Blog for Choice

Today is the thirty-fourth anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, as well as the second annual Blog For Choice event. So, why am I pro-choice?

I came very late to the whole abortion debate, basically because I wasn't very politically active as an undergrad and my feminist training was in IR, social policy and economics. So I was quite ignorant of the exact laws and debates, although I always knew I was pro-choice. I had always presumed that if I needed to get an abortion then I just would. I would just walk into a sexual health clinic and say that I had decided that I wanted one and then, presumably, I would have one. It would be a pain but I would be fine. I didn't believe then, and I don't believe now, that having children is my main purpose in life, so I would get on with things I did want to do.

So fair to say, I was very surprised to find out that in the UK I would need to convince two doctors that my (mental or physical) health would be worse if I had a child than if I had an abortion. That basically, in terms of UK abortion law, I did not have the right to make a decision about my own body, but that this right could be extended to (mostly male) medical practitioners. Shocked, I thought things might have been different back home in Australia, but no, the situation is the same there and what little rights we have are constantly under threat by an anti-woman Catholic health minister.

Current abortion law is disgusting and infantilizing on so many levels, but I am primarily pro-choice because I believe bodily integrity, the right to make decisions about one's own body, is a fundamental human right; and that anything less than abortion on demand is therefore unacceptable. Yes, I said abortion on 'demand' rather than 'request', because I certainly don't 'request' any other basic human rights. I don't think we should shy away from using strong language in feminism either!

So on the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade I'd just like to thank all those feminists before me who got us this far, and pledge that in the future I will do my best to bring things forward.

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There is also a fab post about blogging for choice on Alternet by Feministing's Jessica Valenti. Just go here