The C is for Crank
Dear Nicole Brodeur: There Is No Such Thing as a "Cheerleader for Abortions"
In her column for the Seattle Times
today, Nicole Brodeur ostensibly comes to the defense of Planned Parenthood, arguing that the Washington State senate should restore proposed cuts to state family-planning services provided by the state Department of Health. Noting that abortions account for just three percent of the services Planned Parenthood provides, Brodeur says it's time to "put aside the abortion debate," adding pointedly that she, for one, isn't one of those "cheerleader[s] for the [abortion] procedure."
I can't put this more plainly: No one is a "cheerleader for abortion." Not abortion providers, not the one in three American women who will have at least one abortion by the age of 45, not feminists like me who believe the procedure should be far more widely available than it is.
[pullquote] Women, contrary to what the anti-choicers would have you believe, aren't stupid. We don't wake up one day and decide to get pregnant because we think abortion is fun.[/pullquote]
Women, contrary to what the anti-choicers would have you believe, aren't stupid. We don't wake up one day and decide to get pregnant because we think abortion is fun. We don't jump at the chance to spend hundreds of dollars on an invasive medical procedure that isn't covered by most insurance plans. Those who live in the 87 percent of US counties with no abortion providers don't look forward to traveling out of town at at their own expense (for several days, in the 23 states with mandatory waiting periods) to get an abortion. We don't relish the thought of sitting through ponderous explanations of how pregnancy works, followed by indoctrination sessions at "crisis pregnancy centers," as many states now require. We don't get off on being threatened and verbally abused by protesters. We don't enjoy being told we'll probably get cancer, or have "post-abortion syndrome," or commit suicide if we go through with our choice.
So why do women get abortions? As with any significant medical decision, the reasons vary. Nearly two-thirds of women who get abortions already have children and may not be able to afford a larger family (and want the children they already have to have more opportunities to succeed). Many women have abortions because it isn't the right time to have a child---because they're still in school, or in debt, or single, or simply too young or not ready to start a family. Others have abortions because they're in abusive relationships, or because they became pregnant because of of rape or incest, or because the pregnancy was coerced. In some cases, women abort wanted pregnancies because carrying the pregnancy to term threatens their life or health, or because the fetus has a serious health condition. And in other cases, women get pregnant because they lack access to birth control, which can cost hundreds of dollars a year.
These are far from the only reasons women choose abortion, but they do encompass a lot of them---and none involve "cheerleading" for the procedure. Harmless-seeming or not, that narrative---that people who support abortion rights really want women to have as many abortions as possible---contributes to the insidious notion that women should be protected from abortion promoters at all costs, through laws that whittle away our ability to obtain them.
I can't put this more plainly: No one is a "cheerleader for abortion." Not abortion providers, not the one in three American women who will have at least one abortion by the age of 45, not feminists like me who believe the procedure should be far more widely available than it is.
[pullquote] Women, contrary to what the anti-choicers would have you believe, aren't stupid. We don't wake up one day and decide to get pregnant because we think abortion is fun.[/pullquote]
Women, contrary to what the anti-choicers would have you believe, aren't stupid. We don't wake up one day and decide to get pregnant because we think abortion is fun. We don't jump at the chance to spend hundreds of dollars on an invasive medical procedure that isn't covered by most insurance plans. Those who live in the 87 percent of US counties with no abortion providers don't look forward to traveling out of town at at their own expense (for several days, in the 23 states with mandatory waiting periods) to get an abortion. We don't relish the thought of sitting through ponderous explanations of how pregnancy works, followed by indoctrination sessions at "crisis pregnancy centers," as many states now require. We don't get off on being threatened and verbally abused by protesters. We don't enjoy being told we'll probably get cancer, or have "post-abortion syndrome," or commit suicide if we go through with our choice.
So why do women get abortions? As with any significant medical decision, the reasons vary. Nearly two-thirds of women who get abortions already have children and may not be able to afford a larger family (and want the children they already have to have more opportunities to succeed). Many women have abortions because it isn't the right time to have a child---because they're still in school, or in debt, or single, or simply too young or not ready to start a family. Others have abortions because they're in abusive relationships, or because they became pregnant because of of rape or incest, or because the pregnancy was coerced. In some cases, women abort wanted pregnancies because carrying the pregnancy to term threatens their life or health, or because the fetus has a serious health condition. And in other cases, women get pregnant because they lack access to birth control, which can cost hundreds of dollars a year.
These are far from the only reasons women choose abortion, but they do encompass a lot of them---and none involve "cheerleading" for the procedure. Harmless-seeming or not, that narrative---that people who support abortion rights really want women to have as many abortions as possible---contributes to the insidious notion that women should be protected from abortion promoters at all costs, through laws that whittle away our ability to obtain them.
