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Women's Rights Under Fire

How naive was I to think that in the twenty first century, fighting for women's rights would be a thing of the past, a done deal? Very naive.

I'm sure you've heard about the sexual harassment allegations raised against Herman Cain. Well, apparently, some very special people don't think sexual harassment is ever real. Check out this article that talks about the denial that is going on about sexual harassment. Basically, women are portrayed as crazy, off-the-wall bitches that have no ground to stand on when it comes to these allegations, and all they want is easy money and fame. As the author of the article sardonically retorts: "Just think of all the famous sex-discrimination memoirs you’ve read recently." Yeah, exactly.

(I realize that it's not just women that could be a target of sexual harassment, but this particular article specifically talks about women.)

Well, sexual harassment is certainly an important issue, but it gets worse. The same Herman Cain, the potential Republican candidate for presidency, made his views very clear on abortion. His exact words were: "I am pro-life from conception, period." What he means to say, in plain English, is that he is against the option of abortion, NO MATTER WHAT. But let's just think about it for a minute - he says he is pro-life. Of course, he means pro-life of a fetus. Or actually, pro-life of a fertilized egg. What Herman Cain is telling us women is that if this fertilized egg is literally threatening our life, he would still defend the "life" of the fertilized egg. So he is he not really pro-life. In fact, he appears to be pro-death of women whose life is in danger due to the pregnancy. Hypocrite, much?

And by the way, if that egg was fertilized against the woman's will, guess what! Herman Cain says you are stuck with it! Because he values a one-celled organism higher than a grown woman's life and health. How convenient that he should be making life decisions on behalf of all the women in this country, while never being in danger of facing the reality of unwanted pregnancy himself.

Oh yes, and let's talk about all those children that would be born to mothers who never wanted them in the first place. Of course, all those children would be brought up in loving environments with full support of their parents, right?!? They would grow up to be perfectly balanced adults with a healthy mental state, and be contributing members of the society, right? Did Herman Cain, and everyone else who thinks it's their business to control a woman's uterus, think of all this when they stood up on their imaginary soapboxes and yelled about being "pro-life"?

But hey, Herman Cain is not the president of the United States. This bullshit can still be avoided, right? Wrong. The state of Mississippi is taking things into their own hands - they are voting on an amendment to the state constitution that would define life as beginning from the moment of conception, which will imply that ALL abortions are illegal, no matter what. What happened to Roe v. Wade? What happened to women deciding for themselves what they should do with their own bodies? How can the United States consider itself a progressive, developed country when shit like this is still going on right here? How is this issue even up for a vote???

Ok fine, you want to have a vote on this? Great. But the only people who should be allowed to vote on this issue are menstruating women. Because they are the only ones who would be affected by this ridiculous excuse of a legislature. And even then, the so-called amendment should be nullified because a pregnancy, and an abortion, is not a group decision. It is up to the individual woman, and the circumstances are different every time. Choosing between pregnancy and an abortion is never easy, and abortion is not a default choice (even though it is sometimes a necessity). This is why it's called being PRO-CHOICE.

Edited to note: The Mississippi amendment did not pass. But the "debate" has not gone away.

Comments

  1. Anna~

    I came to your blog when it was linked to the burlap covered beer bottles my daughter pinned, and I repinned, at Pinterest. Then I happened to scan your topics list, and found "political soapbox" and this post.

    I love what you've said here! I'm still reeling from the debate that is ongoing about women's rights, and am hoping none are lost to us. Some days I find the US a scary place to be. But then, I remind myself that it is still more sane than most places (but not all).

    Thanks for sharing pieces of you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for commenting, Jeanie!

      Yeah, I still can't believe that women's rights is an issue that is up for debate in this country, it seems so backwards. Let's hope reason prevails.

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