The Fuck You Friday Award Goes to Oklahoma

Oklahoma has indicted itself as aggressively hateful and distrustful of women with the passage of strict abortion laws that would require all women seeking abortions, even those who have become pregnant as the result of rape to have an intra-vaginal ultrasound BEFORE they can receive an abortion. Furthermore, the woman must listen to the doctor describe the fetus during this procedure.

I always feel it’s necessary for me to expose the specifics of my bias before ranting. I do not believe any woman should be forced to go through an invasive and medically unnecessary procedure designed to increase her guilt and shame regarding abortion regardless of her motives for seeking one. Women know what abortion is and forcing them to go through such a procedure reeks of a general disrespect, distrust, and dislike of women.

Having said that, I do understand and respect the points of those who oppose abortion in instances of straightforward, unwanted pregnancy (i.e. birth control failure or drunken oversight). I still believe strongly that women should have access to elective abortion in those circumstances; and I think the pro-life movement misrepresents women who seek elective abortions as misinformed, bullied, flippant, immoral, selfish, cold, lost, etc…when in truth, the great majority of women who seek abortions do so with a heavy heart and with understanding and profound consideration of their circumstances. In fact, according to the Guttmacher Institute’s statistics on abortion, 60% of women getting abortions, are moms struggling to take care of the children they already have. They get abortions out of concern for the lives of those existing children, not out of the selfish desire for a childless existence, as the pro-life movement would have you believe. I believe presenting images of women who have abortions without respect to statistics is irresponsible and unfair. Still, I do understand and respect the reasoning behind the counterpoint in instances of straightforward unwanted pregnancy; and I believe that people can disagree with my position on elective abortion and still be sensible, thoughtful human beings.

But I do not understand a point of view that supports legislation that treats pregnancies resulting from rape, incest or abuse, the same as straightforward unwanted pregnancies. Such blanket application of abortion law is not based on concern for the potential lives of the fetus. It is based on misogynistic desire to control the living, breathing, realized lives and bodies of women and girls. And I suspect pro-life supporters who fail to allow any nuance in their opposition to abortion for these circumstances are solely motivated by a quiet disdain for women and girls and not true concern for the unborn.

As this pertains to the new laws in Oklahoma, I assert that forcing someone, who has endured criminal violation of their reproductive system, to first go through an invasive, medically unnecessary procedure before they can receive an abortion, when the sole underlying purpose of that procedure is to elicit shame and guilt about having that abortion, is tantamount to a state sponsored second victimization. Endorsing a second victimization suggests an under-valuation of the severity of the first victimization; and that should frighten all women and the men who value them.

The second part of the law, which prohibits women from suing doctors who lie to them about the details of their pregnancy because truthful information might lead to a choice to terminate the pregnancy, is an even grosser example of an over-handed desire to control women’s lives. That’s right ladies, in Oklahoma, a doctor can lie to you about YOUR body in order to control YOUR decisions…and you will have no right to sue him for misinforming you. This is a serious and sad low in anti-women policy. So take to your streets and your blogs and your classrooms and wherever else and speak the fuck up. Silence in the face of the enactment of such horrifying regressive misogynistic policies is not an option!