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abortion does not advance equality for women


little2add

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little2add

Is abortion necessary to achieve female equality? The Supreme Court embraced this notion in the 1992 case Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which upheld Roe v. Wade based in part on the claim that Americans had developed a “reliance interest” in the continued legality of abortion:

For two decades of economic and social developments, people have organized intimate relationships and made choices that define their views of themselves and their places in society, in reliance on the availability of abortion in the event that contraception should fail. The ability of women to participate equally in the economic and social life of the Nation has been facilitated by their ability to control their reproductive lives.1

But this text betrays one of the fundamental problems with leaning on abortion as necessary for female equality. Abortion enables society to avoid structuring “the economic and social life of the Nation” in a way that takes seriously the reality of female biology. There is a fundamental asymmetry in how men and women experience reproduction. In the simplest terms: women get pregnant and men do not. Readily available abortion offers only the illusion of equality, extending to women the chance to “participate equally” in society and the economy without requiring society to take female embodiment seriously. Abortion offers women the chance to participate on par with men, but only on men’s terms and by becoming more like them.

Abortion allows the employers to take the male body as the norm and view female fertility as a problem to be solved, rather than an important reality around which to structure social relations. This mindset encourages mothers to view their children as antagonists and allows men to view women as always sexually available without any requirement of marital commitment or promise of stability.

In recent decades, women have indeed made important strides toward greater equality. More women engage in professional work and elite women have greater employment flexibility; meanwhile, greater numbers of fathers engage in caring for their children. But none of these developments are due to the widespread availability of abortion.

There is little reason to believe that abortion has been a major reason that women have been able to achieve greater educational and career success. An analysis of labor, education, and poverty statistics reveals that even as abortion rates have steadily decreased since peaking shortly after Roe, women’s college-graduation rates and workforce participation have continued to increase.2 Between 1980 and 2017, the U.S. abortion rate decreased by more than 50 percent, but over that same period, women have made major advancements, even relative to men, according to several economic, professional, and academic metrics.3 For example, even as the abortion rate has dropped, women’s per capita earnings have increased, and the income gap between men and women has narrowed.4 Today, women earn a higher percentage of bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees than men.5 In fact, women have maintained a bigger share of these degrees for more than a decade and outnumber men in graduate programs 141 to 100.6

In short, women have achieved significant gains in social equality and opportunity, even as abortion has declined. Future progress in equality for women should take seriously the realities of female embodiment and the asymmetrical burdens that pregnant women bear. Using abortion to make women more like men does not advance the cause of women’s equality.

 

 

 

https://eppc.org/publication/abortion-and-womens-equality/

Just now, little2add said:

Using abortion to make women more like men does not advance the cause of women’s equality.

:heart:

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little2add
Posted (edited)
On 3/17/2024 at 3:31 PM, little2add said:

Using abortion to make women more like men does not advance the cause of women’s equality.

Calling abortion  healthcare  does not advance the cause of women's equality or (spiritual ) health, for that matter.

Edited by little2add
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Article - interesting, and not long - from Word on Fire describing how the rhetoric used to justify slavery is essentially the same as the rhetoric used to justify abortion. Basically, the slavery argument was: Slavery is necessary so that white people can live the lives they're entitled to (thinking, creating, etc. rather than laboring) and, these days, Abortion is necessary so that women can live the lives they're entitled to. https://www.wordonfire.org/articles/abortion-slavery-and-the-image-of-god/

 

Edited by Luigi
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little2add

Allowing biological males to compete in female professional sports does not advance the cause of women's equality or advance feminism , for that matter.

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little2add
Posted (edited)

The White House has declared March 31, 2024 , Easter Sunday , the  holiest and most sacred day of the year by Proclamation to be “Transgender Day of Visibility” 

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 31, 2023, as Transgender Day of Visibility. 
 

 

 

isn’t that special?

Edited by little2add
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Nunsuch
16 hours ago, little2add said:

The White House has declared March 31, 2024 , Easter Sunday , the  holiest and most sacred day of the year by Proclamation to be “Transgender Day of Visibility” 

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 31, 2023, as Transgender Day of Visibility. 
 

 

 

isn’t that special?

For the record, Transgender Day of Visibility is ALWAYS on March 31. Yes, it falls on the same day as Easter this year. But this is not President Biden's doing, and it is simply uninformed to allege that this is some sort of nefarious plot. For the record, I suspect is it President Biden, and not former President Trump, who attended Easter services this (and every) year.

 

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little2add
6 hours ago, Nunsuch said:

it is simply uninformed

according to " https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/03/29/a-proclamation-on-transgender-day-of-visibility-2024/ " 

it is, in fact, President Joe Biden's doing.

6 hours ago, Nunsuch said:

Transgender Day of Visibility is ALWAYS on March 31.

true, but today is the first time

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tinytherese

Feminists for Life of America is a group that says that you can be pro-woman and pro-life. "Abortion is a reflection that we have not met the needs of women. Women deserve better than abortion. Refuse to choose." Susan B. Anthony and other early American feminists were pro-life.

https://www.feministsforlife.org/about-us/

 

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Nunsuch
15 hours ago, little2add said:

according to " https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/03/29/a-proclamation-on-transgender-day-of-visibility-2024/ " 

it is, in fact, President Joe Biden's doing.

true, but today is the first time

Today is the first time WHAT? That the two coincided? Yes. But to allege, as you have, that somehow President Biden was engaged in a nefarious plot to undermine Easter is beyond disingenuous. And I ask you again, between him and Trump, who actually went to church? And who actually issued a meaningful Easter message? 

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4566351-heres-what-trump-and-biden-said-easter/

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little2add
3 hours ago, Nunsuch said:

President Biden was engaged in a nefarious plot

It's a fact that he put out the proclamation declaring Easter Sunday "Transgender Day of Visibility." Now it may be he's trying to say he himself didn't set that date; it was recognized/marked on that date previously, but he's the first occupant of the Oval Office to put out a proclamation about it, and he's done it for the past four years. So he can't deny that he did it this year on Easter, which is what he seems to be doing here. 

BTW: Transgenders have 1,001 problems, but lack of visibility ain't one of 'em.

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Nunsuch
2 hours ago, little2add said:

It's a fact that he put out the proclamation declaring Easter Sunday "Transgender Day of Visibility." Now it may be he's trying to say he himself didn't set that date; it was recognized/marked on that date previously, but he's the first occupant of the Oval Office to put out a proclamation about it, and he's done it for the past four years. So he can't deny that he did it this year on Easter, which is what he seems to be doing here. 

BTW: Transgenders have 1,001 problems, but lack of visibility ain't one of 'em.

"Transgenders" isn't a word. And their mere existence is not a "problem." 

Biden has issued a proclamation every year since he became president. The fact that the day fell on Easter this year is not his doing. Meanwhile, I ask you to compare what he said in his Easter message, as opposed to Donald Trump. Or do you only notice what is convenient to your agenda?

And it was NOT President Biden who "declared" March 31 to be Transgender Day of Visibility. That has been the established date since 2009. Facts matter.

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little2add
17 hours ago, Nunsuch said:

"Transgenders" isn't a word."

 

The term "transgenders" covers a range of gender identities and gender expressions. The term moves past the idea that all people can be classified as only one of two genders — female or male.  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BTW: according to the merriam-webster dictionary,  transgender(s) is a word.

"Transgenders"  of, relating to, or being a person whose gender identity differs from the sex the person was identified as having at birth

especially  : of, relating to, or being a person whose gender identity is opposite the sex the person was identified as having at birth

just saying

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little2add

Biden may not have designated Mar. 31 originally, but he chose to elevate it over Easter this year. For that he is responsible and should be denigrated.

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little2add

Abortion is not reproductive healthcare
 

signed, Captain obvious

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