Re:
I wanted to put something about abortion rights, but I have a friend who
believes that abortion rights are actually a way for men to avoid
responsibility, and she thinks that fetuses are full human beings and
deserving of all human rights. Is there room for those ideas in feminism?
>
I would still call her a feminist at the same time I vehemently disagree
with her about abortion. She doesn't seem to believe that contraception ever
fails, among other things, or seems to believe it's OK to approach any given
sexual encounter as having the power to irrevocably change the next 20 years
of a woman's life. I have no problem with her making that choice, but
unfortunately anti-abortion feminists are likely to support state repression
of other women's option to terminate pregnancies. Which in turn constricts
women's options down the line. Motherhood should be voluntary, in my book.>
The "Dictionary of feminist theologies" defines pregnancy as "a creative
moral action to be undertaken with freedom, intelligently and with
forethought, rather than simply a natural process." With that in mind, an
abortion, rather than simply being a surgical procedure becomes "a genuine
moral dilemma encountered under specific socioeconomic, cultural, historical
and cultural conditions" allows for a very wide view on the topic. I don't
see an abortion as an easy way out: it also comes with vast dilemmas. But
it seems that at times it is the lesser of two different situations.
Eileen
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