NAPW
Angry Black Bitch (here, here and here) and Bitch PhD have been reporting on the Summit of the National Advocates for Pregnant Women.
What strikes me is the framing of mothers as "legitimate" vs "illegitimate reproducers". That society pressures "legitimate" mothers to make babies -- and throws nifty tax breaks & health insurance to those "legitimate" children.
While we non-legitimate producers -- dykes, women of color, single moms -- are strongly discouraged from concieving, and denied basic health care if we do. Even (rich, white, powerful family) Mary Cheney -- how dare she choose to make a baby in her own perverted womb!
So many discussions of reproductive choice get framed in narrow, heterosexual, often white terms. It's frustrating, as a lesbian, to fight for my het & bi sisters' rights to legal, public, easy access to birth control and abortion -- when so few pro-choice women turn around to fight for the rights of lesbians to adopt & maintain custody, and get health insurance & healthcare.
NAPW seems to be refreshingly different in recognizing, from the get-go, that the big picture is the fight for the ability of women to control, sustain, and make decisions about their own bodies and their own families.
4 comments:
I agree the big picture is women's control over their bodies. But I've never seen abortion as a het/bi issue. The strictest abortion laws now rule out abortion in case of rape or incest, and lesbians unfortunately can raped or molested as easily as a straight woman.
That's well-said, and partly true. Yes, lesbians can be raped. However, MOST abortions abort a pregancy that resulted from consesual sex. Thus, in practical terms, abortion is mostly a heterosexual issue.
I do believe that abortion is a lesbian issue, but I think the reason why is much more philosophical than practical. Laws banning abortion, laws banning gay sex, laws that discriminate against gay families -- all attempt to control women's bodies and women's lives. The same people trying to ban abortion would ban gay people if they could.
My point was, LGBTQ rights are just as much women's issues as abortion is a lesbian issue. I just wish pro-choice straight women would fight as hard for us dykes as we have for them.
so, the 75% illegitimacy rate among black american women is a good thing? I think not, which aligns me with all responsible black political figures in this country?
astrokink
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