Be for women's rights, reproductive health & privacy and make choices appropriate in your life

[omega minimo]

Be for women's rights, reproductive health and privacy and make the choices that are appropriate in your life.

Who makes your decisions for you? Your spouse, your boss, your church, your circumstances, your government? Who has dominion over your life, your decisions, your body?

So many decades later, the word "choose" or "choice" may be a stumbling block for some. Women are perceived as more liberated than before. The fact remains that women are not equal in this country, in terms of socioeconomic status or rights to reproductive health and privacy.

Women are largely left out of the equation of reproductive health discussions, as if they are incidental to -- rather than vital and in charge of -- the process. Due to the controversies over sex education in schools, many people are ignorant about the reproductive process.

The biggest point that may be missed in the passionate urge to express opinions on the topic is: it's none of your business. Unless it is you and your family, it's none of your business.

That is not an affront. That is a fact. If women had equal rights and socioeconomic status to men, it wouldn't even be a question. If men got pregnant, it wouldn't be a question. So anyone who finds reproductive privacy a personal affront, please take a breath and imagine simply affording other people the respect they reasonably -- and legally -- require.

Until not that long ago, women were property of men, without rights, without voices, without choices. Decision making power and socioeconomic status was the domain of males. Childbirth and domestic labor was the duty of women. Up to and including the 1960'-70's, when women's rights struggles peaked, those attitudes and laws were in place. Some still are.

Women's socioeconomic status in 2009 is still unequal to males. The circumstances that made women fight for the right to choose their reproductive life path have been altered, not changed.

If more people better understood the reproductive process; if more people quit ignoring the woman and pretending she is not vital to the process; if more people accepted and respected that someone else's reproductive health and life is none of their business -- the discussion would be much briefer and much simpler:

Woman are not incubators. They shall not remain second class citizens. They shall have reproductive health and privacy rights. They shall have equal opportunity BY LAW to provide for themselves and their families.

[noiretextatique]

1. bravo

:applause: it's none of your fng business...unless it's your body.
some people really need to understand that.

[omega minimo]

5. worth a try

to convey it in a way that might get through............... :hi:

[noiretextatique]

6. thank you for trying

very eloquent and direct. i hope it sinks into some dense (and denser) matter :hi:

[omega minimo]

9. simple might help

:pals:

[get the red out]

2. Excellent! Agree completely

We need to keep abortion safe and legal and guarantee access to contraception for all women. We cannot have any discussion concerning reducing the need for abortions without guaranteeing that people have access to birth control.

Women and men need to be equals so both can contribute their best talents to our society.

[omega minimo]

3. yup

:toast:

[ejpoeta]

7. well I always believed that what was meant was that women should

have the tools and education available to them to prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place, thus making them less needed. safe, legal and rare is supposed to mean that women have the education and access to contraception in the first place.

[omega minimo]

10. Well put. Look at all these lucid comments!!

:bounce:

[get the red out]

16. Some don't realize the tools are at risk

It is easy to overlook that contraception, which I have personally taken for granted for the past 25 years of my life, is under fire from the right as well (and at risk). So I am just trying to fit that into my comment in as nice of a way as possible.

[omega minimo]

17. Only today

did I realize the connection (and benefit to anti-repro-health fanatics) the connection b/w LACK of sex ed in schools and IGNORANCE about the reproductive process.

[ejpoeta]

18. that's ok. i have taken it for granted and never realized these jerks were trying

to take that away from me too. Not until I heard of these renegade pharmacists who were refusing to provide these pills to women. How is that right!! What would happen if I was a vegetarian or something and refused to allow someone to buy meat?!! I would get fired!! That is so ridiculous. And it is true a lot of us just assume that we are not going to lose our birth control pills. I want my kids when the time comes to friggin have access to friggin birth control pills!! I have taken great pains to encourage my daughters thirst for knowledge and education. And she wants to be a vulcanologist, which I realize will probably change since she is only 10 right now... but damnit. i want her to be able to pursue her dreams and be whatever she wants to be!! And while I would like them to wait to get serious with anyone, which is part of my making sure she sees herself as smart and not so worried about her looks.... I do understand how things can happen and I want to make sure that if she ends up doing anything she is able to protect herself. I was 23 when I met my now husband and we got involved. I realize that perhaps that is some kind of anomaly these days... we were each other's firsts. but I also realize how many times I could have put myself into some bad situations, some of them because i was very naive. Don't ask!!

[omega minimo]

19. It's outrageous and hypocritical. On what other issue are people allowed to REFUSE to do their job?

Another example of the lowered status and rights of women.

:thumbsdown:


Thank you for your posts. You sound like a great parent. :yourock: Volcanoes are cool!!

[get the red out]

50. You are a good parent

You sound just like my sister regarding her two girls. She also married her first love at a young age; but is also very liberal and wants her children to be protected and knows their paths may be different from hers.

I will be 45 next month, and I doubt those monsters will be able to come and forcibly remove my IUD prior to menopause. But when I think of the world they want for my two little nieces I get so angry I could scream. The idea that they would see those two precious, brilliant little girls as nothing but potential wombs makes me ill.

[ejpoeta]

4. the problem is that people think that what we as women do is their business.

they think that their ideas should be thrust upon us whether we like it or not. and there are people who still believe that women are subservient to men. I know, I heard them say it. At MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) which even though they have their meetings in a church they claim to not push religious stuff, but they do... at least the one I went to. And many women there who homeschooled their kids and had several... felt that the men were in charge and they were second. NO thanks, i say. But there are those that think that. and they think that everything we do is their business. Because we are women, and that is our purpose is to have kids. They offer no clue of how we are supposed to feed or clothe the kids, but we are supposed to have them.

[omega minimo]

8. odd

many folks don't realize how regressive the times are for women.

[lunatica]

11. Regressive times for women - this photo will remind them

[omega minimo]

14. What glass ceiling?

[noiretextatique]

32. was talking to a coworker yesterday

and she mentioned that she wanted her troubled nephew to come and stay with her family, but her husband said no. now, i actually agree with her husband, but knowing how religious she is, i believe her husband's word is law in their house. can you imagine?!?! i can't. my dad was pretty old-fashioned, but she raised three independent daughters. i'll be damned if i "submit" to anyone's opinion as if it is more significant than my own.

[musette_sf]

12. K&R

[BOSSHOG]

13. This 50-something slightly overweight, somewhat balding

yet extremely attractive white male (think Sean Connery) who has been happily married for 35+ years is onboard with you 100%.

What is the last positive thing that has happened to our country because of conservative values?

[omega minimo]

15. good question

I had a fantasy that Republicans or Conservatives with integrity -- if there were any -- would speak up to justify the existence of the party and kick the ass of the weaselly neo-con professional liars that took over with Reagan....

Apparently, there aren't any. :shrug:

[noiretextatique]

20. that other thread was a flamefest

:kick: i guess people prefer that

[omega minimo]

21. LOL

LOL :rofl: :rofl: ow :rofl:


Oh you got me good with that one. :spray: :yourock:

[noiretextatique]

22. sorry

:+

[omega minimo]

24. Worth every *cough* *choke* OMG -- and TRUE! Affirmations not so sexy here, eh?

:spray:

[EFerrari]

31. Having finally gotten completely clear on this issue

it takes more self control than I have not to respond.

But, you're right and the OP is right on.

:kick:

[noiretextatique]

33. i was surprised by all handwringing in that thread

how in the hell is attempting to control the choices women can make NOT anti-woman?

[EFerrari]

34. Yep. Maybe it's the kind of lightbulb that has to go on directly into your face

before you get it. :)

[omega minimo]

39. "how in the hell is attempting to control the choices women can make NOT anti-woman?"

:rofl: :shrug: :crazy: :freak:

[noiretextatique]

45. right...no matter how much you try to parse it

it's still anti-woman :hi:

[omega minimo]

46. We need the ERA. They "parse" b/c women are not considered equal.

:bounce:

[omega minimo]

38. it helped me see that no-sex-ed = ignorant, uninformed opinions

about the PROCESS of gesation which occurs inside a WOMAN'S body.


That "woman vs. fetus" VS. "person vs. person" insanity was too much for me.

[EFerrari]

40. The other night I was trying to come up with a comparison

that affected everyone.

What if the right wing religious nutcases believed heart attacks were God calling you home? Does the call come when your blood pressure goes out of control? Should doctors that provide bypasses be stalked? Is the sanctity of life violated by CPR?

That's the level of ignorance we're looking at here. And the level of entitlement over the very most basic right of another -- the right to access the best medical care available.

The rationalizations get convoluted but it's actually pretty simple. Health care is good. lol

[omega minimo]

42. Toby Keith?

"What if the right wing religious nutcases believed heart attacks were God calling you home?"

Sounds like a country song :spray:

Yeah, it's hard to find a metaphor because there's only one gender that creates life inside the body.

And some folks think they have a say over that life as long as it's in that genders body.

Some even say that life is more important than that gender.

[EFerrari]

43. Women are too nice. I say, fuck 'em.

:rofl:

[noiretextatique]

44. i'm not nice

fuck 'em...and the holy horse they rode in on :rofl:

[omega minimo]

47. Fuck em if they can't take a Supreme Court decision

:bounce:

[Mushroom]

49. Fuck 'em n/t

[Stellabella]

23. Thank you! Eloquently said and well put.

And you're exactly right. It's amazing how many nosy people think they can make life decisions for other people.

[omega minimo]

25. Thank you! As we were just remarking

SO well put that the detractors and crazies are staying away! :boring:

[AllieB]

26. That other thread was ugly. Thank you for your OP.

I can't believe that I was reading a liberal/progressive message board. Some of the comments were straight out of the 19th century. Is misogyny allowed on DU?

[omega minimo]

28. "Is misogyny allowed on DU?"

:shrug:

[AllieB]

36. Well, I have noticed a lot of misogyny lately.

Every time there's a thread on abortion rites, or about girls doing better in school, there are voices from the 'men's movement', which quite frankly is a more in line with the RW than progressive ideals.

[omega minimo]

41. "which quite frankly is a more in line with the RW than progressive ideals..."

and very time-consuming. Even if there are some valid points or voices there, somehow the diversion ends up in it's-all-about-them, their perspective, their feelings...................... ok. Learn to share, then, eh?

[noiretextatique]

30. yes

[Mushroom]

48. DU comments

straight out of the 19th century...

HISTORY OF ABORTION

http://www.feminist.com/resources/ourbodies/abortion.html

"Many of us do not know what it was like to need an abortion before legalization. Women who could afford to pay skilled doctors or go to another country had the safest and easiest abortions. Most women found it difficult if not impossible to arrange and pay for abortions in medical settings.

With one exception, the doctors whom I asked for an abortion treated me with contempt, their attitudes ranging from hostile to insulting. One said to me, ``You tramps like to break the rules, but when you get caught you all come crawling for help in the same way.''"

Tone sound familiar?

[Lars39]

27. Excellent!

Can't get much plainer than that. :hi:

[omega minimo]

29. Hey you.

:hi: High praise, thanks!! :thumbsup:

[Texasgal]

35. EXCELLENT POST!

:thumbsup:

[omega minimo]

37. Welcome to the boring, commonsense, can't-we-all-get-along party!

:toast:

[Karenina]

51. So simple!

:hi: