>
> If we're going to march about something, let's march about child-care,
> health-care, living-wage laws, sex education, mass-education about rape, etc.
> Let's say, a woman has the right to terminate a pregnancy, but there's a lot
> we can do so that she never has to make that choice. And that would be a good
> thing.
>
> Joanna
I do think that the struggle for abortion rights should, more often than it is, be cast in the context of things most women deal with every day -- as opposed to abortion, which people only think about in a crisis -- like child care, heath care, equal pay for equal work. I'm not sure focusing on it as a single issue has been so effective for the women's movement. In social democratic countries where it is framed as part of the social safety net, it is, I gather -- though I haven't looked closely at this research -- much less controversial.
That said, "I'm not Sorry" is still a good idea, because since abortion is so stigmatized, there is been very little effort to involve women who have had abortions in fighting for the right to choose. Events like "I'm Not Sorry" can remind people that their own experience is politically important, and that's a good thing.
I know there are economic reforms that could reduce the number of unwanted abortions- it is certainly horrible when women have to have abortions solely for economic reasons. But I wonder how many abortions this really accounts for and suspect it may be a minority. People who can't afford children have them all the time, because they want them. It's very important to defend that, and make it much easier. And there will always be times in a woman's life when she just doesn't want to give birth, just because she doesn't, because having a kid isn't what she had in mind, and I think it's important to defend that, too. The rhetoric of abortion-as-necessary-evil-we-should-do-everything-we-can-to-prevent may unintentionally weaken the pro-choice movement, because it is too wimpy about the fact that most women have abortions not because they are rape victims or poor, but because they have sex, and don't want babies. Women shouldn't have to apologize for that. Men sure don't.
Liza