Muscio, although I agree with her position on pro-life, the fact that she claimed to be against abortions even though she had 3 seemed very hypocritical and I had a really hard time admiring her for being against abortions given her past. I don't want to justify any of her abortions, but had it been one abortion and then she realized how painful and emotionally traumatizing and would learn her lesson about unprotected sex, I would have had a little more sympathy for her, but 3 times in my mind seemed stupid. It is people like her who give credit to the claim that if abortions are legal, they will become a method of birth control. I personally think it is the rare woman who will use abortions as birth control because of the emotional and physical pain involved, but she is a prime example of that claim. If I were pro-choice, I would have had a real problem with Muscio because I would think that she is one of those women whose actions, which contribute to the abortion as birth control concern, is jeopardizing safe abortions for other women.
I thought Crews made an interesting and legitimate point about not making abortions so political and more of an individual situation. "It seemed as if everyone I encountered felt they had a right to force their opinion on me regarding the best choice for my child's future- and this choice was almost exclusively to give him up for adoption" (Crews, 146). I definitely agree that those who make this a political thing contribute to that and if society can't tell you how to raise your child etc, then why should they tell you to have the baby or not to have it? It seems to be a valid point. That being said, I think it speaks volumes that she chose to have the baby and cancelled all her abortion appointments. What I liked most about this article is that her being pro-choice, didn't mean she wanted to make abortions legal, but that every woman had the right to be uninfluenced and uninhibited by outsiders in terms of their reproductive abilities.
I read the entire Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case for a religion class, Church, State, and Law, last year, but rereading segments from it again today, I am reminded of the most important points that led to the Supreme Court’s final decision. One of the most crucial arguments in Roe v. Wade was the fact that when the original ban on abortions was created, it was dangerous for a woman to get one: “when most criminal abortion laws were first enacted, the procedure was a hazardous one for woman… Abortion mortality was high” (Feminism in Our Time 403). Then, the court did have a legitimate interest in protecting the wellbeing of the mother. Now, abortions are much more safe, thanks to medical advancements. Advances in technology and medicine were crucial to the overturn of the Texas anti-abortion laws. I think that this point is one worth noting, especially when debating whether to repeal Roe v. Wade. I think in class the statistic was given that the same number of women will have abortions whether or not they are legal. Yet the chances of a woman obtaining a safe abortion when it is illegal is slim. The relative safeness of legal abortions is important to note in the debate of whether or not abortion should be legal.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Emily on her dislike of the Inga Muscio “Abortion, Vacuum Cleaners and the Power Within”. I agree with Emily on the hypocritical political views the article expresses, but more so, I was appalled by the blasé, satirical manner in which Muscio discussed abortion. It almost seems like abortion is laughable to Muscio, when it really should not be. Describing her third pregnancy as “the stupidest one of all because I didn’t want to be with this man and I shouldn’t have fucked him, but it was his birthday and he was fun to romp with and blah dee blah blah blah” is just awful. I was really disturbed by her casual tone throughout the piece. Also, I don’t get what she thinks is the solution. She takes about how she had somehow aborted her fetus without the vacuum cleaner, and then she compares this feeling to the Nazis. Excuse me? At this point in the reading, I am questioning the mental sanity of Muscio. After reading this article, I felt strong feelings of confusion, disgust, and unsettlement.
I really like the point that Emily made in her last paragraph, that Crews made the point that she didn't want abortions to be made illegal, but wanted women to have the freedom to choose without being influence by outside sources. I think this especially true with this debate getting even more media coverage with the health care reform bill and everyone expressing their views on abortion. When reading the Roe V. Wade case in Feminism in our Time it's easy to see how both arguments can be structured and convincing.
ReplyDeleteI also really like the topic of women using abortions as a birth control method. I think this relates to what is currently going on in the media with the Health care form bill as well. With the reform bill there were a large number of anti-abortion democrats who created the first amendment to the bill, which banned funding for abortions. I think it will be interesting to see the debate over funding, and whether covering abortions under this bill would affect the number of women who sought out abortions or used abortions as "birth control". I think it's interesting that the debate for abortion was such a big deal with this reform bill, but in reality, wouldn't the availability of birth control solve the issue before it even becomes an issue?I know from a sociological perspective there are a lot of people who resort to having more children when they don't have the funding for it or abortions because they cannot afford the monthly cost of birth control, which can range up to $50 a month.
I really respect Emily as a person and her arguments on the topic of abortion. I am also Catholic yet I consider myself pro-choice. However, both these articles posed some serious questions for me and my choice to be pro-choice. Emily hit the one right on the head, with Muscio's argument that she is against abortion but had three herself. I stated in my own blog my problems with this and how those problems really made me question my own understanding of being pro-choice. Why I feel it is okay to have abortions in some cases and not others. This is something I am still battling with and think it will be something I will always have to battle with. Yet at the end of the day I still have to say I am pro-choice because it is about choice. Unfortunately I do see Muscio as abusing the system, I realize I do not really have the right to say that but I still feel it.
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