Now seems to be the best time to discuss women’s rights – especially women’s rights regarding reproduction. Women’s rights are everywhere, with politicians and lawmakers arguing left and right about abortion and contraception. I chose the article “Vagina enters stage left – or is it right?” written by Wayne Drash and Jessica Ravitz. This article gives a basic overview of all that has gone on recently regarding, well, the vagina.
The first thing you see in this article, other than the interesting title, is a picture of protesters holding signs with their bras taped or glued to them, stating in large letters, “We Fought This Battle 50 Years Ago!” This brings us back to the 2nd wave of feminism, in the 60’s and 70’s, when women were indeed dealing with the issue of their reproductive rights. The article states that “...State legislators in 2011 enacted 92 restrictions on access to abortion services, which nearly tripled the previous record of 34 restrictions adopted in 2005…” This reminds me of the article written by Margaret Sanger, “My Fight for Birth Control,” and the guilt that she felt for having no idea how to help those women who kept getting pregnant and could not afford to have children. This is, of course, slightly different, however the similarities are there. Abortions are not only for those women who cannot afford to or do not wish to have children. Abortions should also be available for rape victims who became pregnant, women whose pregnancies are causing injury to themselves or the fetus, or could potentially cause serious injury or death to the mother and/or the fetus. And while contraceptives can solve many of these issues, it cannot solve them all.
The second part of this article that really jumped out at me was under the heading “A sisterhood of lawmakers.” In this subsection, the authors discuss different lawmakers who have attempted to pass laws that sound almost silly and ridiculous in order to show how ridiculous the attempted (and successful) bills against women’s reproductive rights are. For example, “Oklahoma state Sen. Constance Johnson in early February introduced a handwritten amendment to the Health and Human Services Committee which read, ‘Any action in which a man ejaculates or otherwise deposits semen anywhere but in a woman's vagina shall be interpreted and construed as an action against an unborn child.’” Well, this one sounds funny, but in actuality the Senator was dead serious; “If it’s good for the goose, it’s good for the gander.” Some of the mock bills have been directed toward banning vasectomies, stating that it deprives potential children from ever being born.
This whole huge debate about access to birth control and what should be done or shouldn’t be done about it also reminds me of Dorothy Robert’s article. One of the first things she discusses is a woman receiving the Norplant device, then wanting it removed because of side effects, and having the people at the clinic flabbergasted. She quotes, “’… as if they known how I feel on the inside of my body…’” That is my personal issue with the whole situation. Regardless of how anyone feels about contraception or abortion, how can you tell someone what to do or what not to do with her body? As long as it’s not hurting her or anyone else, it should not be anyone else’s concern. Of course, that’s where the debate about abortion comes in, but personally, I still see it as something that is a part of the woman’s own body.
Again, this article discusses bits and pieces of what is going on politically with the debate of women’s reproductive rights. As you can see, it is very relevant to our discussions, and to all of our lives right now, as far as current events go. I hope everyone is able to take a look at it and see how important it is that we get involved… especially since we fought this same battle 50 years ago.
Drash, W. and Ravitz, K. "Vagina enters stage left -- or is it right?" CNN.com. March 27, 2012. http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/28/living/vagina-politics/index.html?iref=allsearch
Sanger, M. "My Fight for Birth Control." "Women's Voices, Feminist Visions." (310-312). 2012.
Roberts, D. "From Norplant to the Contraceptive Vaccine." 2012.
This article you chose was one that I was considering talking about. I found this article very interesting and I felt like it related to this class very well. I like the articles you chose to compare the one you found to. I feel like "From Norplants to the Contraceptive Vaccine" was a good comparison. The issue of Women's reproductive rights have been ongoing for years, I feel like there should be certain restrictions (dealing with abortions), but other than that, women should have full control over their bodily functions. I also like how you used "My Fight for Birth Control" as another example. Women should have the option of birth control whether they can afford it or not. It should be made affordable, I think society would see a huge difference in the amount of unwanted pregnancies and abortions.
ReplyDeleteYour article was very interesting and the references made were good. I personally dont think that our government should be involved with anything that has to with a persons, male or female own body. Who made the government, god, wait that is a whole nother issue, but anyway. I guess they feel if the government is giving money to fund these clinics or offices that do give reduced or no cost contraceptives, they should have a say in our lives, I dont agree with this, but it is there money and in some way it is a way of them buying a type of ownership into the business and like any business owner they want to know where the money is going to and for what.
ReplyDeleteKylee, I believe you chose a very good article! Abortion and contraception is an issue that will probably be debated for many years to come. In my opinion, women should have control over their reproductive rights. In my opinion, the most important thing you talked about regarding abortion, is that abortion should be available to rape victims who become pregnant and anyone whose pregnancy is causing them harm. I have heard stories of women who are pregnant and are diagnosed with cancer. Their option is to have an abortion so that they can get treatment or continue on with the pregnancy with no treatment and risk certain death. With this scenario, most people would not be angry that the mother had an abortion. I believe most people get angry with abortions when the mother has been "careless" and not used contraceptives that were available to her. Don't get me wrong, I do understand that accidents happen, the condom breaks, etc. I liked how you mentioned Dorothy Robert's article and the woman who wanted the Norplant device out because she was having bad side effects. She should have had no resistance getting this removed, it was hurting her and she could always try a different contraceptive that did not give her bad side effects!
ReplyDeleteI find it odd that women’s reproductive rights are such a huge debate. I don’t see how it is anyone’s business to talk about what women do with their bodies. This is just another way for society to oppress women, take away our freedom to decide whether or not we want to have children. I can’t even imagine living in a world where I didn’t have reproductive rights. As in “My Fight for Birth Control” the lower income women in the story had no choice to birth control and ultimately lost their life over it. Women are going to take control of their body despite if there is an option or a government telling them otherwise. If we take away abortion rights now we will see history repeat itself with women having unsafe abortions that existed back then.
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