Women of the U.S. unite!
Soraya Chemaly writes “10 Reasons the Rest of the World Thinks the U.S. Is Nuts” on HuffPo. In response to the epidemic of New Dark Ages state bills (and some candidates for POTUSA…), she says:
I am a woman and I have these human rights:
The right to life.
The right to privacy.
The right to freedom.
The right to bodily integrity.
The right to decide when and how I reproduce.
I wonder…if willing women chose to run on this platform alone, would they unseat some of these patriarchal inquisitors? Bears considering. Thanks to Limbaugh and the dangerous number of state-sponsored “rape bills”, the indignation is not inconsiderable. Whether that can be turned into action remains to be seen
Category: Politics, Reproductive Rights, Social justice
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Jim is a husband of more than 26 years, father of four home-schooled sons (26, 22, 15 and 13), engineer delighting in virtually all things technical, with more than a passing interest in history, religions, arts, most sciences (particularly physics)and skepticism.Subscribe
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How can the US be nuts when most European countries have more restrictions on abortion than we do? Are women less free in Europe?
The US is the only country in the world as far as I know that actually recognizes reproductive rights and privacy as inalienable rights. Europe regulates those things in whatever way they wish.
Adam: Where are you getting your information about abortion restrictions in European countries. This website http://www.pregnantpause.org/lex/world02.htm says that many European countries are comparable to the US.
US is Y across the board. UK has restrictions nearly across the board. France has 3 Ys and 4 “1″s. Switzerland, 3 Ys, 4 Ns. Germany and Sweden are Ys across the board, with the important caveat that these laws can be changed through simple legislation and would not be subject to court challenge. Italy and Spain also have restrictions.
Actually, the info on Germany could be wrong. This is what wikipedia says:
The Federal Constitutional Court issued a decision a year later maintaining its earlier decision that the constitution protected the fetus from the moment of conception, but stated that it is within the discretion of parliament not to punish abortion in the first trimester[citation needed], providing that the woman had submitted to state-regulated counseling designed to discourage termination and protect unborn life. Parliament passed such a law in 1995. Abortions are not covered by public health insurance except for women with low income.
So it does not look at all like the US has gone crazy. Our abortion debates are actually substantially to the left of what goes on in countries that are more liberal in many other ways.
Actually, it looks like the chart isn’t correct about Sweden either:
The current legislation is the Abortion Act of 1974 (SFS 1974:595). This states that up until the end of the eighteenth week of the pregnancy the choice of an abortion is entirely up to the woman, for any reason whatsoever. After the 18th and until the 22nd week a woman needs a permission from the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) to have an abortion. Permission for these late abortions is usually granted for cases in which the fetus or mother are unhealthy.[3]
Imagine that. Most countries require women to ask PERMISSION to get an abortion at a certain point. That would just be unthinkable here. To even discuss something like that would be portrayed as a ‘war on women’.