Posts
There is nothing wrong whatsoever with abortion. It is a perfectly legitimate medical procedure, and no one has any sensible reason to object to it. It is no secret that the anti-choice leaders are lying when they say that fetuses and embryos are human lives. There is no logical basis and absolutely no scientific evidence to support that claim. It's really just a lie that is told to incite violence against abortion providers.
The real reasons why the rightists oppose abortion are misogyny and white supremacy. When the women's suffrage movement started to come into its own in this country, an anti abortion backlash occurred, even though the procedure was legal and socially acceptable in this country up until that point. By keeping women from having any control over their reproductive systems, the anti suffrage folks hoped to keep women from having any other kind of control over their own lives. To this day, keeping women down has played a key role in opposition to the right to choose on abortion.
Misogyny is not the only motive behind opposition to abortion rights here and abroad. Some Christian Right leaders such as Adolph Hitler and Pat Buchanan have openly expressed their opposition to abortion because they want or wanted to force white women to have more white babies. It is no accident that Jerry Falwell and many other anti choice leaders were actively involved in segregationism in the South. It would be naive to think that the only anti choicers who are rabid racists are the ones who openly express these views, especially in a society like ours where racists usually prefer to hide behind code words and code phrases.
Keep in mind that the largest anti choice organization, the Catholic Church, is so racist that there never has been a non white Pope.
Instead of putting all this energy into hating women and people of color, wouldn't it be great if the anti abortion extremists fought against child molesting Catholic priests? While their couldn't possibly be anything wrong with abortion, raping kids is absolutely and terribly wrong.
I sometimes think the Catholic Church hierarchy are using abortion as a distraction so people won't do something to protect Catholic children from that church and its priests who far too often rape them.
The Notre Dame protesters are failing in their responsibility to protect Catholic children by allowing themselves to be manipulated in such a transparent fashion. They really need to get a clue.
Psycho Woman Throws Knives At Children
13 years ago
I have little interest or knowledge of the Catholic Church--I lump them all together and still it is control of women and keeping them in line, under control of the patriarchs in the churches and the family that is the issue here. I'm too lazy to do the research and I'm sure it's vastly underreported but child molestation in the churches and in the child's home are the most common places where children are used for sexual purposes. This abuse if far more damaging and dangerous for us as a culture. It is such an enormous betrayal for the child. It is never fully healed for the child. I am one of those children grown old and very damaged. The only time I feel safe is when I'm alone with my very big guard dog, locked behind the gates of my self-made prison.
The Catholic church was well aware of a lot of the child molestation that was being perpetrated by the clergy. Rather than deal with it correctly, they chose to move offending priests to different parishes.
If only the church had put that energy (and it's money)to good use in a more positive way, instead of protesting a president who never performed an abortion in his life, they might be doing "God's work". As it stands, by protesting an elected official, they are showing how truly anti-choice they really are underneath.
Great post!
I've shared the same sentiment for a long time. I've been working on a side project recently about a local bishop who is one of these hypocritical anti-choice activists and found some disturbing skeletons in his closet. It turns out that he knew of several pedophile priests that were still working within his diocese and did nothing to stop them from serving, and that the diocese itself had been doing the same thing for decades (that can be proven, anyway...it may go back farther than that). While his diocese has paid over $1 million to victims (and has been caught sending hush money to other victims, hoping they won't sue), he still continues to rally quite loudly against abortion. Good job on the history lesson - these people need a wake-up call.