It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. So stand your ground and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of bondage.
- Galatians 5:1
Monday, October 26, 2020
How to be Pro Life - properly
Abortion was picked as a political device for far-right American conservatives, with roots deep in patriarchy, when it was deemed that segregation (racism) would no longer serve their political purposes.
It makes me wonder if it was ever about saving babies.
There is no use in being "pro-life" if all that does is drive up abortion rates and increase the morbidity and misery for women and their off-spring.
The Biblical principle is justice.
If you beat the sheep - they will cast their young.
DO. NOT. BEAT. THE. SHEEP.
(Ezekiel 34)
This is how Jesus treats women in their child-bearing years:
"He will lead his flock like a shepherd, he will carry the lambs in his arms, and cradle them close to his bosom, and gently lead those who are with young." - Isaiah 40:11
We must allow the ewes to "lie down in peace and safety, with no one to make them afraid." - Ezekiel 34:15
It is an abomination to subject women to systemic sexism, misogyny, male headship doctrine, complementarianism, patriarchy, pornocracy, rape culture, domestic violence, gender inequity, economic injustice - objectifying them, exploiting them, de-personalising them, sexualising them - and then wonder why abortions occur.
Unwanted abortions come from unwanted pregnancies which come from unwanted sexual contact.
Teen girls report that unwanted sexual contact is the biggest stressor they face.
Where is the global movement to delete porn and eradicate sex-ploitation of girls and women?
The essential tenet of midwifery is that women must be cherished and nurtured in order to reproduce well.
Escalating pressure and mistreatment of women to stop them having abortions - while all the spiritual, cultural, social and economic factors that drive women to such drastic measures remain unaddressed - will only result in what international example has demonstrated: a sharp rise in actual abortions, along with a sharp rise in miscarriages, stillbirths and maternal & infant mortality.
THAT. IS. NOT. PRO-LIFE.
Perhaps we might examine why exactly Holland and Switzerland, with legal, safe, rare abortion services, have the lowest abortion rates in the world: 5:1000 women, compared to UK, Australia and USA, with abortion rates of 13:1000 women.
Or Alabama with 27:1000
Or The Philippines with 30:1000
Or Pakistan with 50:1000
Why do countries with the most draconion abortion ban laws have the highest actual abortion rates? (even if they export all their women to another country to seek abortions, like Ireland and Poland).
What about Romania, with a 100% total abortion ban? How did that pan out?
Could it possibly be that LOVE and JUSTICE is the way to reduce abortion rates to the lowest possible figures?
"If Evangelicals truly cared about abortion
they would be leading the way at having a vision and commitment for
fostering a society in which all women have the information and means
necessary to prevent unintended pregnancies, to carry healthy
pregnancies to term, to raise their children with safety, stability, and
dignity, and to have safe abortions when necessary.
This means providing insurance coverage and public funding for family planning. This means greater access to contraception. This means effective programs that combat domestic violence and sexual abuse.
This means, first and foremost, the valuing of economic justice." - Chris Kratzer
Abortion: The Ultimate Evangelical Cop-out
Commentary from Nicholas Kristof, co-author of Half the Sky, with Sheryl Wu Dunn:
"The fact Alabama is ramping up protections for the unborn while
basically ignoring mothers is troubling to me. Are we not a single unit?
If we're concerned with the well-being of the babies in utero, doesn't
that mean we're required to be concerned with the mother carrying them?
If we make it safer to give birth in Alabama, won't more mothers will be
willing to do so? Perhaps you are not as pro-life as you think you are, Alabama."
"According to their own survey responses, anti-abortion voters are hostile to gender equality in practically every aspect. The goal of abortion opponents is clear: they do not want women to be equal players in society. Defending life, abortion opponents have long claimed, has absolutely nothing to do with opposing rights for women.
Except, of course, that it does. Abortion rights advocates have spent decades pointing out that these self-styled pro-lifers don’t seem to care much about “life” once a baby is born. They want to cut aid to needy children and healthcare to poor mothers and pregnant women. They oppose contraception and sex education – the most effective ways to reduce the abortion rate. Many of them continue to support a president who separates small children from their parents and keeps them in squalid cages. “Life,” it seems, has precious little to do with being “pro-life”.
This survey is another example of how abortion opposition is tied up in a whole knot of misogyny."
Funny how Trump isn't keen on having his mic cut, but this happens:
"White American Christianity seems to hate abortion more than anything else.
Like right now this second there are children that our nation stole
from their family dying in our custody at the southern border and most
pro-life claiming Christians are simply chillin’ in silence or
proactively supporting American concentration camps. But if a new
Planned Parenthood goes up, then they show up with signs and megaphones
and curse young women going to get a routine Pap, condemning them to
hellfire or whatever."
Sexism, misogyny, pornocracy and patriarchy do not only drive up rates of rape, domestic violence, abortion, miscarriage, stillbirth, maternal mortality, birth trauma and post-partum depression and PTSD and subsequent relationship breakdown.
They also drive up the rates of human trafficking.
"A Sludge
investigation has uncovered the sources of millions of dollars behind
advocacy efforts to pass a slew of state abortion bans this year."
It's clear to see, it's so much easier and more straightforward to simply "ban abortions".
And if we "ban abortions", those of us who would likely never be in the position to even consider such an awful thing, can go back to our safe and privileged lives, and feel content that we've struck a blow for righteousness.
Because we will be largely untouched by the catastrophic and counter-productive effects and unintended consequences of actually criminalizing abortion.
The fact that abortion statistics and the maternal mortality rate will sharply rise among people we hardly ever have anything to do with, is not something that will trouble our conscience at night, as we lie in our warm comfortable beds, musing on the sanctity of life.
"If you want to make abortion “unthinkable,” then start by making it unnecessary.
Instead of targeting women at what for many may be the most
vulnerable, most soul-wrenching moment of their lives, start by
addressing all the reasons abortion exists in the first place.
1. Give all children access to publicly funded sexual health education
2. Give all girls and women universal, no-questions-asked access to birth control.
3. Mandate universal access to health care
4. Require all boys and men, everywhere in the world, to stand up and take
responsibility for their own actions. Make them recognize that
they are as much a cause of unwanted pregnancies as the women who end up
shouldering the burden of those pregnancies.
5. Fund research into birth control alternatives for men. Failing that, just keep it in your pants
6. Make sure there is no sexual assault, rape, incest and no non-consensual sexual
encounters of any kind. Eradicate rape culture and victim blaming.
7. Address poverty: eliminate the wage gap
that sees women earning less than men (75 cents to the dollar, to be
exact), and racialized women earning less than that (67 cents), and
Indigenous women earning less again (65 cents), and women with a
disability coming in at a dismal 54 cents.
8. Eradicate racism. Ensure that Indigenous people and people of colour and
newcomers aren’t treated as second-class citizens by society.
9. Address homelessness. Make sure every person has a living wage, an education and a job that can support their family.
10. Ensure social support for the marginalized, for those who exist on its margins: for those
with addictions, for those with mental illnesses, for those who live on
the streets, for those who spend their teenage years bouncing from
foster home to foster home, for those who face domestic violence or
partner abuse.
11. Make sure every child gets a fair start in life. Mandate publicly
funded, universally accessible, high-quality child care for all. Make tertiary education accessible and affordable.
And if you can stand there and argue that we need to ban abortions
without even attempting to tackle all of those other issues mentioned
above? Well, you’re not pro-life.
You’re pro-fetus. Or maybe just pro-control-of-people-with-uteruses."
I was brought up to be "pro-life" - in the evangelical sense of the
word.
Statistics changed my mind.
I saw that the countries with free,
legal and rare abortions had abortion rates 1/3 of USA's. And that
countries with the most extreme abortion ban legislation had abortion
rates triple that of USA's.
So I started to look into why.
Hillary
Clinton also changed my mind. I randomly happened upon a clip of a
speech in which she said, "Sir, you and I share concerns about the very
high abortion rates and we both want to lower it. But we disagree about
the most effective way to do that." I remember the guy was bristling.
But she made me think. Best international example is 5:1000 USA's is
13:1000 How do we get to 4:1000?
The people who are most likely to claim
that 0:1000 is the only acceptable goal seem unconcerned that their
ideology and proposed legislation backfires and produces rates as high
as 27:1000, like in Alabama.
Where there are high abortion rates, there
are almost always concurrent high rates of infertility, miscarriage,
maternal and infant mortality, birth trauma, post natal depression and
PTSD, rape and sexual abuse, domestic violence, early and forced
marriage, FGM, purity/modesty culture and objectification of and shaming
of women and women's sexuality, porn and sex-politation and other ills
that cause trauma for women in the areas of their sexuality,
reproduction and bodily autonomy. It is ludicrous to
separate the single issue of abortion from all these other issues. It
sends a strong, and misogynistic message to women: the babies matter.
YOU don't. And if your babies die as collateral damage of keeping YOU in
your place ... we don't care. (But we'll still blame YOU.)
Being a
doula and working with midwives altered by perspective, too. For
example, the midwifery maxim is, "to take care of the baby, take care of
the MOTHER." This fits with the animal husbandry model too - and the
Biblical model: if you beat (or stress) the sheep, they will cast their
young. To reproduce well, the ewes need to be able to "lie down in peace
and safety, with no one to make them afraid". Then they will reproduce
successfully, and flocks will increase.
The shepherd's rule is, DO NOT
BEAT THE SHEEP.
Jesus "leads his flock like a shepherd and gently leads
those who are with young." Is 40:11
Abortion ban legislation is too
often steeped in misogyny and escalates coercion, stress and pressure on
women. "Two wrongs don't make a right" reasoning creates a dynamic
where no matter how appallingly society treats women, they may not
terminate a pregnancy to reduce the horrific strain upon themselves.
Escalating prejudice, justice and duress on the "ewes", the
child-bearing cohort of the population, will never yield lower abortion
(or miscarriage) rates. Then they get mad because there are still lots
of abortions ... and decide that beating the sheep EVEN MORE (escalating
even more patriarchal coercion & oppression over women) is the only
way to fix that.
Abortion is a barometer reading of how safe women feel
in the world. It is to do with the wisdom of the feminine and the
wisdom of the masculine. The wisdom of the feminine is NOT "witchcraft"
and it is NOT a "jezebel spirit". It is as much a reflection of God's
heart as the wisdom of the masculine. In most things, we need a mutually
honouring balance of both. In women's health & reproduction, the
wisdom of the feminine must not be quenched or side-lined. The concept
of "reduce stress, fear and duress for women; and increase social
support & economic equity: then you'll see reduced abortion rates"
is an example of applying the Wisdom of the Feminine to the issue of
abortion. The idea of making abortion ban legislation more and more
draconian and punitive is an example of using the more mechanical Wisdom
of the Masculine to the issue of abortion. Like, if a bit of force
doesn't work, why, increase the pressure!
We cannot get around the
Biblical principle. We can excuse and justify our "pro-life" ideology
all we like, and convince ourselves that we're doing God's will. But if
we continue to exploit, oppress and abuse women and make their lives so
crappy and onerous and their child-bearing years and experiences of
sexuality and reproduction so damn traumatic, then we will not see
successful reduction of "sheep casting their young".
- by Julie Bell
We told you and told you that profit-driven industrialized maternity services would result in high rates of birth trauma and maternal death.
You wouldn't listen.
USA is the best. USA is the greatest. USA doesn't need to be tutored in best practice by any other country.
Now USA has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world.
We told you and told you that sexploitation and your highly profitable Pornocracy would train men's minds in misogyny and create rape culture and sexualized violence in your society.
You wouldn't listen. You ignored the research of pornography scholars the world over. Bible belt regions became the biggest consumers of internet porn.
Now you have the highest rates of sexual assault inside and outside of marriage of any western country.
We warned you over and over again that Christian patriarchy, Quiverful, male headship doctrine, polarized gender roles and "Complementarianism" - the Christianized sexism you taught - was not the Gospel, that it was white-washing prejudice and normalizing misogyny.
Now your evangelical church leadership are rife with cases of sexual immorality, sexual abuse, incest and pedophilia, as bad if not worse than the Catholic church. And coercive control and domestic violence is accepted and excused in "pastoral" counselling.
We warned you and warned you that your glorification of guns and worship of the NRA and insistence on misconstruing the 2nd amendment would result in endemic gun violence.
Now, you just shrug when your children, who HAVE A HEARTBEAT, are gunned down, and act like nothing can be done.
We warned you, repeatedly, in thousands and thousands of articles from all over the world, that Covid & anti-vax disinformation and conspiracy theories from spurious sources like Qanon, were then leveraged by Russian troll farms in cyber warfare against you that was more deadly, more effective, and far easier and cheaper than bombing you or invading you. You ignored our warnings. You consumed the con. The algorithm puppeteers turned you on yourselves. Now one million of you are dead. And you call that "freedom".
America is proud. America is arrogant. You worship a corrupt, sleazy conman who lies to you and tells you you're the "greatest".
You think that you have the answers. But you manufacture the problems in the name of your only true God, profit.
You refuse to learn from best international example.
Your prideful eyes cannot be prised open to LOOK at the evidence and statistics that prove it.
Your fingers are stuck in your ears, you can only hear hubris and ideology and three syllable chants ... you cannot hear the cries of the suffering.
Not only will you have the worst gun violence death statistics, the highest Covid deaths per capita, the worst maternal mortality rate, the worst rates of clergy abuse and pedophilia, the highest rates of porn and rape, the highest numbers of incarcerated people, the most people dead from the opioid scourge, the highest numbers of homeless people and people under the poverty line, and the highest numbers of climate refugees - now you want to go and make sure that you have the highest rates of abortion of any western developed country - all in the name of parading religious self-righteousness and false morality -
- because you will not listen, cannot face facts, only care about partisan politics, your culture wars, your ideology, and cannot humbly learn from other countries who are doing it better.
How is any of that "PRO-LIFE"???
- by Julie Bell
USA: I think if your reason to ban abortions is because you see it as the solution to the Great Replacement Theory, i.e. the 'problem' of people of colour out-breeding people of pallor ... I kinda struggle to see righteous motive or 'pro-life' intent in that.
Especially considering that international example indicates that abortion bans are counterproductive and backfire, driving abortion, miscarriage and maternal mortality rates higher.
But, well, carry on I suppose.
Here's your gun, here's your foot; here's your foot, here's your mouth.
"The unborn" are a convenient group of people to advocate for.
They never make demands of you; they are morally uncomplicated, unlike the incarcerated, addicted, or the chronically poor; they don't resent your condescension or complain that you are not politically correct; unlike widows, they don't ask you to question patriarchy; unlike orphans, they don't need money, education, or childcare; unlike aliens, they don't bring all that racial, cultural, and religious baggage that you dislike; they allow you to feel good about yourself without any work at creating or maintaining relationships; and when they are born, you can forget about them, because they cease to be unborn.
It's almost as if, by being born, they have died to you. You can love the unborn and advocate for them without substantially challenging your own wealth, power, or privilege, without re-imagining social structures, apologizing, or making reparations to anyone.
They are, in short, the perfect people to love if you want to claim you love Jesus but actually dislike people who breathe.
Prisoners? Immigrants? The sick? The poor? Widows? Orphans? All the groups that are specifically mentioned in the Bible?
YOU HAVE BEEN LIED TO, Evangelical Religious Conservatives.
Worldwide
data shows that restricting/criminalizing abortion access DOES NOT
result in fewer abortions (i.e. more babies are not born).
Abortions
happen roughly as frequently in the most restrictive countries as they
do in the least restrictive. Data from US States indicates the same
fact: There is no meaningful statistical change in abortion rates, no
matter how restricted.
Restricting access to abortion actually results in MORE DEATH… but to the mothers who receive unsafe care.
What IS proven to lower abortion rates?
— Access to contraception
— Comprehensive sex education
— Universal healthcare
— Paid family leave
— Welfare funding
— Ending housing insecurity
— Closing the wage gap
— Funded education
We’ve
known this for a long time, so why have we spent 50 years working to
end something that won’t reduce the abortion rate?
Why are Religious
Conservatives actively working against doing the things that WILL affect
abortion rates?
- by Kevin Young
Abortion laws don't reduce abortions.
* Married women are most likely to get abortions
*
Financial and economic injustice, exploitation, oppression and
inequality is a major contributor to abortions across the world.
Louder,
again, so everyone can hear: if you truly wish to care for our un-borns
better, start with caring for MOTHERS better - including bodily
autonomy and sexual self-determination for potential mothers.
"Abortions are a barometer of how safe women feel about bringing new life into the world."
- Crystal Lutton
THE TOTAL ABORTION BAN IN NICARAGUA:
- women's lives and health endangered, medical professionals criminalized.
Notice
how the 8 Recommendations at the end of this report fit with the
concept of reducing oppression of child-bearing women in order to reduce
abortions - and miscarriage - and infant and maternal mortality:
8 RECOMMENDATIONS
Amnesty International urges the Nicaraguan authorities to:
-
Repeal Articles 143, 145, 148 and 149 of the Penal Code and
decriminalize abortion in all circumstances. Women and girls must not be
subject to criminal sanctions for seeking or obtaining an abortion under any circumstances;
- Reform legislation to allow for therapeutic abortion in cases of pregnancy resulting from rape
or incest and in circumstances where continuation of pregnancy would
put the health or life of the woman or girl at risk. The reforms must
ensure that safe abortion is accessible without unreasonable restrictions;
- Ensure that medical professionals are not criminally sanctioned for providing safe abortion services;
-
Ensure all institutions promote and strengthen awareness and
implementation of the Obstetric Protocols when treating obstetric
complications;
-
Remove the legal obligation, and any practical obstacles, that compel
women and girls who are pregnant as a result of rape or incest to
continue involuntarily with the pregnancy;
-
Undertake immediate law reform to ensure rape victims have access to
comprehensive remedies including counselling, medical care and
psycho-social and legal support in line with World Health Organization
guidelines and ensure they are fully supported to make free and informed decisions on how to manage the consequences of rape, including continuation or termination of a pregnancy;
-
Ensure full investigations into cases of suicide of girls or women of
reproductive age to establish whether unwanted pregnancy was a
contributing factor;
-
Ensure women and men receive and have access to contraceptive services
and information in order to make informed choices about sex and
reproduction, free from coercion and discrimination;
- Increase the provision of antenatal, maternity and postnatal services and assistance and support for parenting;
-
Ensure human rights defenders and medical professionals campaigning to
raise awareness of the negative impact of the revised law and to promote
and defend the human rights of women and girls are able to carry out
their legitimate work without restrictions or fear of reprisals, in
accordance with the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
Banning
abortions is a lazy, quick fix to an issue everyone feels strongly
about. Nobody WANTS to end a pregnancy. But then, nobody WANTS unwanted
or obligatory sexual contact, either.
And
nobody WANTS to be so exploited and oppressed that continuing a
pregnancy could be the financial tipping point that turns the whole
family onto the street and into destitution.
"But can't we just ban abortions and just stop those bad girls and evil women from murdering poor innocent babies?"
The
slow, hard, tedious, complex, multi-factorial, exhausting way to reduce
abortion right down to a very sadly necessary minimum is the way proven
to be most effective:
stop beating the ewes.
Address structural injustice.
Establish equality, autonomy and safety for child-bearing women.
Delete porn and end rape culture.
Tackle institutional misogyny and sexism, including within religious creeds and doctrines.
You can try to fix the problem with sweeping laws and righteous sounding rhetoric and sermons.
But it won't work.
This is proven by international example.
This is warned against by every international body of knowledge and experience in child and maternal health.
Most
importantly, God shows us in his word that escalating coercion culture
over the birthing population is not his heart and not his will.
The slow, complex, tedious way might be the hard way .... but it's the right way.
THIS DOES NOT EQUAL PRO-LIFE:
What happens if you "criminalize" abortion -
+ have rampant porn which feeds into -
+ human trafficking being the biggest industry under-pinning a corrupt 'democracy' of extreme, immoral capitalism
+ patriarchal culture normalizing objectification and de-personalization and sexploitation of women
+ rampant domestic violence
+ the greatest risk factor for pregnancy not being illness or accident, but murder by an intimate partner
+ for mothers and babies who survive pregnancy, shaming around birth, their placenta, their "mom bodies", breastfeeding and hyper-policing of their bodies and their mothering continues, with rising incidence of birth trauma and post natal PTSD; and maternal suicide being the leading cause of maternal mortality post-natally.
+ rape culture and the impossibility of successfully prosecuting for rape, with a fraction of reported rapes resulting in conviction, and a cultural issue with believing women and blaming victims
+ no exceptions for abortions in the case of incest and rape
+ eradication of contraception and family planning counselling and advice
+ modesty/purity culture & abstinence teaching, further objectifying and de-personalizing girls and women by depicting them as commodities for male consumption, thus having a counter-productive effect to what was intended
+ toxic masculinity aversion to vasectomy
+ no will or funding for male contraception
+ no teaching and mentoring of young men (by older men) on consent culture
+ fundamentalist preaching on "women must be silent" and "women must submit to men"
+ abortion becomes a felony and felons can't vote
+ destruction of the midwifery model of care as an alternative to total patriarchal obstetric monopoly over maternity care; criminalization of midwifery
+ the rich and privileged can still afford their sneaky abortions and they can afford the travel and the favours and the bribes and they can afford the lawyers, and the people least able to afford all that are the same ones who can least afford a child. (For example, Donald Trump who tried to pressure one of his wives into an abortion because her pregnancy was inconvenient to his career at the time.)
+ corrupt multi-national neo-liberalism destroying the environment and the economy resulting in millions being thrust into poverty and homelessness, with crushing student debt and untenable mortgages
+ a culture of male sexual entitlement and female sexual obligation, fed by the twin forces of porn and fundamentalism, resulting in unwanted sexual contact being the biggest problem high school girls report in their lives
+ revoking of common sense and plain justice in the law/justice/penal system, trying to legislate morality, setting up a police state ...
... This does not equal "pro-life".
How could any rational thinking person of conscience, comparing all this with the Nordic model, believe that THIS is going to result in less deaths for mothers, potential mothers and babies, born and unborn???
People: this is NOT PRO-LIFE. It's pro-patriarchy, it's pro-misogyny, it's pro-the-capitalist-elite, it's pro-poverty and economic oppression, it's pro-neo-liberalist control of multi-nationals over entire populations ... but "pro-life" it is NOT.
I pray for the day that people will finally understand what nature, midwives, the WHO, NGOs and the heart of God has revealed loud and clear through the ages: taking care of babies (born and unborn, conceived already or not yet) starts, and ends, with taking care of women. Violent oppression of women and their bodily autonomy and their reproductive rights and their right to exist safely and to occupy space on this planet will never, never result in "saving more babies" and it is Not. Pro. Life.
Pro-Life needs to expand far beyond the religious self-righteousness and political posturing and virtue-signalling, beyond the ducking and hiding and the "this-won't-affect-me because-*I*-would-never-have-an-abortion" (and I am so afraid of all this furore that I caught myself thinking this, and shrinking down behind the parapets; then died of shame as I realized just how much that reveals my personal privilege).
Do justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly. "Pro-life" is far broader than the rhetoric we're hearing. And the heart of God is so much bigger than what we're being told.
- By Julie Bell
COERCION CULTURE DOESN'T WORK
We
also need to consider the issue of coercion culture.
In the west, the
power to coerce is conflated with authority, and even success.
If you
have the power to coerce an individual or group, you are considered to
be more successful that those who are subject to that coercion.
If you
are coercive in a relationship, in a business, you are considered to be
the 'winner'. These are very warped values that are normalized in our
western cultures.
Coercion never, never works in sexual intimacy.
It
does not lead to nurturing, safe, mutually satisfying relationships, in
which the life of the woman as child-bearer is honoured, and the
potential life of a possible child resulting from the partnership is
likewise honoured and nurtured.
Coercion in sexual dynamics leads to
unwanted sexual contact and unplanned pregnancies. So when we set up a
culture of male sexual entitlement and female sexual obligation - this
dynamic is even taught in Christian marriage in some circles - and
certainly porn teaches these values - this is also coercion.
People say
"it was consensual!" but if there are social and economic structures of
disadvantage and inequality driving women to "consent" to sexual contact
as a means to survive or protect living children or avoid worse harm
... that's not consensual. That's still coercive.
Obviously, coercive
culture results in more unwanted, unplanned, uncontrolled pregnancies
because it over-rides womens' ability to monitor and control their
fertility and sexuality and own bodies. Then, because coercive culture
doesn't work, there is a tendency to escalate the coercion. "It doesn't
work! Do it more! Do it worse! Do it harder!"
Draconian abortion laws
apply yet more coercion to a situation that was caused by coercion
culture in the first place.
The solution is not worse coercion.
The
solution is nurturance culture (as modelled by Jesus). If we look at the
cultures and countries with the lowest abortion rates, we will see that
they are consistently the countries with the best tract records for
nurturing women through their child-bearing years: with protections such
as gender equality, opposing systemic sexism, strict rape and sex
trafficking laws, anti-porn measures, access to sexual counselling and
contraception, teaching of equal and respectful relationships and sexual
self-responsibility, strong domestic violence and rape crisis services,
a strong maternity care system with an autonomous midwifery model,
strong maternity and paternity leave provisions, adequate welfare for
the poor, especially single mothers, effective child care options, equal
wages and abolition of the gender wage gap designed to consign women to
comparative poverty, etc.
In other words: the more sexist a country is -
the higher the rates of rape, domestic violence, abortion and maternal
mortality.
The less sexist a country is, the lower the rates of these
ills.
To me, this is a HUGE hint from God: "To take care of my babies:
take care of my GIRLS! Take care of the mothers, take care of those who
may become mothers."
This is a basic principle of animal husbandry. We
cannot take better care of potential babies, unborn babies and born
babies by persecuting and oppressing women more.
And yet - that is
exactly what these extreme laws do.
WHAT ABOUT THE BOYS??
Are
there any programmes where men go into high schools and talk to boys
about porn-proofing themselves and treating women as EQUALS, challenging
the false male-entitlement, female-obligation notions around sex? Where
they talk to them about how not having any PIV sex after each birth,
for about 3-6 months, is perfectly normal, and how her lactating breasts
will be tender, and how she'll be sleep deprived and have a sore bum
and will need him to bring her food and drinks and keep up the hugs
while she recovers and figures out how to keep the baby alive?
As a
birth professional, I'm really tired of the increasing incidence of men
bashing their pregnant partners and leaving them, usually at some point
in the first post-natal year, because they are so appalled and affronted
that their partner is no longer playing the role of "eternally
up-for-it, insatiable sex-ho" and their sense of entitlement is
mortified when she's no longer scurrying around keeping the house nice
and serving HIM food and drink.
I think men need to talk to boys about
what it's like to only ever have sex with one woman ever again in your
whole life (unless she dies, and no, that doesn't mean kill her) and how
it's necessary to have the maturity and long-term view to know that
going without sex when your wife is recovering from a major incident
like childbirth is a normal part of marriage and you have to be patient
and understanding - not demanding.
I am always bemused at how the people
who want the strictest "abortion bans" look at me like I'm an alien
speaking Aramaic when I talk this way, on the subject of what being
"pro-life" really entails.
DO WE REALLY WANT 4:1000?
I
have noticed that pro-choice Christians wish to see abortion rates
reduced to the lowest possible levels according to best international
example, evidence and practice.
The world over, abortion bans have produced the highest rates of abortion and maternal mortality.
The
countries who have been most successful in reducing abortions to barely
a third of what we see here, are the nations with legal, safe abortion,
accessible contraception, comprehensive consent-based sex ed and proper
social welfare. There may be a difference of perspective as to what is
the best way to effectively reduce abortions and support childbearing
women.
We
need to understand that pro-choice people aren't "murderers", they just
understand the evidence regarding effective reduction of abortions.
If
a country imposes strict abortion bans without first establishing
social welfare, gender equality, universal health care, maternity leave,
funded homebirth and midwifery, affordable childcare, wage equality,
affordable housing and without addressing rape culture, porn and sex
trafficking (yes, even in the church), it is a recipe for disaster and
much higher rates of abortion ... and maternal mortality and morbidity.
The
Guttmacher Institute observes that abortion rates are highest when
abortion laws are very draconian and also very permissive.
Free,
accessible, safe, legal and rare abortion services, in a context of
proper social support and gender equality enshrined in law, along with
reasonable abortion regulation and restrictions, yields the very lowest
abortion rates.
5:1000 is the best so far.
USA'S abortion rates have declined steadily since Roe V Wade, and are now at 13:1000 - except in Alabama which has 27:1000.
Wouldn't it be great to get to 4:1000.
Rather
than ask "are you pro-life" (in the ideological sense), a better
question might be, "what do you believe are the best and most effective
ways to reduce abortions to the lowest possible levels?"
I
think that could reduce a lot of unnecessary judgementalism and focus
our attention on how we really can improve reproductive outcomes among
our population of childbearing women.
DO YOU JUST LOVE ABORTION AS A BIG STICK TO WIELD?
I think conservative America just loves abortion.
They
seem hell-bent on doing everything proven by international example and
study to escalate abortion rates and sabotage any efforts to reduce
abortion rates to a sad and necessary minimum - as modelled by nations
with the lowest rates.
It seems to me they go for a lot of deathly things over there. It's so far from "pro-life".
I don't think they genuinely care about the sanctity of life and saving babies.
I
think they care more about controlling women, no matter how much that
escalates abortion rates, miscarriage rates and maternal mortality.
It's awful and sad and misguided - but please Australia ... don't hold this up as the example to follow.
WHAT WOULD A "PRO-LIFE" AMERICA BE LIKE?
Imagine.
You're 24.
You have a huge student debt.
There is no debt forgiveness.
Your mother died of Covid.
Your father lost the family home as a result of a combination of Covid, climate change disaster and unaffordable insurance.
You're working three minimum wage jobs because you can't get a job in the field you got your degree in.
You can barely afford a bedsit.
You know friends - professionals with degrees - who can't make rent.
No one will rent to single mothers. You know of mothers with kids sleeping in their cars.
It is visibly worse for women of colour. This scares and horrifies you.
Abortion is illegal.
It
is much harder, and extremely expensive, to procure effective
contraception to see you safely through to age 50 and menopause.
Some churches are preaching that using contraception is a sin.
Some conservatives are spreading disinformation that certain forms of contraception are "abortifacient".
Your
friend tried to get a tubal ligation, but they wouldn't "let" her,
because they said she was too young, and she 'might want children one
day', and what if she marries?
You
used to use a period tracking app, as a safe form of contraception, but
you're seeing reports of the data being used to build a case against
women accused of trying to get an abortion.
Another
friend got questioned when she had a miscarriage and was left to bleed
for hours, running the risk of haemorrhage and sepsis, while doctors and
lawyers argued over legalities.
Theobros
and incels have been emboldened, threatening impregnation is standard
across social media, and men in general seem more rapey and predatory.
It seems like more men are raping and fewer men are fathering.
You
are noticing a lot of your friends "gratefully" accepting the relative
protection of marriage to a Good Man, but it seems like they are
expending a lot of energy on putting positive spin on being baby-making
machines.
Those
married friends of yours having baby after baby have no maternity
leave, no affordable childcare, no breastfeeding or pumping breaks or
facilities at work, and no ability to take time off if their child is
sick.
You've
noticed that it is now much harder for women to advance and win
promotions at work, even if they are childless, because they "might" get
pregnant. This is significantly contributing to financial disadvantage
for women over their life time, compared to their male professional
counterparts.
You
know of women impoverished by medical debt associated with the costs
involved in having babies and getting treatment for miscarriages.
Your ex didn't like feeling "pressured" into "having" to wear a condom.
You
notice that local churches aren't embracing single and unwed mothers
and praising them for "choosing life" instead of having abortions. They
are lectured on the immorality of sex before marriage. They are told God
hates divorce. They are told that being in single parent families
from"broken" homes messes up their children.
You notice more news reports of domestic violence situations where pregnant women end up dead.
And more reports of post-partum women committing suicide.
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