Trigger Warning: Sexism
This was in response to discussion questions asked in my Gender and Women's Studies class about these two articles:
When there are political decisions involving women's rights, it seems that lately, white cis men make the decisions and the role of most of society is to have fights on the sidelines that lawmakers ignore or that they take pride in, since apparently our anger means they are getting something done. If the governor were a pro-choice woman, I think there would be at least more difficulty making this sort of ruling, as a veto would then a possibility. However, if she were pro-life (I find the name odd, considering that they tend not to support the things needed to actually keep the kid alive after being born, but it's what they call themselves so...) then there really wouldn't be much of a change in how this went. The abortion issue comes up largely as a method of control, I think. Pregnancy does involve health risks, and it does take time to raise kids, and that means someone has to do it. If a person is constantly pregnant (dealing with the changes to their body involved in pregnancy as well) and raising children, it is difficult to do other things like fight for rights or work outside the home. That's part of why birth control and abortion are so important for many (ever notice that the same people who are so against abortion are also often against birth control, when proper access to birth control would reduce the demand for abortions hugely?) and it's why it's a thing people often go after. It's not about raising standards of care, even: it's about control- look at how few centers Texas will have with that passed! That's not enough to serve a state of its size and population, and when a person can't get a safe, legal abortion, there's still about a two thirds chance that they'll go for an illegal one. Raising standards for legal ones to an extent that so many centers are closing really pushes more people into illegal ones with no standards to follow.
This was in response to discussion questions asked in my Gender and Women's Studies class about these two articles:
This isn't the first time that abortion-related topics have come up in that class.Tomlinson, Chris. "Texas House Passes Contentious Abortion Bill." USA Today. Gannett, n.d. Web. 11 July 2013."Abortion Debate on HB 2 Starts out with a Bang." Houston Chronicle. N.p., 9 July 2013. Web. 11 July 2013.
When there are political decisions involving women's rights, it seems that lately, white cis men make the decisions and the role of most of society is to have fights on the sidelines that lawmakers ignore or that they take pride in, since apparently our anger means they are getting something done. If the governor were a pro-choice woman, I think there would be at least more difficulty making this sort of ruling, as a veto would then a possibility. However, if she were pro-life (I find the name odd, considering that they tend not to support the things needed to actually keep the kid alive after being born, but it's what they call themselves so...) then there really wouldn't be much of a change in how this went. The abortion issue comes up largely as a method of control, I think. Pregnancy does involve health risks, and it does take time to raise kids, and that means someone has to do it. If a person is constantly pregnant (dealing with the changes to their body involved in pregnancy as well) and raising children, it is difficult to do other things like fight for rights or work outside the home. That's part of why birth control and abortion are so important for many (ever notice that the same people who are so against abortion are also often against birth control, when proper access to birth control would reduce the demand for abortions hugely?) and it's why it's a thing people often go after. It's not about raising standards of care, even: it's about control- look at how few centers Texas will have with that passed! That's not enough to serve a state of its size and population, and when a person can't get a safe, legal abortion, there's still about a two thirds chance that they'll go for an illegal one. Raising standards for legal ones to an extent that so many centers are closing really pushes more people into illegal ones with no standards to follow.
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