Hello Sean,
I found your views on abortion to be quite intriguing and the question of “Why are abortion and contraception an issue?” really made me want to look into the answer. Although you do make some valid points about how abortion is legal in Canada and so they have technically “won”, there is still a lot of controversy around the topic of abortion.
What is Human?
The US population is Split on Abortion
Contrary to your beliefs, I do not think abortion is a black or white issue, it is difficult to be either pro-choice or pro-life. This is why abortion remains to be taboo in popular culture and within society. The population within the US continues to have split positions on the issue of abortion. According to Gallup's 2011 update on U.S. abortion attitudes, attitudes are almost split 50/50, with pro-choice having only 4% more of the population's support.1 Clearly, there is a significant divide in the attitudes of the American people. In Canada, however, 52% of those polled consider themselves pro-choice, while 27% are pro-life, and another 23% either unresponsive, or neither, according to Ekospolitics.ca.2 In comparison between pro-life and pro-choice, there is an obvious gap with a large majority of pro-choicers, but many were unresponsive so I would not really call Canada an extremely liberal state just yet. Although Canada is more open to the issues of abortion compared to the US, most television shows broadcasted in Canada are American productions, therefore the topic of abortion will remain taboo until it is accepted.
Another interesting finding that the Gallup poll had uncovered is the question of morality and the percentage of Americans who find abortion to be a morally acceptable or unacceptable issue. According to poll, 51% of American's view abortion as morally wrong, while only 39% view it as morally acceptable (the article does not account for the missing 10%).1 With relation to these findings, it is clear that although individuals are more open to the pro-choice ideas, they still consider abortion to be a moral issue. This could also be a significant indicator of the continuous taboo of abortion in American culture.
Why Do Christians have More Abortions?
To take the issue of abortion a little further, I would like to think about an interesting statistic brought up in lecture- Christians and Anglicans have more abortions in the US than any other religious affiliation. There are obviously many reasons why women have abortions; "3/4 say that having a baby would interfere with work, school or other responsibilities; about 3/4 say they cannot afford a child; and 1/2 say they do not want to be a single parent or are having problems with their husband or partner".3 In regards to Christians, however, and their strong pro-life values, it is interesting to see that a majority of abortions are preformed on Christians themselves.
I believe that a major reason for the high rate of abortions within Christians is the Christian idea of premarital sex being sinful and shameful behaviour. Within the Christian tradition, premarital sex is seen as sinful action and that intercourse is to be left until after marriage. But according to Centre for Disease and Control, in 2007, 84% of abortions were preformed on unmarried women.4 If a Christian unmarried women does decide to have unprotected sex before marriage and becomes pregnant, it becomes an extremely difficult situation, where the woman is crossed between the shame of having sex before marriage and the moral implications of abortion. Many women are influenced by their religious values and in order to disclose themselves from being known for having premarital sex, they decide to abort the fetus. It is clear, with the high number of abortions being preformed on Christian women that women value other areas of their values and lifestyles over pro-life Christian ideologies.
Abortion continues to be a sensitive issue within North America, in which abortion continues to be a split issue within the US population and within Christian women and men between abortion and child bearing before marriage. Although abortions are legalized in Canada, I would not say they have “won” over pro-life activists because their voices are still apparent in many parts of the world. As stated earlier, the taboo will not be removed until there is a more prominent pro-choice ideology in America.
References:
1. Saad, Lydia. "Americans Still Split Along "Pro-Choice," "Pro-Life" Lines". Gallup Politics. May 3, 2011. Accessed on April 9, 2012. http://www.gallup.com/poll/147734/americans-split-along-pro-choice-pro-life-lines.aspx
2. "Canadians Decisively Pro-choice On Abortion". Ekospolitics. Ottawa: April 11, 2010. Accessed on April 9, 2012. http://www.ekospolitics.com/index.php/2010/04/canadians-decisively-pro-choice-on-abortion-april-1-2010/
3. "Facts on Induced Abortion in the United States". Guttmacher Institute. August 2011. Accessed on April 9, 2012. http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html
4."Abortion Surveillance". Centres for Disease and Control. Feb 25, 2011. Accessed on April 5, 2012. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6001a1.htm?s_cid=ss6001a1_w
Angela,
ReplyDeleteYou are quite right that the debate still rages about whether or not the fetus is a human being. In my post I stated that it wasn't an individual, not that a fetus wasn't a human being. That is an important distinction, apparently, in Canadian law. Abortions are legal because they are the termination of a being, acknowledged (I would imagine) to be living, unable to survive physically independent of its mother.
What I was getting at is that if the law doesn't consider a fetus an individual, and the criteria for "individual" is the ability to survive physically independent, then those who seek to outlaw abortion need to first change the legal definition of an individual.
Protesting outside of abortion clinics and accusing women of being murderers is clearly not the best means to that end.
Further, in light of stats and studies and number, the definition of a fetus and the morality of abortion are actually pretty irrelevant. Studies have indicated that abortion rates were roughly the same in countries were it is legal and those where it is not. So, outlawing abortion does not prevent dead fetuses, it only kills (sometimes drastically) more women. In light of this how can anyone who claims to respect life support outlawing abortion? More importantly, since that fetus is a goner either way, arguing either the legal definition of said fetus or the morality of abortion is a huge waste of time, money and energy.
This time, money and energy that could otherwise be spent on providing contraception, sex education and sexual health promotion, the only things shown to ACTUALLY lower abortion rates.
What really gets my goat are those who are against contraception AND abortion AND actually think that people can, and should, refrain from sexual activity. They seem to have zero reasoning skills and extreme tunnel vision. There are two important, static truths they are ignoring: people will never stop having sex; a lot of people don't want children. So, they need either a contraceptive or an abortion. It's just that simple. Personally I'm in camp contraception; prevention is always cheaper and easier than a cure or solution.
While I'm clearly pro-choice I could never fault the good intentions of those who truly believe that abortion is murder (and as I've said most people think that is wrong). I just need they need to open their eyes and realize that contraception is the only effective way to prevent abortions. So what I do fault them for is for is fighting against contraception, which is the most ludicrous thing happening in the US at the moment. It is incredibly serious, simultaneously sad and enraging, and illustrates the most important issue of the entire debate.
Birth control is not only used to prevent pregnancies but to treat brutal disorders like polycystic ovarian syndrome (which left untreated can be incredibly painful, lower your quality of life and leave you barren).
It's hard not to look at this campaign against contraception as a campaign against women (especially since I see no similar issue over Viagara/Cialis being covered by drug plans - a drug that is not multi-purpose). It doesn't help that a women who wants/needs to have her birth control covered by a drug plan is accused of being a "slut" with a "line-up outside her door" on national radio. Are men who get their viagara paid for subject to treatment? Would Rush like them to post videos of the sex they are having as well?
Obviously Limbaugh is an extreme example, but the statements were broadcasted to the world and he is not alone in his view. If this is the subtext of the contraception/abortion debate then we have a massive problem that gets my feminist blood boiling.
This in mind, it is easy to see how the treatment of abortion on television is only symptomatic of the treatment of women (on television). A million prevented pregnancies and a million dead fetuses can only pale in comparison to the subjugation of women, truly.