The legislative session of 2011 was fraught with ridiculous attacks on reproductive rights. Limiting access to abortion is a hot issue right now - and abstinence only education is (and likely will be for the foreseeable future) a problem in regards to how people are educated about sex.
When you feel so strongly about an issue it can be difficult to see clearly when people constantly attack it. Reproductive rights are such an intense topic for everyone because they are so personal. I cannot imagine someone telling me I can't have access to birth control or adequate information about sex. And those who are not so liberal as I can't imagine talking about such a holy and personal topic as sexuality in the public realm. Personal, right? This issue goes right to the core of almost everyone's personal behavior and identities. It makes sense for people to be so passionate.
But with passion comes problems. Problems like not looking at an issue from all sides. Problems like not considering several opinions and understanding (though not necessarily agreeing) with opposing viewpoints. Some people struggle to maintain a logical standpoint and argument to back up that standpoint. And here's the thing - lately I see my pro-choice comrades falling into that "passion trap". We're under attack - and it doesn't just feel like our ideas are being attacked - it feels like our bodies and our reproductive freedom is being attacked. It's quite the unpleasant situation. I understand why people feel the need to protect reproductive rights more than ever before - it's scary to think some of the bills being proposed could become law (remember the Personhood Amendment?) but that is no excuse to become narrow minded, even if it is on the pro-choice side of things.
It started in the blogs I read, then it showed up in my classes, and now it's appearing in pop-culture analysis. It's an intense attitude of disdain for women who exercise their right to choose. The women who are scorned (whether real or characters in a book, TV show, or movie) either become pregnant and decide to have the baby or decide to opt for a birth control method like Natural Family Planning. And they are scorned implicity or explicity for not having an abortion or not using birth control. See, I was under the impression pro-choice was about having access to the choice. Being able to have an abortion safely and using birth control or not having an abortion and using (for lack of a better word) "natural" methods of birth control. As pro-choicers we CANNOT scorn those women who do not make the choices we would have made. Pro-choice should not end at access to birth control and safe abortion. It needs to include resources for women and men who choose to remain pregnant or practice Natural Family Planning.
It is narrow minded, and frankly, detrimental to the fight for reproductive rights to scorn women and men who do not use birth control or abortion. What everyone does with their body is their business. We need to recognize that the pro-choice movement could fall into a narrow minded, birth control filled black hole. We need to stand strong and form bonds with those who believe in personal freedom - but perhaps don't make the same choices in regards to their person as you would. We need to be the real embodiment of pro-choice. -Jen Kaltveit, Hamline University
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