Just Call Us Pro-Abortion

Or "None of your fucking business, motherfuckers."

Cecile Richards proved herself such a badass in beating the Komen Foundation to death with its own anti-choice baton, I am deeply disappointed in her for getting caught valuing appearance over substance.

Katha Pollitt calls out the bullshit

I often find public relations a bit bewildering, so maybe it’s my problem that I worry when people say the term “pro-choice” is “oversimplifying” and “extreme” and call for “moderation” and an acknowledgment of “gray areas.” To me, “pro-choice” means you believe that whether or not a woman keeps a pregnancy is up to her—the position most Americans say they support when asked about Roe. That is the “moderate” position. The exact opposite of the pro-life position would be to override the woman’s will and let others—parents, doctors, social services, the government—decide she must have an abortion, as is happening in China. An “extreme” pro-choice position would be the one pro-lifers falsely claim Roe protects: it would permit abortion on demand up until the day before birth. No pro-choice organization calls for that.

According to one poll PP handed out, 40 percent say their personal view of abortion “depends on the situation.” Polls show a large majority support a woman’s right to abortion in cases of rape or risk to her life or health, and about half would permit it when the fetus is mentally or physically impaired. But a majority oppose abortion when the woman is poor, young, wants to finish school or keep a job, has all the kids she can handle, doesn’t feel ready to be a mother—in other words, they disapprove of about 90 percent of the abortions women actually have. Does that mean people who say abortion is a “gray area” would support more restrictions if they were tailored to those preferences? Or do they just want to feel they have the right to judge? In any case, I don’t know how we get from “it depends” to reclaiming the ground we’ve lost, including overturning such restrictions as parental notification and consent (“it depends” on parental approval), waiting periods (“it depends” on proof that a woman has thought hard), stricter time limits (“it depends” on the woman overcoming obstacles more expeditiously than many of them can) and bans on federal funding (“it depends” on taxpayers not being involved in this morally suspect activity).

I’m old-school about labels. I don’t see what was gained by dropping “liberal”—aka “the L-word”—for “progressive.” It just looked cowardly and evasive. I like “feminist” too. People who say they identify with the goals but reject the designation (I’m not a feminist, but…) may think they are making fine ideological distinctions, but basically they are fleeing stigma: “feminist” means you’re a hairy man-hater, so call yourself a womanist, a humanist, a slutwalker, a supporter of gender justice. The trouble is, the stigma is not about the word, but about the concept behind it, and eventually the negative connotations migrate to the new term. That girl may call herself a humanist, but the way she goes on about rape, you can tell she’s just a hairy man-hater!

As a message, “personal decision” is fine. It may even be better than “choice.” “Personal” reminds us both that abortion comes down to a woman’s own body and that we never know another’s whole circumstances; “decision” sounds thoughtful and serious. But neither one is stigma-proof: after all, “personal” has its own trivial connotations (“personal hygiene” “personal pizza”), and decisions can be willful and hasty as well as deliberate. If the problem is that lots of people support Roe in the abstract but think it’s too easy to get an abortion and too many women who have them are heedless sluts, it won’t be long before “personal decision” sounds as lightweight as “choice,” and “you’re not in her shoes” summons up visions of Carrie Bradshaw’s Manolos.

Meanwhile, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo got a standing ovation when he thundered, “It’s her body! It’s her choice!” while introducing a ten-point women’s rights agenda in his State of the State address. There’s life in the old word yet.

 There's only one better: Dr. George Tiller's "Trust Women."

Abortion on Demand. No questions asked, free of charge, unrestricted and available on every street corner Abortion. On. Demand.

Anything less is a denial of human rights.