Feminist rag Ms. Magazine has started a "coming out" campaign for women who have had abortions. Said campaign involves signing a petition that simply declares "I've had an abortion" - which over 5,000 women have apparently signed. According to Ms. Magazine, the purpose of the petition is to "save lives and to spare other women the pain of socially imposed guilt" in an effort to repeal "archaic and inhuman laws" and eliminate the "social stigma still wrongly attached to abortion".A Ms. article defending the campaign touts statistics on how many women die each year from botched and unsafe abortions, blaming U.S. and international family-planning policies as major contributors to this maternal death toll.
It certainly sounds benevolent of the feminist agenda to be so concerned about the health and safety of all those unwilling mothers. Beyond the desparation that would drive one to abort their unborn child, there is certainly no question that there are deep psychological and emotional issues that come as a result of having an abortion. That is a reality that any honest woman who has had an abortion will tell you, and those women should be able to express and deal with that impact in safe and non-condemning environments. (The Christian community should be first in line to offer this kind of support, I might add.)
However, I can't help but feel like Ms. Magazine and her masters are pulling the ol' bait-and-switch, preying on the consciences of these women under the guise of protection and safety, while using them as fodder for their own political agenda. If you check out Ms.' defense of the campain, the subtle undercurrent in their message seems to be "since it's going to happen anyway, government should support and fund abortion to make it safe for women." But follow that line of thinking, and it is just as logical to push for government funding for rape, murder, or theft - since they're going to happen anyway, why not make them legal and safe?
Abortion does not merely carry a social stigma - this is far too short-sighted on the part of the feminist agenda (and purposefully so, in my opinion). It is a moral stigma, and you will not stifle your own heart and conscience simply by changing laws. At the end of the day, abortion is still the taking of a human life. Dealing with it on a social level is like putting a band-aid on cancer. Abortion and all roads leading to it are moral issues, and must be dealt with on the level of the heart.
Ms. Magazine's "I've Had an Abortion" Campaign
Thinking About Having an Abortion?
Already Had an Abortion?
6 comments:
all judgements aside, i couldn't help but make this observation...
5,000 women out of 40+ million abortions since 1973.
doesn't seem like Ms. has a lot of support in using this tactic.
good observation, will. 5K sounds like a big number, but not when you put it in context like that.
I just found an article over at FUS that touches on the fact that many in the upcoming generations are pro-life. Interesting.
well, i really dont know what to think of this whole campaign. but i couldn't help but think that there is something beautiful in the idea of this petition -- though you claim there is a "feminist agenda", women are still being encouraged to confess. Maybe for unhealthy reasons, but still - a confession is a confession. And there's probably something good coming out of that.
allie, i would agree were this the kind of confessing that might say "i repent and seek forgiveness." but from what i understand, this is more the kind of confessing that says "i did this and since all of you did too, that makes it okay." the latter kind of "mob-mentality" confessing simply numbs the conscience, in my opinion; again, like putting a band-aid on cancer.
i realize, though, that in some ways i am speaking to the topic at a disadvantage as 1.) i am not a woman and 2.) i have not had an abortion.
so can something good come out of it? Lord willing.
yes, it is interesting that "many in the upcoming generations are pro-life."
i think this is due, in large part, to the "Roe Effect". Pro-choicers tend to have fewer babies because they have abortions. Pro-lifers tend to have more babies because they don't have abortions. Parents tend to pass on to their kids their stance on this issue. So, over time, there are more pro-lifers born than pro-choicers. this is the Roe Effect.
will, i had not heard of the 'roe effect' before, but that makes perfect sense. many thanks.
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