the course of a couple years, I'd never thought about how we take for granted the right to protect property, inhuman objects, for granted while women are barred from protecting their actual bodies, their physical being, from pregnancy, which causes permanent bodily changes in most cases (if you don't believe me, talk to p much any woman who has been pregnant or given birth) and actual death in some. In the time since talking to this man, I've brought it up to anti-choice people and never gotten a real response as to why we can kill over an El Camino but not over our physical and mental safety and health.

we have fewer rights to protect our bodies than an old man in georgia has to protect his old, junked out car.

Some other questions I have for pro-forced-birthers are, like, are pregnant women allowed to eat whatever they want? Should pregnant women who miscarry because they had a salad that had listeria, or from contaminated raw fish (sushi), should those women be prosecuted for manslaughter? Second degree murder? No prosecution? I'm just curious where the line is on this stuff, since they can outlaw abortion all they want, women will still not want to be pregnant.


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Yesterday, 7:24 AM
#2
With the current American administration, I'm afraid to ask where the line is, because I think they'd criminalize everything you mentioned. Fetus uber alles.
Elsacat
Yesterday, 7:24 AM #2

With the current American administration, I'm afraid to ask where the line is, because I think they'd criminalize everything you mentioned. Fetus uber alles.

Yesterday, 7:32 AM
#3
I like this line of reasoning because it doesn't bicker over when life technically begins and props women's rights on that, because a thing merely being alive does not mean it has the right to harm you for its own benefit.

The only problem I see with the "kill a thief" argument is that some people's knee-jerk emotional reaction might be that this is ok because the thief is evil, whereas a fetus isn't really doing anything malicious by harming its host. It functions kind of like a bear that wants to eat you simply to survive. And yet not even the greatest animal lovers would willingly sacrifice themselves to a bear. I also feel like it might make people think it's ok to allow abortion in really extreme cases like harm to life, but not at the woman's discretion, but hey, baby steps.

Someone once put a really good argument forward that if you had to do a trolley problem between a fetus and an actual baby, or any other born person, everyone would pick the latter. We seem to instinctively recognise that the incubation phase isn't comparable to actually living as human beings
YesYourNigel
Yesterday, 7:32 AM #3

I like this line of reasoning because it doesn't bicker over when life technically begins and props women's rights on that, because a thing merely being alive does not mean it has the right to harm you for its own benefit.

The only problem I see with the "kill a thief" argument is that some people's knee-jerk emotional reaction might be that this is ok because the thief is evil, whereas a fetus isn't really doing anything malicious by harming its host. It functions kind of like a bear that wants to eat you simply to survive. And yet not even the greatest animal lovers would willingly sacrifice themselves to a bear. I also feel like it might make people think it's ok to allow abortion in really extreme cases like harm to life, but not at the woman's discretion, but hey, baby steps.

Someone once put a really good argument forward that if you had to do a trolley problem between a fetus and an actual baby, or any other born person, everyone would pick the latter. We seem to instinctively recognise that the incubation phase isn't comparable to actually living as human beings

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8 hours ago
#4
(Yesterday, 7:32 AM)YesYourNigel I like this line of reasoning because it doesn't bicker over when life technically begins and props women's rights on that, because a thing merely being alive does not mean it has the right to harm you for its own benefit.

Me too. It reminds me of this Tumblr post I shared on Vexxed today: https://vexxed.org/o/Radfemmery/5743/a-woman-s-body-is-her-own-always

Imo, any abortion debates that are still centered around if the fetus can feel pain, or how developed the fetus is, or whatever, are irrelevant.

What is relevant is that it is a human being's body, with which they should be able to do whatever they want with. I'm not sure if the reason so much of abortion debates are still about "when life begins" is because society doesn't want to acknowledge that women are human beings who have a right to their own body? So they just keep arguing in circles about heartbeats and brain development and sentience and whatever the fuck. Completely ignoring the main point of: are people allowed to have agency over what goes on with their bodies or not?

I think it's fascinating that when that question is aimed towards pregnant people—said people who can only be women—suddenly it's not so clear anymore..? When women can be impacted by something, well now it's time for them to stop being so selfish and think about others. "Others" in this case being a human being attempting to use a woman's body to develop.

I think also a lot of misogynists can't handle the idea of women being able to choose to continue to create a life or not. I think a lot of people also become uncomfortable with the question of would they have been born if their mother had a choice in the matter? And that might lead to them thinking of their mother as a human being, which is wow very scary!!!

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8 hours ago #4

(Yesterday, 7:32 AM)YesYourNigel I like this line of reasoning because it doesn't bicker over when life technically begins and props women's rights on that, because a thing merely being alive does not mean it has the right to harm you for its own benefit.

Me too. It reminds me of this Tumblr post I shared on Vexxed today: https://vexxed.org/o/Radfemmery/5743/a-woman-s-body-is-her-own-always

Imo, any abortion debates that are still centered around if the fetus can feel pain, or how developed the fetus is, or whatever, are irrelevant.

What is relevant is that it is a human being's body, with which they should be able to do whatever they want with. I'm not sure if the reason so much of abortion debates are still about "when life begins" is because society doesn't want to acknowledge that women are human beings who have a right to their own body? So they just keep arguing in circles about heartbeats and brain development and sentience and whatever the fuck. Completely ignoring the main point of: are people allowed to have agency over what goes on with their bodies or not?

I think it's fascinating that when that question is aimed towards pregnant people—said people who can only be women—suddenly it's not so clear anymore..? When women can be impacted by something, well now it's time for them to stop being so selfish and think about others. "Others" in this case being a human being attempting to use a woman's body to develop.

I think also a lot of misogynists can't handle the idea of women being able to choose to continue to create a life or not. I think a lot of people also become uncomfortable with the question of would they have been born if their mother had a choice in the matter? And that might lead to them thinking of their mother as a human being, which is wow very scary!!!


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