Check out the August issue of ELLE that takes on partial birth abortion and the words that informed the debate.
Some tidbits. . .
Here is Justice Kennedy, in his wisdom: "Whether to have an abortion requires a difficult and painful moral decision….While we find no reliable data to measure the phenomenon, it seems unexcep-tionable to conclude some women come to regret their choice to abort…. Severe depression and loss of esteem can follow."So, he rules, we'll spare you all that grief and sorrow by deciding you can't have a partial-birth abortion (if your state so decides), even though there was substantial testimony from medical experts and groups, such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, that this now potentially criminal form of second-trimester abortion is sometimes safer for women than other forms. This is for your own good, of course.
Where have we heard this before? You are too mentally challenged to master the rigors of a higher education, so we'll keep you out of universities for your own good. You are too gentle for the rough-and-tumble world of business, so we'll keep you out of the high-paying professions for your own good. You don't understand complicated political issues, so we'll spare you the confusion of voting, for your own good. You are too frail for competitive sports, so we'll keep you from running or swimming or discovering your body's capabilities, for your own good. And now paternalism's last stand is over motherhood. You don't know when you are ready to become a mother; whether you are suited to become a mother; what to do when something has gone dreadfully wrong with your pregnancy. So you can't decide.
Read the whole thing, it is worth the read. How do you feel about such a mainstream magazine taking on such an important issue? (Hint: I think it is great!)
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Wow. That's friggin' awesome. The writing, not the paternalism.
To-do list for this evening: Buy Elle magazine.
I don't have time to read the article now, but I will tomorrow. I just want to say that I think it's great that a mainstream women's magazine is talking about this.
When I first learned of the Supreme Court ruling, it reminded me very much of a speech about women in politics made by former Democratic Senator George Vest . . . on January 25, 1887. I wrote a nice long post about it http://feministstotherescue.blogspot.com/2007/04/scotus-you-know-me-better-than-i-know.html
I swear, we're going backwards.
I think it's amazing. Maybe following Elle's example some women may realize it IS necessary to take a stand and we will stop going backwards in legislature for it.
Oh yes, thank you for posting this!!! I LOVE Elle even more now!
Oh, and my favorite quote from it:
"When your parents tell you something is for your own good, it usually means something unpleasant, like eating your spinach or getting a shot. When grown men tell grown women something is for their own good, it's usually something imprisoning."
Powerful.
Don't ask me, I'm just a girl! *giggles* Now let's forget our problems with a big bowl of strawberry ice cream.
That's cool, but they still tell us what outfits are "in" to wear during the second trimester, right??
It's ironic that the piece opens by praising Blackmun's Roe opinion, which focuses almost exclusively on the DOCTOR'S judgment, not the woman's, in an abortion. Blackmun wrote extensively about the medical aspect of abortion, not so much about the woman’s perspective.
One more point: Kennedy is pro-choice. However convoluted his reasoning is, that's the reasoning providing the fifth vote for Roe right now. The four others in the majority probably don't agree with any of those statements about a woman's regret after an abortion--they merely think the Constitution says nothing about the issue. They signed onto his opinion and his ridiculous language to get the fifth vote.
So when you attack Kennedy and his opinion, at least acknowledge that you're bashing a conflicted, tentative pro-choicer, and the fifth vote for Roe.
Elle often has pro-choice articles, so this one isn't a big surprise. I remember an interview they did with Anne Hathaway right after Devil Wears Prada came out. She was very vocal about being pro-choice.
I HEART Elle!
There's a cognitive disconnect between the serious feature articles in Elle, and the fashion spreads. I really do "just read it for the articles" but it's sad how you have to wade through the dreck to get to the good stuff.
Last month, they had a feature on "The Girls Next Door."
http://www.elle.com/featurefullstory/11238/i-dream-of-holly-and-bridget-and-kendra.html
This, from a magazine that won't print your picture unless you're under 25 years old, taller than 5'9", and weigh less than 115 pounds?
But I guess the silver lining is that if you pick up a copy for the fashion, maybe you'll stumble upon some good hearty thoughtful fare on the way to the back of the magazine.
At least these articles are getting out to people that might not necessarily buy Bitch (Bust is dead to me after they put Rosario Dawson on the cover).
In most every situation, it's complete b.s. to use the potential for regret as a factor in determining whether or not someone ought to be able to do a certain act. (We may, however, prohibit people from doing cocaine because of the long-term, disastrous effects on that person's well-being.)
I'm allowed to buy a car and, on my own property, destroy it. That is my right and a government that stops me from doing so, on the grounds that it may not be in my best interests, is oppressive. Nevertheless, I lack the right to crash my car into another person's, except in dire emergency (i.e. to help myself). We do allow the benefit of a certain activity (i.e. crashing a car) to come into play when balancing those rights.
Likewise, if women are likely to regret abortion, it is completely rational to add that into the weighing of rights.