26 thoughts on “Week 8 Readings–Post your comments here!”

1. Reading Jenny Higgins’ “One Woman’s evolution from ‘choice’ to ‘reproductive justice’,” seemed strangely familiar to me as I found myself asking many of the same questions as her and being presented with the many different “real-life” scenarios that surround reproductive justice and the right to choose. My sophomore year of college, I became enlightened to the world of feminism where I felt that any cause in the name of feminism should be supported by all feminists and also that feminism itself could rationalize any cause as well.
   Not until my junior and senior years did I realize that I had “simplistic feminist beliefs” and that “in the name of feminism” didn’t mean it was morally right or that I agreed with it. After reading Higgins’ article and others in my education, I realize now that everything isn’t as simple as people want you to believe. In relation to women who have abortions, their reasons for having one aren’t always so clear or under their control. There is always a story and it is so easy to take it out of context and pidgeon-hole people to fit into caterogical statistics. For example, in the article Higgins’ highlights the story of a woman who waited till the second trimester to have an abortion but it was because she thought her boyfriend was going to help her support their child, but then he skipped town and she knew she couldn’t do it alone. By then, it was her second trimester. So in statistics, she would just be labeled as a lazy, maybe delusional woman who got an abortion later rather than sooner. Sooner being seen as the most responsible of the choices if a woman were to abort. Her story has no reflection in the stats and thats why assumptions made based on statistics may not be the most representative of real-life.
   I also thought it was important for Higgins’ to point out that some women did abuse the system of abortions by having one after the other and how that tarnished her view of reproductive freedom. She felt they were giving the rest of the women and the movement a bad name. And she’s partially right unfortunately. People like to point out the disadvantages or the problems even when they are insignificant compared to the advantages. For instance, with women who get many abortions or abortions in the third trimester, there are very few of them. Their behavior shouldn’t be used as ammunition to nix the right for all the other women who were responsible and had abortions. People need to understand that there will always be people who abuse the system, any system, and that includes health care clincis offering abortions.
   It is also important to note that there are weakenesses in the system itself. Higgins’ tells of rushed 5 minute counseling for women who’ve had abortions and no follow ups given. This limited care for women doesn’t help them understand how to prevent unwanted pregnancies, give them contraception or affordable contraception, or help them evaluate their situation to make better decisions for themselves in the future. Without any of that, they might very well find themselves in the same situation, and some of that blame is on the ineffectiveness of the system, not just the women.

2. Therefore, even though people may abuse the system, and there are faults in the system, and we can’t guarantee that everyone will make the right choice, the right to make a choice should be a protected basic right for every woman.

3. In regards to AutumnRock’s response, I strongly agree with the conclusions that she drew regarding the article, “Sex, Unintended Pregnancy, and Poverty”. I too feel as if there are many different situations that can lead a women to have an abortion, therefore, it is impossible to “pigeon-hole” people or try to fit them into categories without knowing the context in which they are recieving the abortion. This article, as well as AutumnRock’s response, demonstrates that the right to an abortion is more about a women’s right to choose, than it is about the situation that leads a women to have an abortion. However, this comes back to whether people will make the right choice or abuse the system. As AutumnRocks pointed out, even though there are always going to be people who will abuse the right to an abortion, it is essential to direct our focus on the issues at hand and look at the weakenesses in the system itself, rather than focusing on the few people who are taking advantage of that system.

   Overall, I strongly believe that every women should have the right to an abortion, but it is also essential that women have access to adequate reproductive health care, contraceptives, and education regarding contraceptives. In order to reduce the amount of women who do abuse the right to an abortion, it is important that we question the culture that leads people to make irresponsible decisions regarding abortions, rather than take away that right altogether.

4. In response to AutumnRocks, I agree with many points that were made. Abortion is not a black and white issue and is not always clear cut. Yes, we have the pro-life and pro-choice sides of the argument, but these groups still have questions, doubts, and confusion of their own. It is impractical to try to develop a law or regulation for all abortions, when there is a large range of factors that affect each abortion. For the federal government or individual states to develop such a law is exclusive of many people trying to make decisions about abortion. I think that the overall viewpoint of abortion needs to change to include the fact that, each woman is an individual person with an individual situation, and needs to be treated as such. A woman can enter am abortion clinic for a myriad of different reasons, but I believe she needs to be treated with respect and offered all possible options.

   I would also like to address the article entitled “Sex, Unintended Pregnancy, and Power” by Jenny Higgins. This article helped me to realize that women do not all have equal “choice” for abortion services and options. The concept of being “pro-choice” is wonderful, but it is not entirely realistic that this “choice” is available for all. As one of the articles put it, it is more of a “constrained choice”. Health services and family planning education are limited to poor women, rural women, and often minority women. The availability of methods and knowledge to prevent pregnancy in the first place is not a guarantee for these women. The process of obtaining an abortion is not the safe, enjoyable, comforting procedure that it is idealized to be. As Higgins shared, women were rushed through the consent process and treated as another thing to accomplish on the “To-do” list for the doctor and other medical providers. In this setting, abortion may not still seem like a “right” to women, but more of procedure whose process was not enjoyable, but needed to be done.
   I agree with Higgins when she says, “I have come to adopt a framework of reproductive justice.”(page 39). Though I believe in abortion rights, I feel that these rights are directly connected to health rights and human rights of women in a larger sense. Gender roles, the power or lack of power of women, and general social inequality all affect a woman’s right to abortion as well as her right to education, support, information, and health services related to her reproductive health. It is also important to note that reproductive justice includes a woman’s right TO have children, as well her right NOT TO have children. If both fetus and mother are healthy, abortion should not be forced upon anyone.

   In conclusion, it is important to know that “choice” in regards to abortion is different for everyone. Poorer and lower-income women do not have equal access to abortion as higher-income women. Even if a woman is in her first trimester and does not want to have a child, she may not be able to pay for an abortion, have easy access to an abortion clinic, or know where to find such services. This is why, when we discuss the issue of abortion, there needs to be more of an emphasis on how can we move towards truly having equal choices available for all women. It will certainly not be done overnight, but I think that increased equal access to abortion is important for all women.

5. The first reading that really affected me was Abortion: A matter of choice. I liked how the writer compared her experience with abortion and a younger girl’s experience. I believe that this shows that we are making some strides to try to make abortion better and better. The writer had to go through horrible experiences to get an abortion. She had to travel to Mexico and felt like everyone knew what she was there for. She also had a fear of being arrested. Now-a-days, it seems a lot easier to get an abortion. By no means is the abortion system where it should be for how popular it is, but at least it is getting better. When my friend got pregnant by someone that she wasn’t very serious with, we went through all the options with her. She didn’t feel that it was necessary to tell the man who impregnated her about it. She knew she was going to get an abortion, but I believed she should at least tell him, it was half because of him. I explained to her that he should pay for half of it, and it wasn’t fair to make her pay for it on her own. The abortion process was pretty simple, since she wasn’t that far along she got the abortion pill, thinking it would be more secretive. However, she experienced a lot of pain, and almost had to be rushed to the emergency room from it. But all and all she ended up being fine and the abortion worked. It just boggles my mind how we don’t even think about how women a long time ago couldn’t get abortions. This thought made me think about another reading, Sex, Unintended Pregnancy, and Poverty. The writer worked in an abortion clinic for a long time, and talks about her experiences there. The part that really interested me is when she talks about how people abused the abortion system. I never really thought about it like that, but that is probably because I grew up in middle to upper class mostly white town, where we could pick our contraception choices, and could afford them. However, now I see that low income women not only can’t afford contraception sometimes, it isn’t the first thing on their mind. The writer discusses that poor people have other things to think about, like a poor neighborhood, feeding themselves, and paying bills etc. I don’t know if this is abusing the system, or just not giving these women the right access to contraception methods. This lead to my third thought about these readings. In the reading, Abortion in the U.S.-Barriers to Access, I could really relate to everything the writer was discussing. I remember when my friend got her abortion, her thoughts about how much it was going to cost, since her insurance didn’t cover it. Also, she had to try to find where an abortion clinic was, and how to get there. Her insurance and doctors did not help her find one. It was a real mess. Hopefully we can help the abortion system become an easier system to use.

6. I liked the reading Abortion:A Matter of Choice the best because it was so personal and straightforward. This article really got me thinking. In my opinion you can’t generalize and say that abortion for some people is very tough to get through and traumatizing, or that it is as simple as this woman’s experience and sleeping in a bed and waking up feeling fine. A roommate of mine has had an abortion and she doesn’t talk about it. I know that it is something she does not regret and it also isn’t something that she continues to think about but I can’t help but think that she is somewhat ashamed of her decision for I think she was immature about her situation. This is not always the case though, everyone has their own story and their own personal situation. I know that if I had to get an abortion the experience it self would unnerve me never mind being in college and having to cross the border to get an abortion illegally. The fact that there is so much a difference between the years makes me optimistic that it will keep getting better. When she talks about how she thinks that a big source of the problem is that mothers will not talk to their young girls about the realities of being a female it made me think about my own experience growing up and my mom’s role in my education. My mom was very open with me and at the time I hated the idea of our “talks” but now I am so thankful for having them. She laid everything out there for me at a young age with an age appropriate book and then later on continued to have talks with me and instead of asking if I had questions, which I never would have asked, she just said anything that she could think was relevant. The fact that she proposes the idea that mother’s are jealous just seems so sad to me and although there most definitely women out there who are like that, as awful as it is to say maybe these are the women who should have had second thoughts about having their baby because that is NOT a mother.
   I hate the fact that a women’s race or class can decide what her choices are for contraception and/or abortion clinic/doctor availability. It makes me so angry. There are just as many unfit young white girls with babies then there are other races.
   Abortion is a very hard topic for many people, but I agree with all of the other girls in saying it is too intense and personal to try to fit it into a category, it’s different for each person.

7. In Higgins article “Sex, Unintended pregnancy, and poverty” she discovers the realities of the range of emotions that occur after an abortion when she works at an abortion clinic. As a younger girl she identified abortion with a symbol of women’s autonomy and empowerment. After working in the clinic setting she comes to realization that with the wonderful freedom to choose to have an abortion, also comes loss and sadness for some people.

   I really liked how Judy Simmons describes the meanings of abortion from when she had an abortion before it was legalized and her experience of helping year old girl through her abortion. There are many differences, but some similarities will always be the same. Her first line, “Abortion is a great equalizer…women tend to walk the same way after ending a pregnancy”, totally hits home with me because it’s true. After an abortion, while leaving the clinic I shuffled my feet, still woozy from the drugs, and feeling some cramps. I watched the other girls leave the clinic in the same way. Even if I couldn’t relate to their world at all, we both knew the pain, the cramps, the pain of keeping it a secret, and the relief that followed. And the secretiveness was a huge part.

   By the way Marlene Fried, who wrote “Abortion in the U.S.: Barriers to Access”, is a totally kick ass lady! I took a class with her and we discussed many of the issues described in her article. She is an amazing feminist teacher, who really inspires her students. That said…I also really liked her article. On the first page she talks about abortion clinics being under violent attack and needing to be a “secured fortress”. I knew that clinics had been attacked and that abortion providers and clinic workers have been killed due to violent terrorism. But I never imagined that that would be part of my life in anyway. Then I started volunteering at an abortion clinic, before anyone could enter the door to the abortion clinic a cop greeted them at the door, he was armed and had a metal detector. Everyone had to go through the metal detector to look for bombs, blades, guns, or sharp metal objects. At my volunteer orientation they told us about the history of violent attacks on clinics and made it clear that people who work there take a risk just to go to work. From then on before I entered the building I would search my surroundings for suspicious characters and never talked to strangers…especially protesters. Who I noticed were almost always male.

8. I really enjoyed this week’s readings because I am interested in abortion issues and it was good to see different perspectives on this topic. In the article “Abortion: A Matter of Choice” I liked that the author “advocates the right of every woman to safe and affordable abortions,” and I completely agree with her. I do not think that women should use abortions each time they get pregnant and do not want a child, but I do think an abortion should be considered depending on the circumstances that the woman is in. The author talks about how she had to travel to Mexico in 1963 to get an abortion because they were illegal in the United States at the time. Her story made me think about my mother who had my older sister in 1975 and whether or not my mother considered having an abortion. I do not know exactly what my mother’s thoughts were but I definitely would like to talk to her about this issue and see what her thought process was during this time because this was right around the time when abortions became legal in the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court Decision. One thing that was clarified for me in this article is that “because of economics and their lack of access to adequate health care, women of color will clearly suffer the most by a tightening of restrictions on abortions.” I almost feel ignorant for not knowing this because I do not really understand all of the things that women of color must persevere through, but articles like this really open my eyes to what is going on in the world outside of my comfort zone, and I can appreciate that.

   The article “Abortion in the US: Barriers to Access” talked about how low income women have difficulty finding sufficient funds or clinics for abortions, the violence and harassment that patients and doctors of abortions must deal with, and “the race and class dynamics of reproductive control.” I am not sure how practical this is, but ideally I think that Medicaid should cover some of the costs of abortions because the article states that 18-35% of women eligible for Medicaid who would have had abortions instead have carried their pregnancies to term because funding has been unavailable. Also, some women who would have had a first trimester abortion end up having to wait until the second trimester to have an abortion because they are busy obtaining the funds for this. Many have to travel more than 50 miles to find an abortion clinic and there are not many options for women who live in rural areas. Abortion is such a controversial subject in our society today and I think women who have abortions should not be stigmatized because we have no idea what their situation is and we really have no right to judge them. It is so easy for people to point fingers but everything is completely different when you are the one making the decisions and deciding whether or not you will be able to sufficiently support and raise a child. I was very shocked to read that some people who work in abortion clinics wear bullet proof vests to work and this shows us that we need to do more to protect these workers because they are providing a service to women in need and they do not deserve that kind of treatment. This article showed me that denying low-income women equal access to abortion is actually being discriminatory and legislation needs to be put into place to correct these inequalities.

9. Judy Simmon’s “Abortion: A Matter of Choice” is the breath of fresh air that I have been waiting to read since I became knowledgeable about the social stigmas attached to abortion, and reactions to women’s pro-choice positions. Abortion seems as natural and as easy of a choice as men and masturbation. Some believe it is ethically and morally reprehensible, but usually do it anyway despite their religious beliefs. I find it hard to believe that any women go through an abortion without some sort of emotional aftermath, and really, to me that should be enough. Her quote “obviously im not as concerned about an embryos right to life, as I am about a childs quality of life”. I love the way she threw it out there without apologizing for her opinion. In my opinion, there need to be more people who share their stories of the horrific alternatives to legal abortions and the lifestyles that the children would face if they were to be carried to full term.
   Faye Ginsburg’s “Procreation Stories”. She gives an interesting perspective on the pro-life and right-to-life activists. She describes the demographic of her study as spanning ethnic, religious, and occupational lines which is not usually covered all at once in an unbiased non-clinical study. I thought it was interesting that she found connections between generations as far as their stance on abortion went, the pro choice women of the 40s, the ones born in the 20s and 50s were the most pro-life as a result. Ginsburg attributes this to the myriad of social and political events/movements occurring during the times where they tended to marry and have a family. I think the point that she is trying to make is that a woman’s choice or opinion on the matter of abortion heavily depends on her own life situation, as well as her interpretation of feminism and the society and media that helped define it at the time.
   In the article entitled Sex, unintended pregnancy and poverty also brings up a series of great points regarding opinions on abortion. The article addresses the issue of the marginalization of the poor, and the resultant lack of opportunities, education, etc. It is clearly the lack of resources, and the unequal distribution of wealth that further down the line leads to complications of personal rights. It also shows correlations between the elitist class and the lower income classes of individuals in the united states and their relative views on the issue of abortion

10. Reading PinkGirl and Autumn Rocks comments on these articles reinforced for me what a truly complex issue abortion it. I can’t think of many other issues in America that involve such a deeply personal choice and at the same time take on so much from society. Most everyone has an opinion on abortion, and these opinions are not necessarily based on experience, unlike Jenny Higgins or Judy Simmons opinions expressed in two of the readings this week. As other bloggers have written this week, abortion carries stigma that attaches itself to women who choose to end pregnancies and often this stigma is a negative one. However in the popular, social discourse about this issue, rarely are voices heard that speak for women who don’t have many choices. What about women who do not have control over contraception in their relationships, whether that is because their partners will not allow them to use birth control or because they cannot afford it or because they have very restricted access to it. Another issue is that of meaningful and accurate health education. If we restrict our health education in schools to abstinence only education then we put the onus on young women to take full responsibility for their contraceptive choices. We do not provide easily accessed information to young women and then we blame them for being irresponsible if they become pregnant unintentionally. We don’t address this lack of education or the issues of poverty or the power structures in relationships that leave women without many options.

    I went to a conference last year where one of the speakers was talking about how hard women fought in the 1970’s for Roe v Wade. How long and hard the battle for legal, safe abortion access was for women. Our generation didn’t see that fight. Our generation didn’t experience having to seek illegal abortion or see the horrible effects of botched “back alley” abortions. Perhaps we are seeing the results of that in the erosion of the right to choose in this country right now.

    When Judy Simmons talks about her loss of innocence when she had her abortion, she brings up another point that I think is overlooked often in this discussion. Women choosing abortion are portrayed by society as “selfish” or “immoral” or “irresponsible”. In contrast you hear about women who abort pregnancies and suffer “horrible regret” and “depression’. It is rare that you read or hear an account of the emotional trials of women who make decisions that are best for them at a certain point in their lives, that don’t make the decision lightly, but who also don’t suffer “horrible regret” or guilt. I’ve read statistics that 1 in 3 women in the United States have had an abortion at some point in their life. With statistics like that, it is incredible to me that because of the framing of this issue, women can’t talk about it. The realities of abortion in this country are kept secret and hidden. This fosters the sense of shame or guilt or failure that women often feel and associate with terminating a pregnancy. Judy Simmons addresses this towards the end of her article when she says, referring to the simple biology of reproduction, “had I been clear about these things when I aborted my pregnancy, I wouldn’t have substituted the role of “tragic abortee” for the rejected role of “mother”, nor punished myself for going against the prevailing notion that becoming a mother should be the crowning fulfillment of every woman’s life”. It is truly unfortunate that as Jenny Higgins puts it “cultural norms saddle women with the responsibility for pregnancy prevention, as well as the consequences for unintended pregnancies whether they end in abortion or birth’ and often the emotional burden of these outcomes are carried by women as well.

    Perhaps, eventually we can make truly effective pregnancy prevention measures accessible to all women, through reproductive health care, education, social and economic justice and gender equality. Then women might truly have real options when it comes to abortion.

11. I agree with Pinkgrl6, that after reading Abortion: A Matter of Choice, seeing the difference between the two stories of abortion showed me how drastically things have changed. Women have had to struggle to finally have the right to choose whether or not they are in the right situation to have a child. Women have had to go through so much pain and danger when they tried to get an abortion. Now women have the ability to get a safe abortion without the worry of being arrested or dying from a bad procedure. Abortion has come a long way but of course there is always a negative that comes with the positive. I think it is horrible that women and providers who carryout abortions have to be worried about getting bombed or harassed by people who are against it. Abortion is still something that I feel women are very secretive about and it is not something that people usually talk about. I don’t think it is fair that women feel like they have to be quiet about this because it is looked at so horribly. No woman looks forward to having to abort a fetus. It is hard enough that we have to make the decision based on what is best for the woman and the child. It is as if women are constantly being judged and never supported when they need it the most. Out of personal experience, I know that having an abortion is not an easy thing to do because I saw a friend go through it. She had problems with her new contraceptive method (the patch) and ended up getting pregnant. When she found out she was so upset because she didn’t know what to do. She discussed it with her boyfriend which made it even harder because he was saying to have it and she didn’t go to her family because they didn’t believe in abortions. That eliminated a lot of support for her that she needed. When she told me I had wished she told me earlier so she didn’t have to deal with this all by herself. I offered to go with her to the clinic and I told her whatever decision she made that I would support her. After having the abortion, I saw that she was emotionally upset and didn’t want to talk about it. She was lucky enough to have insurance and have somewhere close enough that she could get it done quick. After reading Abortion in the U.S.: Barriers to Access, I started to re-think “choice” and came to the realization that even though abortion is legalized…not all women have “choice”. It angers me that people are still trying to create bans in different states to limit the choice of women. The bodies of women should not be controlled by anyone but themselves. Women may not have to travel to Mexico anymore or illegally find a doctor to do their abortion but how is that helpful if there aren’t any places around that do abortion procedures. How can services be so limited if abortion is so common. Traveling miles to get an abortion is obsurd. Abortions are being delayed because there is no funding and not enough services for women. Once again women of color are targeted. They are blamed for having too many children and are constantly being criticized. The government tries to control their fertility but then does not offer enough services for them to be able to have an abortion. There is always constant blame but the economy is run in a way that does not offer enough opportunity for women of color. It’s just not fair. Secretary of Education William Bennett made a comment that makes me upset. He said,”If you wanted to reduce crime, you could abort every black baby in this country, and poor crime would go down.” How can you generalize a whole population and say such horrible things. He says to abort them like they are nothing and as if their lives dont matter. Then he blames them for poor crime..did he forget why they are stuck in poverty? Overall, abortion has come a long way but there are still many issues that need recognition because without equality for all women..then there really is no such thing as “choice.”

12. In the “Sex, Unintended Pregnancy, and Poverty” article, I appreciated the way drawbacks as well as advantages to abortion were mentioned. Abortion is one of those issues that it is always said is dangerous to bring up because of the intensity and steadfastness of people’s feelings about it; once pro-choice or pro-life sentiments are formed, they are not often changed.
    Being pro-choice, it would make things much easier and make abortion choice much easier to support if the reasons for which women sought abortions were more clear cut and more uniformly upright. The stories of the “repeaters” who came into the abortion clinic after using contraception rarely to never were frustrating because they are easily brought up by anti-abortion interests as reasons to outlaw the procedure.
    However, as illustrated in the article, no matter how much you believe in a woman’s right to control her own body and her own reproduction or lack thereof, there must emerge some instances that make you cringe a little bit or wish that the reasoning were different.

    In the controversy surrounding abortion, much attention tends to be paid to young women getting abortions and the choices that led them to this situation. If their “choices” are not deemed entirely levelheaded and responsible, they are criticized for being thoughtless and blamed for having gotten themselves into “trouble.” I liked that both the Sex, Unintended Pregnancy…article and “Abortion: A matter of Choice” brought up the reasons and motivations that have not much to do with reason but that are experienced by everyone. There is no weakness in being human; much of the criticism of young women who may have made decisions on the basis of emotion or youth are probably dished out by those who were guided by similar motivations in their own younger days.

13. In addition…I agree with both Rachel36 and AutumnRocks that often, the abortion issue is more about the availability of choice than about abortion itself. In the past few weeks, due to both our readings for class and a friend’s pregnancy scare, abortion has been discussed quite a bit. Most women I talked to seemed to hope fervently that abortion would never have to play a role in their own lives. On the whole, no one likes abortion…groups are not pro-abortion but pro-choice. Even if a woman would never want to get an abortion herself, I found that on the whole everyone I talked to advocated the availability of legal abortion.
    It all connects with the topic of reproduction as the body politic we discussed 2 weeks ago. The thought of abortion becoming illegal is really frightening to me mostly because it represents what could be the beginning of a really scary path–if women do not have control over what eggs they bring to term within their own bodies, how far away is more appropriation of women’s bodies by forces other than and larger than themselves?

14. Like AutumnRocks and others, the article “Sex, unintended pregnancy, and poverty” really made me think about why I am pro-choice, and how that intersects with my judgments about the moral issues surrounding abortion. Higgins recounts how her experience with the reality of working in an abortion clinic changed her staunch, black-and-white view of abortion as liberation to a more intimate and rounded view of abortion as an often difficult and divisive issue. She was challenged by her observations of women apparently abusing the system, finding an area of reproductive choice that challenged her personal view of what was right and wrong.

    I always find it interesting how abortion rights are linked to issues of morality, even when we decide that all women should have access to abortion services. The question of a women “abusing” abortion services or carrying a child for “too long” brings the abortion debate uncomfortably close to the personal moral issues many of us may have with terminating pregnancies, even if we are staunchly prochoice. Why we see it as a “wrong” for women to have abortions under some circumstances, not simply from a concern for their health and safety, seems to limit the degree to which abortion really is a right. In some ways, abortion rights seem to me to be seen an allowance given to women who fit our ideals of responsibility, and most likely women we can see ourselves in, that reflect our personal image of when abortion is ok, even if we do not admit we have those hang-ups.

    The article also challenged my perceptions by showing how the factors leading women to chose an abortion vary by the context they are coming from. I always thought that since I was responsible with birth control, and personally have issues with the actual act of terminating a pregnancy myself, that I would be a rare candidate for unintended pregnancy, and even if I did become pregnant, it would be something I would accept and fit into my life. I assumed I was safe from the experience and difficult personal decisions related to having an abortion, and supporting the rights of women to make their own personal decisions seemed enough despite my personal views. Looking at abortion in a broader and more diverse context, in backgrounds and experiences, makes me realize that I do not feel pressured to accept the difficulties of abortion choices personally because of my experiences, and not acknowledging that that luxury is due to my fortune undermines my understanding of why women chose abortions and the issues surrounding that choice.

15. I agree with Aaa1313 that Judy Simmons’ article was refreshing in the direct way it was written and in support of the importance of a child’s quality of life over the “rights” of a fetus. I also liked how she pointed out how generation after generation many women still choose to tip-toe around issues of sex and abortion with their daughters, keeping them ignorant and in the dark. I think this is even more of a problem today as it was decades ago when more and more schools are teaching abstinance only sex ed due to budget cuts. I think these factors definitely do not allow girls to have the knowledge and confidence to make the decisions regarding sex that they really want. She argues that girls need to develop biologically and emotionally before becoming mothers, which would allow young women to “be all we can be.” However today’s society can make that difficult when the pressure is so intense to have sex as a teenager, even though if you have sex you are stigmatized as promiscuous and if you don’t you are a prude.
    In “Revitalizing Hierarchies,” 84% high school girls believe a girl is more likely to lose her boyfriend if she doesn’t have sex. I think this ‘coerced (first) intercourse’ is a huge problem today and there needs to be a a way to empower young women in making their own decisions. Once again, as Simmons’ says, girls are the ones getting “jammed up” with the responsibilities and stigma of being pregnant, not the men.

    In “Abortion in the US: Barriers to Access” I was appalled at how little access women of low socioeconomic status have to abortion. I knew that it cost money and less women than ever have health insurance today, but I could not believe that even Medicaid doesn’t pay for it and that the nearest abortion clinic is often 50 miles away from where a woman lives. I did not know that government funded health care does not provide abortions, and was shocked that this denied all Native American women access to abortions because they rely on the government for health care. Given that for centuries women have sought abortions, it’s amazing that people, especially men, go through such efforts to limit and essentially stop access to abortion through stopping all media advertisements, promoting the Hyde Amendment, violent protests, and the rights of a fetus over those of the pregnant woman. This article changed my perspective on abortion and strengthened my pro-choice position because it brought to view all of the unfair legislative obstacles and societal contraints of gender and class involved in getting an abortion.

16. I grew up in the city. On weekend afternoons when I was a little kid my mom would take me on walks around the neighborhood. We’d often pass by what I’ve now come to realize, was the Planned Parenthood clinic. The first memory I have surrounding abortion is fear and confusion. The pro-lifers were out the day we were walking and had posters up surrounding the clinic of fetuses and aborted babies. There was a woman kneeled down on the ground praying. To my childhood eyes I had no idea what was happening. I asked my mom what was going on. I don’t remember what she said, all I remember are those images. Years pass by. Here I am now, aware of that Planned Parenthood clinic on Commonwealth Avenue and even more aware of the pro-life protesters that heckle women and try to persuade them with insults and fears of god to save their “baby’s” life. My friends would do clinic defense, a service in which they would escort women into and out of the clinic to protect them from the occasional physical, but mostly verbal abuse they would get from the protesters. In the “Abortion in the US: Barriers to Access”, violence against clinics was discussed. But there was no discussion about violence against the women who go to the clinic, be it physical or verbal. Yet it does occur. Like one more barrier the women would have to deal with to get abortions is really needed. One of my dreams in life is to work in a clinic, being an obgyn. It was really fascinating for me to read about how not only
    women are stigmatized for receiving abortions, but the doctors performing the abortions are marginalized and stigmatized as well. They’re murdered, threatened, and other types of doctors could care less, there is no outcry. The title of “doctor” holds a lot of respect it seems like, unless is applies to said obgyns performing abortions.
    The article also discussed ways the anti-abortion movement was trying to ban abortion. In addition to methods discussed, I’ve seen another very grassroots method in place. The people protesting outside the clinic will engage the woman (on her way into the clinic, thinking about going in, etc) in conversation. Then they will give her information about another clinic, that is absolutely free, safe, close by, etc. But in that clinic, there is no choice for the women other than having the baby. It’s very sneaky and tricky on their part. I was watching a show called the “ L- Word” , and one of the characters walks into a clinic to get a pregnancy test, and then if pregnant, get an abortion. While in the doctors office, a nurse comes in, saying stuff like, great news, you’re pregnant. The nurse gives her a bible, shows a picture of a fetus in the womb, and keeps saying oh my god, congratulations! The character that’s pregnant totally freaks out and is like oh hells no. And she tries to run, but the nurse tries to block her exit. And she’s yelling and runs out of the room where all the doctors and nurses are trying to subdue her…. point being “art” ( or in this case, trashy tv shows) imitates life.

    The article by Jenny Higgins was really fascinating and challenging. I liked how she addressed points of the anti-abortion argument as correct, but belonging to a larger picture (of structural inequalities). I also thought it was really interesting and true, that the feminist “agenda” is created by privileged white women. Because this is such, issues that concern women of color, poor women, etc are marginalized and don’t count… they don’t have the access to make a “choice”. Choice is a privilege (but at the same time should be considered a right). One would hope that a group that’s been historically marginalized, would pay more attention and respect other marginalized groups. However, this isn’t case.

17. The politics surrounding abortion are something that I have been struggling to define for myself ever since high school. I remember before I made my conformation at my church that we had woman come to speak to us about being pro-life and how God does not want us to kill a life. I can’t remember whether or not the boys in class also had to attend that presentation or not, but I wish I could remember. I feel as though I do not want to pick a side because I feel strongly for some of the arguments on each side. Many different aspects of my life play into how I feel about abortion. There is a scientific part of me, a feminist, a mother, a woman, and a sympathizer.

    Reading Jenny Higgins’ “Sex, Uninteded Pregnancy, and Poverty” I found myself agreeing with many of the ways that she found herself feeling over the course of a decade or so. However, unlike Higgins, I never came out as calling myself pro-choice. Even today, despite thinking about it for 8 years, I do not know how to define how I feel about abortion. It seems strange to me but it is probably one of the hardest things I have had to define for myself. When younger Higgins associated abortion as “in exercising her right to choose, a woman was capitalizing on her personal freedom and power.” I too believe that it should be a woman’s right to choose and nobody elses, especially not the government. In saying that you would think, ok she’s pro-choice, but not necessarily. While I do believe that it is a woman’s body and she should have all the rights around it I don’t think that women should use that right. I think it would be wrong for the government to be able to say you can or cannot have the right to an abortion, but I also think it is wrong for a woman to be able to say to her unborn child, sorry you should get to live. It is such a hard controversy, even within myself.

    Women who abuse the system of abortions and clinics absolutely drive’s me crazy. The fact that some women, generally youner women, will use abortion as some type of contraception makes me want to yell. How could a woman think that abortion, having a medical procedure done to your body, is a good way to practice sexual intercourse and contraception? Especially women who are what Higgins calls “repeaters”. These women are the ones that make me want to be pro-life. And from Higgins’ article it seems like they are not only making me upset but the cases where women are using and abusing the system are making the fight to illegalize abortion stronger. I know that Higgins says that these women only make up a small percent of all women recieving abortions but I feel pretty confident in saying that they are the cases that stick out in everyones mind. It also upsets me that the right for a woman to have total autonomy over her body can be taken away because a fellow woman abused the system and acted irresponsible repettitively. I am not pro-choice because of these women who believe abortion is no big deal and that they would rather have their insides cut up than upset a partner by presenting a condom.

    I do understand that there is a huge problem with race, class, and social status and how women of different status are being treated unequally. I understand that it is more likely for a poor woman who cannot afford contraceptives, does not have access to contraceptives, and is uneducated that are the ones who tend to be the “repeaters”. This is just another problem with our society. Until we can create an equal system for all women there will be no way to seperate the irresponsible women from the poor women who are being screwed by society. For these women I feel bad. I wish that there was something that could be done or even that I could do. Higgins also wished this and by working at an abortion clinic she thought there would be more that she could do. Until she realized that she could only talk to women for five minutes about counseling and contracptive options. Sometimes she even had to do group counseling sessions before women were receiving abortions. This is appauling to hear and as Higgins mentions it is only the lower class women who are faced with this problem because wealthier women are going to private practices and having a much different and better experience with abortion.

    There is another group of women that I always think about when I think about whether abortion should be legal or not. These are the women, of any and all ages, sadly, who are being raped. I am going to use rape as a wide term that can be referring to those women who are grabbed in a park by a stranger, who are raped by someone they know, or those who are raped by someone who they are in a relationship with. Who am I to say, I’m sorry this horrible, horrible thing just happened to you but you must have the child inside you so that you can be reminded everyday for the rest of your life of what a terrible thing the baby’s father did. That is most certainly not my place, or anybody elses. It is for these women that I deeply sympathisize and they are the reasons that I struggle so much with the idea of being pro-life.

    As some people already mentioned above it is important and interesting to see the shift that abortion rights have taken over the past 30 years since the Roe V. Wade decision. Women were fighting very hard to be able to have the right to abortions. Now women are fighting to making it illegal. Women have such strong feelings that abortion should be illegal that they are taking matters into their own hands by protests and bombing clinics. It is sad to think that women are turning against each other so much in this controversy. I would like to think that all the women could work together to come up with some type of alternative, but clearly there are way too many women who have extreme feelings and beliefs surrounding the topic.

    Where are the men in this discussion? Higgins starts to mention them a little bit but I do not believe that they fit into the framework. While men are just as much a part of the child in question’s life they do not hold the same prominance while the baby is in the womb. I disagree with Higgins when she states that “men have far less social motivation to actively avoid pregnancies through conraception or condoms.” I think that the actual social pressures for men are quite high. I think men do feel like they need to be active in this decision. However, its biology that makes it possible for men to not have to and makes them have the option of walking away from the situation. Another area where inequality plays a role in what should be considered when discussing abortion.

18. In “revitalizing hierarchies”, Solinger does discuss the groups that counsel women into keeping their babies…and now that she mentioned it, the group that i’d see doing their recruitment and pickiting was “Operation Rescue” (est. 1986). Here’s their website for the boston chapter: http://www.orboston.org/index.htm …. I got kind of worked up looking at it. That’s just me.

19. Where in our socialization did we, as women, come to believe that we didn’t inheritly own our reproductive rights? I’m not a staunch feminist or anything but where the hell did the belief come from that we have to listen to a man’s opinion about our bodies over our own. But, ofcourse its not only a mans opinion but HIS legislation. In creating Hierarchies, the author talks about how after Roe vs. Wade more women, realizing that they were more sexually free and that they were wage earners had the LEGAL right to choose what types of contraceptive and reproductive rights they had for themselves. Why had it taken so long? It still doesn’t seem to matter today because women are not exactly free from the stigma and criticism that follows having an abortion.

    One thing that stood out for me in the readings was in “A matter of Choice” when the author talks about how mothers should be talking to their daughters openly about sex. Why don’t mothers do that more? My mom tried to avoid it at all costs and I don’t think that helped me much growing up. There were no sexual education classes at my middle school or my high school. I wish my mom had told me more about condoms and birth control before i became sexually active. I think there is such a great stigma on mothers who talk to their daughters about such things because they DO feel as if they are condoning or soliciting sex. This is such an important issue to tell my future daughter(s) about. I don’t want them going through the same thing i went through- having to seek out informaiton on my own. No woman, daughter, teenager should have to go through the possibility of having an abortion or ever having to worry about it at all. Education is really needed to aid every woman’s decision.

20. First, in response to AutumnRock and Rachel… I don’t like the word abuse. I think it is important to avoid labeling women who undergo multiple abortions as abusing the system. I believe such rhetoric feeds back into the classic rhetoric as women being people who need to be controlled, because if not they will go astray. I think we must examine further the mechanisms in place that cause women to have multiple abortions. In addition, whatever the reasons, I think we must avoid labeling women as abusers of the system. I think the bottom line is about choice, no matter what those choices are, as long as they are in the best interest of the women. I agree that women need better access and education opportunities in relation to reproductive health, contraceptives/birth control and family planning. Yet until all women of every creed have access to such resources, I believe we need to end the labeling game. Too often in our society we simplify matters into: good/bad, right/wrong, productive/unproductive…. Finally, if we view abortion as a right, then I believe we must leave the decision of getting an abortion and how many to the individual woman- as long as it is under the right circumstances: such as that we make sure the women has access to educational and reproductive health resources. I don’t think it is fair to give women the right to have an abortion and then label them abusive because circumstances lead them to have more than one. Never did I equate the right to abortion as the right to one abortion. More so, the fact that women receive multiple procedures is sign of societies failure to provide support and access to such women, rather than a sign of women “abusing the system.” In addition, such rhetoric reminds me of the article we read for class about black women and welfare policies, in which minority women were portrayed as abusing the welfare system by having more babies and ‘hiding men in their houses.’ We MUST be careful where we point our fingers and blame.

    I want to mention a factoid I learned in my other Public Health class this morning: women who are pregnant are at a higher risk for abuse by their partners than when not pregnant. I found this statistic astonishing. My teacher told us that for some reason while women are pregnant, a greater percentage of men become abusive, for reasons still being researched. I think this is a vital fact for reproductive rights. I have someone in my family whom after having two children got pregnant witht the third. Her husband had abusive tendencies towards her, their children, and drugs. Ultimately, due to such abuse, in fear of receiving more from her husband, she aborted her third pregnancy in the third week without telling her husband. THis is a secret she told me a couple years back and it really highlight the complexities behind the choices of getting an abortion. She told me she never stopped feeling the emotional sorrow for aborting the baby, but she also said that she would have never been able to forgive herself for bringing such a child into such an environmnet. In addition, this women was eventually able to leave her abusive husband and move on with her life. Often women being abused are unable to leave their partner. I think we all must consider the complexities behind decision making. Any decision made is always made in face of one’s environment: physically, environmentally, and economically and politically.

21. Abortion has been and continues to be a major controversial issue within the United States. My personal opinion of abortion is generally influenced by the circumstances of the woman undergoing the abortion. Is she using abortion as a method of birth control, a practice I have seen and heard of frequently being used by girls today, or was this woman raped and impregnated by her perpetrator and can not bear to have a child which will constantly remind her of her victimization?
    On one hand I essentially do believe in the power to choose and the right for a woman to make a decision and a choice on matters concerning her own body. On the other hand I also believe in the power of responsibility. If a woman is not ready to bear a child and to become a mother I believe that it is her and also her partner’s responsibility to make sure that they are doing everything in their power to prevent themselves from pregnancy. Abortion I believe should be the last form of birth control and in my opinion and in some cases it is not.
    That does not go to show the unfortunate ways in which our educational systems are failing students who are being educated on sexual intercourse. It is ludicrous that our government is only promoting and funding abstinence only educational programs within high schools. It angered me immensely while reading “Revitalizing Hierarchies” that some high school sexual education programs were teaching students that “a girl can become pregnant by touching a boy’s genitals, and that AIDS can be transmitted by sweat and tears”. Blatantly lying to impressionable young students about a pleasurable, natural experience such as sex is only going to confuse these teenagers and help guide them into making uneducated decisions because they have not been properly informed on the realities of sexual intercourse.
    A theme that I found was extremely prevalent within all the assigned articles and also within my own life were the relationships between male and females. Like Judy Simmons I also believed that “love, sex, marriage, children, goodness and happiness were all wrapped up in one romantic religious package that automatically came in the mail when you were old enough”. In my opinion, many young girls grow up with the same notion that one day their prince charming is going to come to their rescue and they will be taken care of and live happily ever after. I believe this notion is impressed upon them by family and societal values where women are only looked at as being “reproductive vessels” and nothing more. In reality, men are not the ones taking responsibility for unplanned pregnancies, and many of them do skip town and walk out on their responsibilities, leaving the woman with the accountability of deciding what to do about the situation and having the sole duty of raising and providing for the child each of them created.

22. In response to Bettyboop, I completely agree about the idea that more mothers should be talking to their daughters about sex. I know personally my mom never talked to me about it, and most of what i learned i found out on my own or through my friends. The one health class i took during all 4 years of high school did not focus on sex either, only barely touching on the subject of std’s. Through my own experience having not been educated by my mom or through school, more mothers should most definietly have an open relationship with their daughters about it. It is scary to have to deal with serious situations, such as those of unwanted pregnancy and the idea of abortion, that women, especially young women, should be able to have someone to talk to and consult. I think this is so important and would most definitely influence many women’s decisions on having an abortion or not.
    As Higgins says in “Sex, Unintended Pregnancy, and Poverty”, abortion is not a black and white topic. There are many different reasons and situations that influence a woman’s decision to have an abortion, and it is the business of that woman only to determine whether her reason is “justifiable” or “moral” or not. “Repeaters”, though they should be finding methods of contraception, and although they are essentially threatening others options to abortion through their misuse, still are entitled to their own reasoning. While to one they may seem like repeaters, and maybe they are, no one truly knows anothers situation. It angers me that women’s choices over their own bodies are so scrutinized and based off of someone elses ideals of what is right and what is not.

23. Abortion is, as everyone can see, a very controversial issue. I’ve always identified myself as being pro-choice, but up until recently, I never actually stopped to think about why. In high school, for example, the only thing I knew about abortion and the issues surrounding it was what I saw on the news; people marching around with signs with pictures of aborted fetuses on them, the story of the man who went into the abortion clinic and murdered the doctors..etc. Reading these articles have been so informative for me, and I only wish I had read these earlier in my life.
    I agree with Sassy in saying that the labeling game isn’t useful, and that we shouldn’t be pointing fingers saying that some women are abusing the system. The sad thing is, however, that some women have been reported to use abortion as a method of birth control. A girl from my town had 4 or 5 abortions before her doctor told her that she needed to stop if she actually wanted to have a child when she was older and ready. I stopped to wonder why this was. She wasn’t stupid, I’m sure that she had access to contraceptives. So what was the reason? I guess I’ll never really know. The point is, I think it’s a personal decision. Some take it more likely than others. I agree with Mclovin in saying that abortion should be the last form of birth control, and that it shouldn’t be taken lightly.
    Betty Boop made a great point in saying that mothers should be taking openly with their children about sex and sexuality. My mother also tried to avoid this talk, and if she tried to talk about it, it was incredibly awkward and left me feeling uncomfortable. I think Betty Boop’s statement that education is really needed to aid a woman’s decision is 100% correct.

    I also agree with SharkBait in saying that are we entitled to say to a woman that has been raped “sorry, but you have to have this baby”? How is that fair? I saw an episode of Oprah a few years ago and a woman was on who had been raped and became pregnant with her perpetrators baby. She decided to have the child because she didn’t believe in abortion. She had no emotional connection with the child, she neglected him emotionally and physically, and she was distraught because she felt like she was being a bad mother. She hated the child, and said that she sees her rapist everytime she looks at the baby.

    All of this weeks articles triggered many emotions for me regarding how I feel about this issue. I think this weeks class is going to be very interesting and that all of the women in our class are going to have very profound things to say.

24. I think out of all the topics we discuss in this class, abortion was the one I was most looking forward to, because like many bloggers have expressed this week, I too have attached certain valuations and morals to having abortions and what is the differentiation between a growing child and a fetus. Like gazpacho, I too hope to become an ob/gyn one day and I have sometimes entertained the thought of working at an abortion clinic. It bothered me to a certain extent that one day I might be delivering babies and the next aborting fetuses. I’m still not sure how I feel about these valuations, whether they are right or wrong, whether they are a product of my environment and the way I grew up, especially once I realized that abortion is not nearly as uncommon as I had once thought. The reason I started thinking about working at abortion clinics is exemplified in Jenny Higgin’s article where she explains the reality of these patients, how, due to lack of finances and structural issues regarding the clinic, received little to no personal attention. Whatever their situation or background, it has always hurt me to know that women have been attacked for getting abortions, whether in the form of verbal/physical threat from protesters or seriously inadequate patient care, which in a way reflects the highly negative valuations of abortions in this society. It pains me to know that they get on average only 5 minutes of consultation/advice, since due to societal morals/valuations, many women due hold on to abortion experiences for far too long, feeling serious guilt and pain. This also relates to Simmons’ article where she addresses the necessity of redefining the experience of abortion as not being “social cancer, mortal sin, legislative crisis…” etc. With this in mind, i agree with what Feefer wrote regarding the discourse of abortion:

    I’ve read statistics that 1 in 3 women in the United States have had an abortion at some point in their life. With statistics like that, it is incredible to me that because of the framing of this issue, women can’t talk about it. The realities of abortion in this country are kept secret and hidden. This fosters the sense of shame or guilt or failure that women often feel and associate with terminating a pregnancy.

    It is important, when dealing with abortion and unintended pregnancies, that we enforce change at a grassroots level. This includes talks with your mother/female guardian or parental figure which is often uncomfortable for many mothers, (especially mine, who votes liberally, but is truly socially conservative, and would NEVER even think to talk about reproductive health issues with me). Grassroots revolution/change also includes promoting education that is NOT abstinence-only-based. In regards to this claim, I liked what Simmons said about education people about abortion/contraception:

    “Since telling people to abstain from something as necessary, basic and pleasurable as sex doesn’t seem to work, that means using contraception in the first place and abortion as a last resort.”

    This goes especially for the “repeaters” as Higgins calls them, who we MUST not stigmatize. For as we have seen in these articles, these “outliers” are often universalized as irresponsible, however as Feefer has stated, we do not know their individual, financial, social, and educational situation, and therefore CANNOT judge. What Fried says about repeaters of abortion often being targetted by discriminatory legislation regarding Medicaid, which causes the delay in having an abortion is very important to consider.

    I am also extremely terrified that the legalization of abortion is under attack for exactly the reason that Simmons has stated about “back-alley” abortions which makes my stomach turn. I detest the idea that abortions are being/have been performed with knitting needles/coat hangers and how dangerous this is and how this can be avoided if the proper education/oppurtunities are advocated/implemented. I also thought it was intriguing what was said about oppurtunities in life in general. What Simmons said about the expectations of her life/future really hit home for me:

    “…it had been understood from the day that I was born that I would get a bachelor’s degree at least, if not my masters.”

    My parents were immigrants to this country and came here with barely nothing adn worked multiple jobs and recieved multiple scholarships so that they could come the the states and get grad. degrees here, (which they did, my mom a Masters in microbio and my dad a Ph.D. in astrophysics both from Boston College)…so its pretty much been a prerequisite to be a part of my family that you put education first and foremost. Therefore, growing up I remember the “horror stories” of teens dropping out because of unintended pregnancies which they would carry to term. I was so afraid of becoming pregnant and not being able to finish getting my FULL education and what my family would think of this. It is interesting then that I took full responsibility and ownership of my reproductive health adn the issues surrounding it because I knew I could/would/had to “be somebody”…this is linked to what Higgins states about valuations of a future/life of many women of lower economic class:

    “…because of promising educational and professional opputunities, as well as the perceived costs of premature (i.e., teenage) childbearing in middle-class communities, they are far more motivated to avoid pregnancy in the first place.”

    Thus, i think on the whole, these articles this week really teach us something about the valuations that we carry regarding our lives as women, abortion, pregnancy, motherhood and sex. We must really look at reevaluate these moral structures we have been raised under and decide whether they are fitting or not.

    In general, I really like and agree with Higgin’s stance on focusing on “reproductive justice” which reflects the truth that, in any kind of gender study (or social studies in general)we cannot ignore other social structure and must instead consider the intersectionality of women’s reproductive health and weigh out how race, class and gender come in to play with access.

25. Like many of my classmates I found Abortion: A Matter of Choice to be the most interesting and thought provoking article from the readings this week. I found it very interesting to hear Simmons speak of her abortion as a positive experience. Not many women speak of abortion as a positive experience, but instead speak of it as a horrible experience that they often regret. Simmons discusses that we have come along way since her abortion, especially since abortion is not legal in the United States. She also makes an extremely important point that we still have a long way to go in terms of our view on abortion. I think that it is important that she shares her experience as a positive one, and lists the reasons that she feels that it was a good decision. I often feel like women that have abortions are confident that they are making the right decision, but have doubts, and feel incredible amounts of guilt after because of the way that society looks at abortion and women that have them. Although the decision to have an abortion is often not any easy decision for any woman I agree with Simmons that we need to remove the negativity brought on by society surrounding abortion, and allow women to make their own decisions. Not only do we need to allow women to make their own decisions but society also needs to support women who make a decision that they feel is best for them and the child that they would be bringing into the world. One of my friends recently had an abortion. Given her religious beliefs her first thought when she learned that she was pregnant was that she did not want to have an abortion. After discussing her options with her family, and with her partner they decided that they were not financially stable enough to raise a baby, and they wanted to wait until later in life before they had children. My friend ended up having an abortion, and although for herself she knows that she did the right thing she had a lot of doubt which I think mainly surfaced from other people’s opinions, along with religious views regarding abortion. She also told me about how not only is it a difficult experience to begin with, but people protest outside the clinics. When she went there was a person with the protesters dressed as the Grim Reaper. Although I feel that people are entitled to their opinions and their right to free speech, sometime I think that people just need to learn to mind their own business. It is not their body, their life, their baby, or their decision. When faced with the situation people should then make their decision on abortion and until then they should mind their own business and let those that need to make the decision make it on their own.

26. This week’s theme it self was really sensitive and touching, not only it is a theme that there still exists a lot of contrevesies into it. In response to what Willow had said about the “Abortion: a matter of choice” article by Simmons, i also loved the way she presented her own personal experienced and related it to overall women who went through the same. By reading this article i got a pretty image of what it was like for her to go through that, and what women go through when choosing abortion.

    In addition i totally agree with her position, that abortion should be legal, safe, and accessible for every woman, as Gerber Fried also mentioned in her article of “Abortion in the U.S barriers to access”. To me, those two article were more intersting and fire extingushing. In other words, they made me think about this theme of “abortion for real” and if one day, i be in that position of deciding to keep a baby or not, what should i do, and how would i feel. All the articles this week, were great resources for all women, in general, becuase most of the times we don’t get to know about themes such as “sex, abortion, relationships” with details. Like most responses were saying, i dont think at home with our parents we get an idea what relationships are supposed to be like, how sex are to feel like, or when are we supposed to do it. My mother never touched in such themes with me, when i always try to talk about, she runs away, and she just wants to share what she wants and expects me to do.

    Going back to the articles, abortion should be legal, because that is the only way we can make women safe from doing dangers procedures which could place themselves into unhealthy situations which can then lead to death.I also think that, abortion should be cheap so women from all social classes would be able to have access to it. Having said all of this, at the same time, i have the other side of the argument which is the baby, we are thinking about the women’s right to practice freedom to their bodies, but what about the baby’s right to live???? i dont judge anyone who has had an abortion, because i think no one would take a baby for any reasonable cause. But, its also a something to think of, what about the baby who is in the wounb, getting ready to enter this world, and terminating a pregnancy, automatically cuts that process. i dont know this theme is very sensitive. I myself, was about to be a product of abortion, my mother was only 17 and my father was also very young. They were trying to get their future toghether, and my fahter suggested to my mother to abort me. If she had listened to him, i wouldnt be here today wrting this. I would not hate my mother if she had aborted me, because we are all not perfect and sometimes circustances call for it. But i am so proud of her for not doing it, and i thank her sososososo much for giving me the oppurtunity to let me come to this world.