Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - South Dakota moves to legalize killing abortion providers

Baraka_Guru · 02-15-2011, 12:09 PM

kaerlyon, that's more or less my point. A woman's right to an abortion—free and clear of influence from a relative who may or may not one day have the legal right to protect it via justifiable homicide—is in relation to her right to self-determination.

I brought up the Taliban in the OP on purpose. Afghanistan is the perfect case study of what is wrong with women's rights. I recently heard a speech conducted by an Afghani woman who was the first woman in political office. She was literally and invariably ignored whenever she spoke. They treated her as though she weren't even in the room. She was eventually dropped from office, and she consequently started an nonpartisan organization that vies for the rights of women in Afghanistan.

When she was young, her sister was forced into an arranged marriage, and died four years later. The one piece of advice she gave her was above all else, study hard. She did. She had earned scholarships to medical school in Australia and Hungary, but her father refused to let her leave the country. She would later be allowed to attend school in Kabul, but only if she agreed to an arranged marriage. Unfortunately, her husband disappeared 10 years later, which was the kind of thing that happened.

Under the Taliban, women weren't even allowed to be outside without a close male relative (father, brother, or husband only).

It's this kind of governance (call it religion if you want, but in practice, it's governed by law) is basically in place to take away from women their self-determination. If you control a woman's education, her ability to earn money, her sexuality, her reproductive system, etc., you control the woman.

In the U.S., this move to make abortion either illegal, expensive, inaccessible, and/or far more difficult than it needs to be is a move to control a woman's right to self-determination with regard to whether she decides to carry a baby to term or not.

This is not characteristic of a free society.

02-15-2011, 12:09 PM	#11 (permalink)
Baraka_Guru warrior bodhisattva Super Moderator Location: East-central Canada	kaerlyon, that's more or less my point. A woman's right to an abortion—free and clear of influence from a relative who may or may not one day have the legal right to protect it via justifiable homicide—is in relation to her right to self-determination. I brought up the Taliban in the OP on purpose. Afghanistan is the perfect case study of what is wrong with women's rights. I recently heard a speech conducted by an Afghani woman who was the first woman in political office. She was literally and invariably ignored whenever she spoke. They treated her as though she weren't even in the room. She was eventually dropped from office, and she consequently started an nonpartisan organization that vies for the rights of women in Afghanistan. When she was young, her sister was forced into an arranged marriage, and died four years later. The one piece of advice she gave her was above all else, study hard. She did. She had earned scholarships to medical school in Australia and Hungary, but her father refused to let her leave the country. She would later be allowed to attend school in Kabul, but only if she agreed to an arranged marriage. Unfortunately, her husband disappeared 10 years later, which was the kind of thing that happened. Under the Taliban, women weren't even allowed to be outside without a close male relative (father, brother, or husband only). It's this kind of governance (call it religion if you want, but in practice, it's governed by law) is basically in place to take away from women their self-determination. If you control a woman's education, her ability to earn money, her sexuality, her reproductive system, etc., you control the woman. In the U.S., this move to make abortion either illegal, expensive, inaccessible, and/or far more difficult than it needs to be is a move to control a woman's right to self-determination with regard to whether she decides to carry a baby to term or not. This is not characteristic of a free society. __________________ Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing? —Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön Humankind cannot bear very much reality. —From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot Last edited by Baraka_Guru; 02-15-2011 at 12:13 PM..