Hello. I have a question about anti-choice views on DU.

[Lyric]

It's not permitted to publicly espouse a position against gay equality on DU, and I think that's a very good thing. GLBT DU'ers are an oppressed political minority, and permitting members to blatantly advocate against their basic human rights would be very painful for them to endure. The same is true for racial minorities on DU; the site policy does not permit members to publicly defend racist viewpoints like segregation and anti-miscegenation. These are obviously good, important policies that the vast majority of us agree with.

I would like to plead with you to include women; to extend those rules in order to protect the women of DU from the assault to their dignity and human rights that occurs every time someone here proudly proclaims his or her opposition to choice. What freedom do we have, if we lack even basic autonomy over our own bodies? The women's liberation movement fought hard for decades to make the gains that we have, and those gains are threatened more and more with every passing year. There is no rational reason for opposing choice; there is only the religious argument (God says abortion is wrong) and the sexist argument (Women are lesser than men, and do not deserve the same level of rights). Coincidentally, these are also the reasons that the right-wing uses to oppose gay equality. It hurts very much to see women treated "differently" here than other oppressed political minorities. I know that we are a big tent, but DU rejects that idea when it hurts other oppressed minorities. Why do women deserve lesser consideration and protection?

I am a gay woman, and on a personal level, it is deeply painful that my human rights are respected here on DU in terms of marriage and relationships, but not respected in terms of my basic human right to my own body. I know abortion is a complex issue; I know that it's difficult to determine where to draw the line. But it is entirely possible to discuss reproductive issues while maintaining a larger community standard of not permitting people to publicly declare themselves against choice, or worse--actively WORK against it.

I do hope that we can at least talk about this issue. Thank you in advance.

[Skinner]

1. I am certainly sympathetic to your point of view.

I am 100% pro-choice. And I do personally consider it a matter of equal rights for women.

But I am also a believer in the value of discussion, and I am very reluctant to censor any viewpoint unless there are no rational arguments at all to be made for it. I think, in the case of equal rights for gays or racial minorities or women (other than choice) or anyone else, the opposing side has no rational arguments at all.

I think it is not correct to say that the only arguments against choice are the two you mention (the "religious argument" and the "sexist argument"). If that were the case, we would not permit anyone to post anything anti-choice here, because both of those arguments are (in my opinion) utterly without merit. But I do not think we can completely disregard the opinion, stated in good faith, that perhaps some consideration should be given to the fetus when weighing the issue of abortion. That is a moral argument, but it is not an exclusively religious argument. I am absolutely not saying that I agree with that viewpoint, but I am saying that I think they at least have a point to make.

That's the thinking for why we do not completely disallow it. But I think everyone needs to understand that in practice, people on DU rarely express anti-choice views, and when they do they do not have a great deal of leeway about how they can express it. When someone does express ambivalence toward abortion, it is usually stated in almost apologetic terms. And rightly so, because if someone were to loudly or proudly proclaim his or her opposition to choice they would deeply offend almost everyone here. And if they might well earn themselves a tombstone. This is not an issue where we want to cut people a great deal of slack.