reproductive rights

I've never been attracted to books set in a world in which women have been stripped of their reproductive rights and function mainly as breeders. After all, I live in a very real society in which women's rights over their bodies are constantly being eroded. The right to family seems to not apply to those who are poor, of color and/or incarcerated. So why escape to a world in which all of these injustices have been magnified?

The cover of Dan Well's Partials depicts the back of a dark-haired girl of ambivalent skin color looking out over a wasteland. Nothing in the summary indicates that there are people of color in the book. To the jaded reader, Partials might very well be yet another book in which people of color have not survived the apocalypse. I wouldn't have picked up Partials for this blog series on race and gender in dystopia had my twelve-year-old daughter not read and recommended it, letting me know that the main character is <gasp> a girl of color. And she's not the only girl of color who's survived dystopia.

We as a nation just can’t seem to trust women to make their own choices, especially when their reproductive organs are involved.

It’s not earth-shattering to point out a good deal of language tossed around by our nation’s lawmakers, major media presences and religious institutions, is detrimental to the agency of women.  The wave of laws restricting abortion rights in 49 states often portray the woman as nothing more than a vessel for a fetus from the point of conception  

But recently, rhetoric has taken the issue even further. Current public education campaigns imply that we have a civic duty to tell women when they should get pregnant and reinforce the idea that pregnant women’s bodies are public property.

 

The North Dakota legislature approved a “personhood” measure for the ballot last week—if the governor signs off on the measure, voters will decide in 2014 if North Dakota should criminalize abortion and shut down the state’s only abortion-providing clinic.

These are the most restrictive laws proposed in the United States, but a slew of lesser restrictions have passed legislatures across the country in recent years.  While they’ll have real, personal impact if enacted, the bills serve another purpose: media stunt.

Finally: A smart book about abortion that doesn’t hew to a party line.

Sarah Erdreich’s Generation Roe: Inside the Future of the Pro-Choice Movement, is an incisive and comprehensive overview of the current state of the reproductive rights movement.

Last night’s episode of Call the Midwife veered away from the familiar topics of abortion and birth control and provided a reminder of something that often gets lost in policy discussions about reproductive health: In so many ways, these issues have to do with love. Reproductive health is about sexual relationships, the emotional turmoil of motherhood, and the promise of the future. It’s about the relationship women have to themselves, their spouses, and their families of origin. It has to do with economics, education, gender norms, and heteronormativity.

We know how the current Republicans party feels about abortion and free contraception. But what about the myriad of other reproductive health issues? Here are three questions for Republicans about women’s health that don’t have to do with preventing or terminating pregnancy.

If the "Women's Health and Safety Act," which defines pregnancy as beginning two weeks prior to conception, didn't freak you out four months ago, maybe this news will: On Thursday, Arizona Governor (and on-the-record Douchebag) Jan Brewer signed the bill. Stay douche-y, Brewer!


You look pregnant to me.

Stop. Link time. (It had to be said.)

• For RH Reality Check, Jaime Jenett bravely discusses her experiences as a non-biological lesbian parent of an ill child while enduring the daily hurt of Prop 8 stickers... and makes eloquent efforts to communicate with those who don't believe she deserves rights (reposted at AlterNet).
• Mother Jones offers advice on how to wade through media coverage of Osama bin Laden's death.
• Jane Laplain of Questioning Transphobia talks about trans* identity and the one-word-or-two-words question... and why it matters.
• ColorLines shares the Center for Reproductive Rights video "They're Coming for Roe."
• Shakesville provides an open thread on the results of Canada's election.
• Racialicious reports on the release of the book I Speak for Myself: American Women on Being Muslim, edited by Maria Ebrahimji and Zahra Suratwala, and featuring writing by Muslimah Media Watch editor Fatemeh Fakhraie.
• More feminist than Mulan? At Bitch Flicks, Whitney Mollenhauer takes notes on the film Tangled. Thoughts?
• Bitch contributor EvMaroon writes a letter to his future child about the United States of America's history and the death of bin Laden.
• At the Huffington Post, Stephanie Green praises the new adaptation of Jane Eyre. Have you seen it? What are your feelings?
• Jos from Feministing presents an anti-war poem from Palestinian and US-American poet and activist, Suheir Hammad.
• Monica at TransGriot reminds readers to make their nominations for the 2011 Black Weblog Awards by Saturday!
• Bitch contributor Jarrah Hodge comments on Twitter culture at Gender Focus.
• Ms. has a few suggestions on how to spend your Mother's Day weekend.
• And speaking of mothers, check out the Mama's Day campaign, celebrating immigrant, queer, poor, and single mothers by the Strong Families initiative. Watch their great video here!

Got comments or other pieces? Please share in the comments section!

When I talk about women's choices regarding children, pregnancy, and childbirth, someone usually asks about the men. Last month, I interviewed half a dozen men of varying ages, backgrounds, and life experience about why they never want to have children. A number of them had considered getting (or had already gotten) a vasectomy. The number one reason? It's easier (from a surgical/recovery standpoint) and cheaper than any option women have.

A fairly obvious question that I haven't addressed during this series is whether women have the right to be sterile. It seems like sort of an obvious one (if not with just one obvious answer) until you consider how we frame other discussions about women's health.

Do you think women know that non-invasive procedures like Essure are an option? Do you think childfree women have the same trouble securing any form of permanent birth control, no matter which type they want? Have you encountered resistance from medical professionals about sterilization options?