Really? Yes, let’s go!
Having vaguely followed the influx of Irish women back to Ireland to vote on a historic overturn of the Irish abortion ban I was made slightly uneasy by the coverage. One issue that was raised in piece that I read (I think NY Times) was that abortion is a woman’s issue but they need men to support it. By generally excluding men from the discussion seems, to me, counter intuitive for, as Thomas Jefferson wrote ‘the cornerstone of democracy rests on the foundation of an educated electorate.’
So, let’s get educated, or at least try to allay some of my questions.
One thing which often comes up as justification for it being a ‘woman’s issue’ is that women claim that ‘it is my body’ and thus the decision whether or not to bear the child to birth lies with the woman and concern for her body. This, automatically, seems problematic to me. In this, the issue is being discussed in terms of the effect on the mother’s body when, in actuality, the issue lies within the realms of life and death, something which no one really knows or understands although many people claim to. So, yes there are body issues but this is not a matter to do with putting on weight or health, it is to do with life and death. One should have the right to one’s own body, sure, no doubt, however, one is still responsible for one’s own choices. Unless things have changed whilst I wasn’t looking, the creation of human life requires aspects of both the male and the female. Even with IVF both elements are required, even in same sex pregnancies both genders are required. The most traditional (or classic) way to get pregnant is through sexual intercourse. In sexual intercourse, two consensual adults use their bodies meaning that it is, indeed, a body issue- do I engage in sexual intercourse or not? One of the common side effects of sexual intercourse is pregnancy, as, after all, that is its primary function, no matter what advertising tells you. So, yes, it is a body issue and a decision has been made and herein should, for most, end the whole argument about it being a ‘body issue’. After all, if you don’t want to risk pregnancy then make a body decision and chose not to engage in the process from which children spring (terrible image)!
The second issue which this also raises is the dual process of pregnancy, the mother and the father. Child rearing is seen by many, indeed the legal process has a bias towards, as being a female thing. This, is absurd. Fathers should have as much say in the birth and pregnancy of a child as much as the mother. Yes, it is not his body but once the child is born, even before, he has an undeniable responsibility for he has, as with the mother, made a ‘body’ choice to create the child. For people to claim that it is a woman’s issue only given that women bear the child is borderline repulsive, and, as with many ‘feminist’ issues only goes to widen the divide between men and women when it seems clear that any real solution must lie between the two (pun not intended).
I think it is only fair that I give my personal opinion on the matter. I am pro-life/pro-choice in that I believe that children should be brought to term except is very special circumstances when the choice becomes, not what is best for the mother/father, what is best for the child. If the child is the product of rape, or the mother has an addiction disease, or will have serve health problems meaning that it may not live past the first few days, or if it will starve to death given a lack of resources etc, if at all, then yes, a discussion can be had by educated individuals and the family on the behalf of the child and only the best interest of the child can be served. After all this is not an issue about bodies or God or women or any of the other reasons trotted out in the, usually, one sided arguments, rather this is an issue of life and, maybe more importantly, humanity.
‘till next time
Don’t forget you can contact me any time at thegreaterfool2016@yahoo.com
thegreaterfool2016 