Let's talk about oppression. I am a white, middle-upper-class woman, who was raised believing that my potential and ability in this world were unlimited. I have never had to deal with racism, poverty or any other oppressive hardship in my life. But after attending the annual Reproductive Rights and Social Justice Conference at Hampshire College, the reality of my easy ride through life was marred.
I realized, for the first time, that I am a woman. Growing up in white New England suburbia, I was always an over-achiever, loved by the community, so I never realized that I was part of a group that is still under a great deal of oppression. But it turns out, even in America in 2007, women still face sexism just as much as other minorities still face racism (which, I am ashamed to say, I also learned this weekend).
Granted, the challenges facing me are much less than perhaps those facing an African-American or Hispanic woman, or a low-income or transgender woman. However, we are all part of one group, and we, as well as men, can all fight against the challenges facing women all over the world.
And yes, America is much farther along than some countries, where genital mutilation is a prevalent custom, and human rights groups are still treating women from fistula (a disgusting disease due to prolonged labor) because women are seen as property there.
Regardless of these facts, however, America still has a long way to go. Why, you ask? Well, because pro-choice, birth control and comprehensive sex education are still seen as the social ills of society that are keeping traditional morality at bay.
Now if you are a self-proclaimed pro-lifer who is about to stop reading this article in frustration of those crazy pro-choice feminist agendas, I beg you to keep reading. My goal of this article is not to impose my own beliefs, but to present the issue from a new perspective: one of human rights and the oppression of half the world's population, in which certain opinions, although personal, are detrimental to women's health and livelihood.
Although I am proudly and passionately a pro-choice feminist, I seek to try to bridge some of the gaps between the two thought camps. Of course, I can't help my bias and will certainly be pushing a "pro-choice agenda," but I feel that it is essential to women that other people see this issue as extremely important.
With that said, I want to define what it means to be pro-choice. One of the many things I learned from the Conference was to pay attention to language. To be pro-choice is not equal to being pro-abortion.
It means to believe that all women should have choice. They should have the choice to have an abortion, the choice to become a mother, the choice to go through adoption, the choice to use contraceptives, the choice to educate themselves on their bodies, the choice to let another person touch those bodies, the choice to not let another person touch them, the choice to get a pap smear, the choice to pursue an education.
Pro-choice does not simply apply to abortion, because women's health and opportunities are inextricably tied to this issue. When President Bush reinstated the Global Gag Rule preventing NGOs with U.S. funding from even discussing abortion, he also forced many clinics that offered the only gynecological care to women in rural areas, and organizations that also provided condoms, to shut down.
The Anti-Prostitution Loyalty Oath that these and U.S. organizations were forced to sign crippled them in their fight against HIV/AIDS by not allowing them to work with commercial sex workers because that "promotes" the business.
In the United States, the pro-life battle has stepped into the contraception world, so that according to NARAL, 18 states considered bills that would allow pharmacies to deny women birth control. Even rape victims do not have access to emergency contraception at some hospitals because of the myth that it is equivalent to the abortion pill (as if rape wasn't enough to go through).
Abstinence-only education is being promoted as the solution to social ills by preventing out-of-wedlock births, despite the overwhelming statistics that this is not an effective strategy. Research shows that only with comprehensive sex education do teen pregnancy and STD rates substantially decrease.
In fact, in the Nordic countries where comprehensive sex education is taught, the abortion rates are lowest. All of these setbacks simply lead to more unplanned pregnancies and inhibit a woman's right to control her own body, which by the way, belongs to her.
Perhaps the problem is that many people do not believe this issue really concerns them. But this issue concerns everyone who believes in human rights. Yes, this is a female issue, because only a female-bodied person can have an abortion or take oral contraceptives; but guess what? Women are humans too!
Now I'm definitely not blaming men for this problem. We do live in a patriarchal society, but it is the patriarchal system we "feminists" are trying to change, not men in general. In fact there are many men who work very hard for women's causes. Maybe that's because this issue concerns their sisters, mothers, daughters, wives, girlfriends, or even bodies if they are self-identified males with female bodies. The state of women in the world today is something that affects every person.
What I want everyone reading this article to get out of it is that pro-choice and feminism concern more than just abortion. They concern an oppression that can only be lifted by giving women's bodies back to themselves, and giving them the right to make decisions about their lives.
Hearing women personally speak about their abortions at an abortion speak-out during the conference was one of the most powerful experiences of my life. Most of them acknowledged it as one of the most painful experiences of their lives, but the best decision they ever made.
Where would these women be without the ability to choose? And what about the woman who got an abortion before it was legal and became so sick she risked her life for it? Is that what we want to happen to our mothers, daughters, sisters? The high rates of abortions in countries like Peru where they are illegal prove that abortions will not stop if they become illegal in the United States. They will only become unsafe, inaccessible (unless self-induced) and cause thousands of deaths.
Sometimes, I do falter in my beliefs. Last night as I helped baby-sit the child of a Tufts mother at the Senate meeting, I caught a glimpse of the legalize abortion sticker on my bag. For a second, it occurred to me that this adorable, energetic boy full of life could have been aborted.
But then I think about the life of the mother. Where is the consideration for the mother's life in the pro-life campaign? I also remember that the mother didn't choose an abortion. It is the hope of all pro-choices that one day there won't be a need for abortion, and some of us wouldn't even have an abortion if we had to choose.
But the thing is a woman needs the ability to make decisions about her own body. After all, doesn't a woman know best?
Alyssa Ursillo is a freshman who has not yet declared a major.
