Friday, September 28, 2007

The "A" Word

There is a Daily Kos diary on the "politics of miscarriage" that several of my favorite blogs are referenced in and/or linking to. It's always great to see pregnancy loss and infertility discussed in the general media and on sites like Daily Kos, which draw a huge number of readers from all sorts of areas and backgrounds. But while I agree with the gist of the piece -- people should know women are blameless for their miscarriages -- this particular diary didn't sit so well with me beyond that. One sentence in particular hit me like a slap:
In the medical community, I'm what is known as a "habitual aborter." Now, I am very pro-choice, so I'm not as horrifically offended by that term that many would be, yet I resent that it suggests I chose this.
Ah. So the author is merely resentful of being grouped with people like me, who have actually made the choice she professes to support but doesn't want to be personally associated with. And that's with her being "very" prochoice! How charitable of her.

Still, the writer referenced termination for medical reasons in a sympathetic way, and I agreed with her points she made about people unfairly assuming that everything in pregnancy is controllable when it isn't. I thought maybe she had just used a poor turn of phrase that struck me wrong. But then I got to the end:

In the event that Roe is overturned (something I think is more and more likely every day), every single miscarriage will become a matter of inquiry by the state, and the belief that miscarriage can be caused and can be blamed on someone will not only be more prevalent, but may result in criminal penalties for grieving women. For fear of legal reprisal, the movement and activity of pregnant women will become more and more curtailed, and there goes women's rights.
I understand her fears. A great fight is brewing in America over a woman's right to choose. But should our main goal be to protect our God-given right to have miscarriages that are not mistaken for abortions? How about protecting something we actually have some say in? Or am I just not getting the point?!

It's been a hell of a week. I think I need a really big drink now.

5 comments:

niobe said...

Yeah, I read that diary too and had many of the same reactions. Though my weren't nearly as coherent or logically presented as yours. They were more along the lines of: WTF????

Beruriah said...

It's been a hell of a week.
Funny, as my husband and I went to sleep last night, I said to him, "It's been a sh*tty sh*tty week."

I read the diary and had similar reactions. I also feel annoyed at the resistance to memorializing women's losses, through miscarriage or medical termination, because it might affect legislation. My thought was she wasn't thinking of medical termination or even really of other responsible reasons to decide to have an abortion - she's thinking she's being lumped with the mythological woman who happily uses it for bc.

It's certainly not that you're not getting the point, at least IMHO, it's that she's only seeing the points that relate to her.

Roger Baillargeon said...

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Lori said...

This is very interesting. The diary, and then your thoughts, have opened up thoughts of my own that I haven't explored before. Thank you for that.

This is definitely a topic though that can wipe you out both mentally and emotionally.

Antigone said...

I wish there were rational, well reasoned discussions about abortion in popular media.