clapifyoulikeme:
punkassjim:
It’s interesting how you can post two logically unsound pieces of flagrant hyperbole in a row, praising one and lambasting the other. I’m incredibly pro-choice, and very much disgusted by the same things you are, but that “compulsory maternity” thing is just as far out there as the nutjobs in the pro-life windbag dais.
Well, I didn’t “praise” the abortion quote, first of all. I reblogged it utterly without comment, not even adding a tag. I do think that the “form of rape” part is tasteless and hyperbolic, as well as perhaps offensive to rape victims (not being one, I won’t speak for them), but banning abortion does amount to compulsory maternity, and I’m not sure how you can see it otherwise.
If women are not allowed to obtain legal abortions, they’re either compelled to carry and bear a child or compelled to commit a potentially dangerous crime. Pro-lifer is a nice way of saying anti-choicer, which is a nice way of saying forced-birther. That’s what they want. If I were pregnant, these people would like to make my maternity compulsory, and force me to give birth.
Sorry for attributing “praise”, I was quite wrong about that. Merely posting the thing is — I usually assume — more like tacit agreement, which doesn’t imply complete agreement with the words that were used. But yeah, I still think you and I are mostly in agreement in terms of beliefs, as the concept of banning abortion is abhorrent to me. It’s just that “compulsory maternity” is, I think, an inaccurate and flippant way of characterizing it.
Maybe I’m just being pedantic, or maybe I’m just overly sensitive to the dismissal of other people’s beliefs with imprecise twists of phrase like Edward Abbey’s. Allow me to explain: pro-lifers believe that abortion is the killing of a baby, regardless of term length, right? Like, as soon as there’s a zygote, purposeful termination means murder to pro-lifers. Of course, I’m not telling you anything you don’t know. But my point is, anyone who supports a ban on abortion is not “compelling maternity upon you”. That was already taken care of by the owner of the other gametes in the equation. More accurately, their desire is for “compulsory responsibility” for the life inside you, only so far as “thou shalt not kill”. To take that belief system and characterize it as “a form of rape by the State” and “compulsory maternity” isn’t just hyperbole, it’s a complete dismissal of those people’s beliefs, which I just can’t get behind.
I will never, ever, ever support a ban on abortion, but I completely understand why people wish it so. I am pro-choice, but I do believe that — regardless of stage — purposeful termination is indistinguishable from manslaughter. The difference between me and a pro-lifer is that, upon hearing of an abortion, they think “murderer!” while I think “I’m terribly sorry for your loss, I can’t imagine how hard that decision was for you.” Hell, I even get a slice of those feelings over the use of Plan B, but that doesn’t quell my support of the right to choose it.
This is a hard thing to talk about, especially online, since words alone are just too clumsy for the topic. I hope I haven’t overly stirred the pot. I just thought the Edward Abbey quote was just way too jagged for the cause. Pushes the same buttons as the “baby murderer!” screamers.
(Source: atheism-)
