I think the critique of the coat hanger imagery is that people who don't know that pills exist for that will use a coat hanger instead. A milder example of the same problem would be using a pile of hamburgers as a symbol for vitamins when a bowl of fruit is more accurate and less harmful when copied.
Exactly my point. I’m not worried about correcting other people’s comfort around certain terminology as it applies to my complete bodily autonomy. Nor should securing that right require a systemic shift in understanding the reasons slavery is bad and not nuanced. I take the stance that we need to use harsh terminology only because it’s accurate, and accuracy matters. The tone of that terminology is built into the issue because it’s an unpleasant one by its very nature. But the issue is incredibly simple. It’s either that it’s okay for half the populace to have partial autonomy or it’s not. Either the government is allowed to have more control over half the populace’s bodies than they do, or they aren’t. Abortions are neither good nor bad. They just are. And the mental process behind making decisions for ourselves shouldn’t be subject to anyone else’s opinions about it.
My daughter has been talking about abortions lately, probably because it's in the news, and my son (almost 9) keeps asking what abortion is, so I have to keep explaining it. Last night, he asked me if I thought abortion was good and that he didn't think abortions are good. I told him he doesn't have a uterus so he'll never have to get one. Discussion over.
Once in college, I had a condom break and went to the student health center the next morning for the morning after pill. I was forced to wait several hours until a doctor who would deign to prescribe it showed up for work. That, my friends, is denial of care. They'd treat the chlamydia right away though.
I think "No Forced Birth" cuts to the chase, and identifies what the extreme/now mainstream right wants, forcing women to bear all pregnancies (including ones from rape/incest) against their will.
I know that this is late response, but I am SO sorry for your struggles. It's absolutely absurd that someone would judge you as "less than" in terms of deserving and being able to care for a child.
I wish you the best on your journey. My IVUS experiences were all about infertility as well. It's something that anyone who wants a child will accept as a necessary requirement of that pursuit, but having a wand all up in your nether-regions by someone is ... not really something anyone wants. It's so very invasive...
I'm sorry for yours too and wish you the best. The perception that blind = incompetent? *shrug* That applies to everything. Annoying as hell, but there are more difficult paths people have to follow.
We were able to have our 2 so we're satisfied. Thankfully, since we could only afford a single round of each of IVF & FET, both tries were successful. (Probably helps that the infertility is only because he has some unfortunate scarring; BFF jokes it's good spouse does, because otherwise we'd be on our 5th set of twins, lol. She's a brat)
Robyn referred to, but didn't define, Reproductive Justice. Because it's easy to mistakenly interchange that with "reproductive rights", I'd like to share this from SisterSong https://www.sistersong.net/...
I'd also like to add, for clarity, that RJ is and must be BIPOC led.
Another detail I would have liked to have seen stressed here is that the greatest, but certainly not only, danger from the overturn of Roe is criminalization - which, in the US and by design, impacts POC disproportionally.
Sometimes I think it's better not to try to appeal to their empathy for other people at all, but directly to how it would affect them directly: "Do you want to have the kind of government that can require you to give birth? Because that's also the kind of government that can require you NOT to."
‘Unexpected’… women aren’t dumb animals who escape the fenced in yard while in heat, only to return pregnant and not understanding how that happened. If everyone does their job right and educates all the other humans about how babies are made, then the ‘unexpected’ pregnancies won’t be so unexpected after all. Contraception can fail, condoms break, and sometimes pregnancy occurs after rape. While we HOPE the measures we take to avoid becoming pregnant will work, we aren’t unaware of the risks that they might not. In fact, from personal experience, I think we spend a great amount of mental energy concerned over those exact risks, even when we take precautions. Such is the life of those who have a uterus. It comes with a whole slew of other concerns that no one without a uterus considers. It’s a whole big piece of luggage filled with stress and burden and it’s all ours alone… for way too long. So, no. I don’t think there’s a benefit to using ‘unexpected’ over ‘unwanted’. My entire view is that we have already wasted too much time, energy, focus and resources trying to gently persuade people to agree to allow us partial bodily autonomy.
We used gentle wording so that it was less uncomfortable for them, thinking that allowing them such comfort would be a more productive approach and create a receptive mindset to become educated on the matter. We mistakenly thought this was a nuanced matter. It is not nuanced. It’s very, very simple. The government and society should not have more control over my body and my reproductive actions than I do. That would qualify as being slavery, because it results in unpaid labor and abuse of personal liberty. There is no debate and we need to make that perfectly clear. That is the priority. We have to stop benching this issue as being philosophically and politically something different than it is. Call it what it is and stop pretending anyone wanting to debate your human rights is doing so in good-faith.
I think the critique of the coat hanger imagery is that people who don't know that pills exist for that will use a coat hanger instead. A milder example of the same problem would be using a pile of hamburgers as a symbol for vitamins when a bowl of fruit is more accurate and less harmful when copied.
Excellent point.
Exactly my point. I’m not worried about correcting other people’s comfort around certain terminology as it applies to my complete bodily autonomy. Nor should securing that right require a systemic shift in understanding the reasons slavery is bad and not nuanced. I take the stance that we need to use harsh terminology only because it’s accurate, and accuracy matters. The tone of that terminology is built into the issue because it’s an unpleasant one by its very nature. But the issue is incredibly simple. It’s either that it’s okay for half the populace to have partial autonomy or it’s not. Either the government is allowed to have more control over half the populace’s bodies than they do, or they aren’t. Abortions are neither good nor bad. They just are. And the mental process behind making decisions for ourselves shouldn’t be subject to anyone else’s opinions about it.
"Get Your Rosaries Off Of Our Ovaries!" is still a good one. Especially regarding the ultra-conservative Opus Dei Federalist Society SCOTUS members.
My daughter has been talking about abortions lately, probably because it's in the news, and my son (almost 9) keeps asking what abortion is, so I have to keep explaining it. Last night, he asked me if I thought abortion was good and that he didn't think abortions are good. I told him he doesn't have a uterus so he'll never have to get one. Discussion over.
Once in college, I had a condom break and went to the student health center the next morning for the morning after pill. I was forced to wait several hours until a doctor who would deign to prescribe it showed up for work. That, my friends, is denial of care. They'd treat the chlamydia right away though.
I think "No Forced Birth" cuts to the chase, and identifies what the extreme/now mainstream right wants, forcing women to bear all pregnancies (including ones from rape/incest) against their will.
"Pro abortion and fuck you if you're not" works for me.
I know that this is late response, but I am SO sorry for your struggles. It's absolutely absurd that someone would judge you as "less than" in terms of deserving and being able to care for a child.
I wish you the best on your journey. My IVUS experiences were all about infertility as well. It's something that anyone who wants a child will accept as a necessary requirement of that pursuit, but having a wand all up in your nether-regions by someone is ... not really something anyone wants. It's so very invasive...
I'm sorry for yours too and wish you the best. The perception that blind = incompetent? *shrug* That applies to everything. Annoying as hell, but there are more difficult paths people have to follow.
We were able to have our 2 so we're satisfied. Thankfully, since we could only afford a single round of each of IVF & FET, both tries were successful. (Probably helps that the infertility is only because he has some unfortunate scarring; BFF jokes it's good spouse does, because otherwise we'd be on our 5th set of twins, lol. She's a brat)
RIGHT?
Robyn referred to, but didn't define, Reproductive Justice. Because it's easy to mistakenly interchange that with "reproductive rights", I'd like to share this from SisterSong https://www.sistersong.net/...
I'd also like to add, for clarity, that RJ is and must be BIPOC led.
Another detail I would have liked to have seen stressed here is that the greatest, but certainly not only, danger from the overturn of Roe is criminalization - which, in the US and by design, impacts POC disproportionally.
Thank you--and I think you're 100% right about Pelosi.
Sometimes I think it's better not to try to appeal to their empathy for other people at all, but directly to how it would affect them directly: "Do you want to have the kind of government that can require you to give birth? Because that's also the kind of government that can require you NOT to."
May need some tweaking! ;-)
‘Unexpected’… women aren’t dumb animals who escape the fenced in yard while in heat, only to return pregnant and not understanding how that happened. If everyone does their job right and educates all the other humans about how babies are made, then the ‘unexpected’ pregnancies won’t be so unexpected after all. Contraception can fail, condoms break, and sometimes pregnancy occurs after rape. While we HOPE the measures we take to avoid becoming pregnant will work, we aren’t unaware of the risks that they might not. In fact, from personal experience, I think we spend a great amount of mental energy concerned over those exact risks, even when we take precautions. Such is the life of those who have a uterus. It comes with a whole slew of other concerns that no one without a uterus considers. It’s a whole big piece of luggage filled with stress and burden and it’s all ours alone… for way too long. So, no. I don’t think there’s a benefit to using ‘unexpected’ over ‘unwanted’. My entire view is that we have already wasted too much time, energy, focus and resources trying to gently persuade people to agree to allow us partial bodily autonomy.
We used gentle wording so that it was less uncomfortable for them, thinking that allowing them such comfort would be a more productive approach and create a receptive mindset to become educated on the matter. We mistakenly thought this was a nuanced matter. It is not nuanced. It’s very, very simple. The government and society should not have more control over my body and my reproductive actions than I do. That would qualify as being slavery, because it results in unpaid labor and abuse of personal liberty. There is no debate and we need to make that perfectly clear. That is the priority. We have to stop benching this issue as being philosophically and politically something different than it is. Call it what it is and stop pretending anyone wanting to debate your human rights is doing so in good-faith.
Full fucking stop.
These two below are companion pieces
Alito's Reason for Overturning Roe: “Declining Domestic Supply of Infants”https://www.youtube.com/wat...
In Class with Carr: Roe v Wade Is Not About Abortionhttps://www.youtube.com/wat...