Reply #37: The debate needs to be gender-neutral and -inclusive...

[Jeebo]

I am solidly on the pro-choice side of the abortion debate, but I do object to some of the terminology we often use. When we call it "protecting a woman's right to choose," for example, I would much prefer gender-neutral and gender-inclusive language like "protecting the right of reproductive freedom." This language would recognize the many contributions BOTH genders make to child-bearing and child-rearing. Sure, the woman is the one who has to go through nine months of hard labor to birth a child, but the man is the one who has to go through 21 years of hard labor making child-support payments. BOTH genders have a vital role, BOTH genders have to make sacrifices, therefore BOTH genders have a say in whether they are going to become parents. That's why I believe calling it "a woman's right to choose" is sexist language -- anti-MALE sexist language because it excludes the man from his right to participate in the decision of whether they are to become parents, and also because it ignores and denies his role in the decades-long process of being a parent. I'm not attempting to deny anything to women here; I'm attempting to include BOTH men and women in this. And I do believe that if they can't agree, the woman has the final say, because of those nine months and the uniquely intimate thing that must be for a woman. I am sure that no man ever can truly understand that. In case you're wondering, I am a 55-year-old man who has never been a parent (a bicycle accident when I was 12 left me infertile -- I believe it was in my karma in this lifetime not to be a parent).

Ron