"But, just as I told you before, the fool sees his neighbor's peccadillo and fails to see his own enormous crime." - Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies
"Which would you rather be, a boy or a girl?" I asked my older brother.
"A boy, of course," he said.
"Why?"
"Girls bleed, they have babies which is really painful, and they're stupid and weak," he explained, exposing his twelve-year-old, second-hand-experiences, and hearsay wisdom
I was puzzled. What about the Virgin Mary? What about all of the women saints? What about our mother? What about the nuns and teachers at school? What about Mrs. Lawler, the cafeteria lady? I saw the faces of so many women who contributed good things to my world that my brother's comments seemed wrong and false. In his mind men were superior
As I grew older, I realized this male superiority complex is prevalent and my brother's complex was pretty tame compared to the right wing conservative men in today's U.S. House of Representatives. Men and women voters elected these men to represent, protect and serve their needs, not feed their egos, grandstand, and create needless drama.
What purpose does H.R. 3 and H. Res 237 serve but to broadcast to women that their role in life is to bleed, have babies, be stupid and weak. These men must protect the unborn from the culture of death inhabited by demented women, even and especially those women who will deceive the government by crying "rape." These men advocate a small, less intrusive government which allows gun owners, weapons manufacturers, job creators (aka corporations), bankers...you get the picture...less oversight and more privacy. But, women!!! Society must be protected from women who choose legal abortions. Why? (See brother's answer above.)
Women are made to bleed so they may reproduce. Women are made to suffer excruciating pain so they may keep the human race going. Before birth control, women were weakened and died from too many pregnancies. Before abortion was legalized, desperate women sought back alley abortions and often died from them to avoid unwanted pregnancies. Today, a woman's life is not all about preparing to be pregnant, being pregnant, giving birth, and preparing to be pregnant again. Today, women do not have to bleed, nor do they have to deliver babies. Thanks to Margaret Sanger and other feminist pioneers who were not only concerned with women's equality in the workplace, but more concerned with a women's right to be healthy.
Women have a right to be healthy. Giving birth is a personal health issue not a political football. My life is more important than that of a fetus. If my mental, physical or emotional health is endangered due to a pregnancy, I may choose to end the pregnancy. The reverse is also true. A woman may choose to go ahead with a pregnancy even if it kills her.
H.R. 3 intrudes into this difficult decision making process. It dismisses the health risks associated with pregnancy. It denigrates women who do not want to take the health risk because they are too young, victims of incest, poor, or incapable of caring for an infant. It is a steaming pile of legislative crap created by hysterical chest beaters who have no business representing serious men and women faced with feeding, clothing, housing, educating, and parenting children today.
I keep trying to think of a scenario similar to women's reproductive rights. Something that these chest beaters might grasp. All I can come up with is a man's choice to enlist and fight a war, or not enlist. Like child birth, there are good reasons to enlist. Like childbirth, there are serious health concerns, but the statistics are in favor of surviving the ordeal. Now, what if a group of women legislators, penalized men for not enlisting. What if this difficult decision making process was proscribed by law - IRS audits, no federal health care funding, private insurance company oversight, parental consent....yadda, yadda - how would men feel?
Then again, these people are pretty heartless. Look how they take care of the children already born in this country. The republican voting record when it comes to children's issues is terrible. Finding a beating heart among the drama kings is hard, but finding any productive reasoning, is almost impossible.
May all women know love and peace.
