Another shambolic abortion article

I am boycotting weekend newspapers because they are literally eating into my social life, but this morning this little gem from the Observer was waiting in my inbox. It's your standard 'I became pregnant and am now questioning my pro-choice stance so I'm going to go to the American South and talk to some nutters for a cheap Channel 4 TV show' waste of time. Though she ultimately retains her pro-choice stance there are so many dodgy arguments and rhetorical devices in this piece - it's an utter shambles. Still framing the debate in terms of birth/death (what the hell has her grandma dying got to do with abortion?) rather than women's reproductive rights and bodily integrity. Blah!

Dodgiest parts below:

Throughout my twenties and the better part of my thirties, I did everything that was required for me not to have a child (other than, you know, not having sex). I wasn't always safe - I've necked morning-after pills like vitamin tablets - but I was lucky enough not to end up in a situation where I was pregnant and didn't want to be.

Unhelpful!

And I'm a feminist. I have more than one Andrea Dworkin book and I'm not ashamed of that.

A copy of Andrea Dworkin is not a definitive feminist ID

My questions weren't being answered in the UK, where abortion isn't really talked about. So I decided to go to America, where abortion is a hot, divisive and political topic.

Err, I think a number of recent UK Ten Minute Rule Bills might suggest otherwise .....

I hung out with Roy outside the clinic as he confronted young, mostly black, women coming in for a termination and tried to persuade them to turn back. It wasn't a comfortable morning. 'Shame on you, coming in here with a cross around your neck!' Roy shouted at one poor girl. 'Are you going to nail your baby to the cross?' Despite his appalling hectoring, I quite liked Roy.

Yeah, he sounds like a really nice guy ...

Watch the madness on More4 this Wednesday 10.30pm.

Nadine Dorries blog

Stare into those vacant eyes if you dare ...

Ever since I did some pro-choice work mobilising against her crazy anti-choice Ten Minute Rule Bill I have become dangerously obsessed with Conservative MP Nadine Dorries' blog. If you want a really good example of how feminist discourses are re-appropriated via the 'we are just concerned for women's (mental) health' argument then view some of her entries here.

Although I must admit I agree with her 'Too Posh to Push' entry. However, it seems she is continuing with her mandatory 'cooling-off period' anti-choice offensive ...grrr. I am sooo tired of defending the limited gains we have made - this energy could be better used to push things forward. You know, to a stage were women had rights over their own bodies. Double grr.