Mar 9

Black Says Something Worth Thinking About

So, Tiny Pasture is still all up in arms comparing Camper to Campfield, because Camper dares to make men consider what it would mean if their reproductive decisions were at the whim of the state–Dear Adam, that discomfort you feel?  Like “who the fuck is this woman to even suggest messing with my junk?” That’s what we feel when the State wants to dictate what we do with our bodies.

Oh, and you know folks are all, “But an abortion isn’t analagous to a vasectomy!  It’s the same as having your tubes tied.”  But here’s the interesting part.  Look at what Representative Black says about getting your tubes tied, “and she can do that without anyone’s consent.”

But you don’t need anyone’s consent to have an abortion either.

Yet.

10 thoughts on “Black Says Something Worth Thinking About”

  1. I’ve read this post like three times, trying to figure out what’s bothering me about it. The thing is, I guess, it isn’t (as I’m sure you know) just about the state dictating what we do with our bodies, it’s the entire cultural thing about reproduction. I mean, I guess a woman in TN can get her tubes tied without consent. But I had mine tied on the west coast, where lesbians get married have abortions all the the time just to prove how liberal they are, and in order to get this procedure done, I had to go through a year of counseling, and two psychological evaluations. Why? Because I don’t have any children. If I’d had children, they would have just done it, but since I didn’t, I had to have a psych eval, to make I understood what it meant to not have children. This is in blue state. So I can’t imagine, even without legislation, that women necessarily have any more control over their choices in TN. Or rather, can simple make choices and not face ridiculous roadblocks to those choices.

    I agree we need to make sure none of our reproductive choices are made by the state, or are taken away from us. But also shouldn’t we, as women, be thinking about what we need to do to own those choices, even when they aren’t legislated? I mean most of this is trickle down socio-cultural stuff becoming law right? Should we also be trying to figure out how to undermine the socio-cultural stuff too, not just the laws?

    And HA! Yes, right that was only barely related to your post, it just got me thinking, is all.

  2. Which raises the question of whether a woman can get her tubes tied without consent in this state. I wouldn’t be so sure.

  3. No, but it’s a good point. I read a blog post this morning from a woman here in Tennessee who tried to obtain a 2nd trimester abortion for her dying fetus and who had to, instead, wait for the pregnancy to miscarry and she’s now trying to get pro-life Republicans to understand that women like her–unlike those women who have abortions out of “convenience”–really need to be able to have abortions.

    And I was pissed off, but decided not to link to her, because she lost a baby she deeply wanted and I didn’t want to add to her suffering.

    But I wanted to say to her that she has no idea why other women have abortions and it’s not her place to judge what is “convenient” and what is not. After all, wanting to abort your fetus so that you don’t have to watch your baby suffer for the few minutes it lives outside your womb is seen by some as a “convenience,” too.

    But the thing I keep coming back to is that we have the abortion debate as if ever woman is physically capable of bringing every pregnancy to term and that any woman who’s had an abortion is therefore selfish.

    I think we do that because to acknowledge other truths really sucks. Many women abort pregnancies that they very much would rather carry to term. How cruel is it to say to a woman whose baby has no chance of surviving outside her womb that she can’t spare it suffering? How cruel is it to say to a woman who might be choosing between aborting one fetus or losing them all that she can’t make that choice?

    We as a State always have this debate as if the two choices women face are having an abortion or having a baby. And we never stop to consider what the laws we make do to women who are pregnant but aren’t going to have a living baby.

  4. And what NM said, while I was typing. Some of y’all have had experience with this, I’m sure. Did your doctor want to know that your spouse was okay with your decision?

  5. I’m becoming increasingly angry concerning laws that protect me from myself. Can we please, at some point, let Freedom ring.

  7. I’m afraid that Tennessee is going to turn me into a revolutionary. Kind of like the first time I heard Rage Against the Machine back in the day and wanted to burn everything down and start over.

    Serioursly, though, when will the righties realize that we have a burgeoning global depression to deal with and drop the social issues, at least for the duration of the emergency?

  8. I just don’t think they will. I am more and more convinced that they think that Jesus will save us if only we straighten up and, by god, they’re going to force us to straighten up.

    Oh, hey, a supposed Marine sniper stopped by in that SS tattoo thread over the weekend, which you might be interested in.

  9. Thanks. I’ll look at. By the way, you passed you sickness on to me, and it’s spring break to boot.

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