Abortion is a sensitive topic. There are many different stances on it. There tends to be three main stances on abortion. The first is the conservative view – this says that abortion is murder and should never happen. The second is the extreme liberal view – this is pro-life and that women should always have a choice. The third is moderate, which is a balance of the two extremes. The moderate view tends to believe that abortion is wrong except in cases of rape or incest.
Ronnie Zoe Hawkins states that abortion is often seen as a “masculine” response to an unwanted pregnancy, and that it is seen as disrespecting the connection of women and nature. However, Hawkins also argues that abortion is part of a needed human population limitation. While in Western countries abortion should not be seen as a standard everyday birth control method for somebody, it is something that contributes to population control. For less wealthy countries, abortion is sometimes the only access to a form of birth control somebody has. Population control and population balance is something that is needed in order to preserve the Earth and its resources.
As a feminist, I believe that women have the right to choose what is best for their body. I believe women should be able to choose if they have an abortion or if they have a bunch of kids. At the same time, I believe that we have a responsibility to the world around us to not harm the environment. Ecofeminism means respecting not only human beings, but the Earth as well. If a person is pregnant and cannot have a child without it negatively impacting their environment, is it still feminist to have that child? If adding to the population is hurting the overall quality of life and the Earth, how can somebody with good conscious reproduce? In the article “Abortion isn’t about the right to privacy. It’s about women’s right to equality,” feminist writer Jessica Valenti argues that overall, abortion is good for women. Not only that, it is a public good.
Population and the effect on the environment is a topic that rings true especially during times like we are currently experiencing. We are currently navigating a national emergency, and a lot of people are making decisions on how to best protect themselves, their families, and the general public. We are seeing in countries such as Italy and China that when a national emergency happens and a sickness strikes, there is not enough room and there are not enough supplies to take care of the people currently residing in those areas. People are literally dying because we are not prepared. This will be happening soon in America as well. While we are experiencing this pandemic, how are people who are currently pregnant feeling about bringing another child into this world? Is that an ecofeminist thing to do, to add another life? With a virus running rampant, pregnant women and newborns are going to be more susceptible. Would it not be safer for a woman, especially an at-risk one, to have an abortion rather than go to an overcrowded hospital to deliver a baby? These are all personal decisions people need to be making in these trying times. According to an article in the Journal of Public Administration, Finance and Law, the number of induced abortions rose after the nuclear disaster of Chernobyl. People were concerned about the unknown effects that radiation may have on their children. This could be the same situation for the Coronavirus outbreak. Considering it is a new strain of virus, we cannot be sure of the long term effects. How is this going to impact the amount of children being brought into the world at this time? Will this make people reconsider having children because of population control?
Works Cited
FRANȚ, Ancuța Elena. “The Link between Environmental Factors and Abortion.” Journal of Public Administration, Finance & Law, no. 7, Jan. 2015, pp. 158–163. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=108970440&site=eds-live&scope=site.
This source is from a peer-reviewed academic journal. It was written by a faculty member of a university in Romania. It cites multiple other publications.
Valenti, Jessica. “Abortion Isnt about the Right to Privacy. Its about Womens Right to Equality.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 14 Oct. 2014, www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/14/abortion-right-to-privacy-women-right-to-equality.
Greetings Mandi.
I trust you are staying as safe as is humanly possible.
Your question about aborting now with the pandemic instead of delivering in an overcrowded hospital, how many weeks pregnant? and which class of woman giving birth could impact the environment negatively? Hawkins fails to mention the serious complications of safe abortions, e.g. perforated uterus, infection, damage to the cervix, or twice the number of suicides after an abortion, than after a normal birth. (americanpregnancy.org) In my blog I asked about men’s responsibility. I asked the governor and the author of the new abortion bill in GA about this. I suggested that this bill is about control of the woman’s body by white men. No response from them.
The unpreparedness of governments as in the first city in China, and the US are the reasons for deaths. South Korea has few deaths, they were better prepared.
bridget.
Hi Mandi,
You bring up interesting questions.
While I do think that that women should have children are those who are capable mentally, financially, physically and all of the “abilities” to consider, I fee another important question we should ask is “why” should we? My question is based on data that statistics (https://www.census.gov/popclock/) but also education as to who overpopulation has to do with (men and women).
Adding to Bridget’s point when it comes to abortion, I don’t see a lot of emphasis on men’s responsibility. I know abortion is ultimately a woman’s choice but how we get to the point of abortion is not just by women. Somehow I think women end up left “holding the bag” because in the majority of cases, women are left to care for children; whether staying at home while the husband goes out to provide or being left to care for the child because the man leaves us, period. Either way, women feel as thought they are singe parenting.
So when it comes to a matter of population, women as well as men should be responsible for how the planet is imploding but that is not the case we typically see. As a result, we are not given much – which is safe abortions, or prevention and men are not given much in the way of education (especially in Third World countries). Until the two correlates I don’t see a world where both women and men would agree on the terms of abortion.
Mandi,
You made some really good points that I agree with totally. I appreciate your point about the coronavirus and how this relevant issue relates back to the topic of abortion at hand. You are right in saying that pregnant women are facing these hard decisions of whether or not to put more people in danger by having children during this pandemic. I think that this is an eco-feminist idea because it’s taking into consideration other lives such as those already in the hospital, as well as an unborn human. Women need to be able to make their own decisions regarding this ESPECIALLY during such a sensitive and scary time as we are in right now. This is a great example of Valenti’s point of how abortion can be for the greater good of society, as well as for women. Also, I like the point you make about 3rd world countries not necessarily having the means to adequate contraception, and how abortions are often the only method of birth control available for women. This is a great eco-feminist point in my opinion because there are more women in the world who have different needs and experiences than those who are white, Americans. Those women deserve and need to be heard and represented and supported too. Abortion has to be accessible for all women no matter where they are on the globe, but this also draws attention to the issue of making other forms of birth control available to those who live in less wealthy countries than the US.