November 2, 2005
call it hysteria if you like
Take a moment to read this article in today’s New York Times. I am not going to write about Judge Alito’s stand on abortion; we didn’t really expect him to be pro-choice, after all. What disturbs me, to my core, is his insistence on marriage as ‘a central organizing principle of the law’ and the way he has used that principle to deny women a legal voice in conversations about their reproductive health.
Until the early twentieth century, married women had no individual legal identity. A woman was the responsibility of her father until she married, then she became the responsibility of her husband. A woman had no right to own property in her own name, make a will, or to instigate a lawsuit. In the eye of the law, a woman had the same legal status as a child; thus it was nearly impossible for women to gain custody of their own children. Because the law stood with the husband, abused and abandoned women had no voice (and thus were categorized solely as ‘abused’ and ‘abandonded’, which marked them as, of course, incapable of participating in the public sphere).
I do not believe that, in my lifetime, we will see a constitutional amendment that overturns Roe V. Wade. What I fear instead is a chipping away at the rights and status of women in our society, through this emphasis on marriage as the preferred legal status. Insisting that a married woman notify her husband of her intention to seek an abortion opens the floodgate to removing other legal rights. Will she need his approval to have the child immunized? To choose a caregiver? What about other health care decisions? Will she need his approval to have a tubal ligation? To fill a prescription for birth control? And what will become of single women who need access to abortion services or birth control but have no husbands to approve their decision? Who will the courts insist they seek authorization from? Then there is whole issue of people whose domestic situations are not that of traditional marriage, who will simply cease to exist in the legal system.
Until late in the nineteenth century, doctors believed that the uterus was the only organ that had the ability to travel around the body. When it moved too close to the brain (as it was thought to do after a pregnancy), it caused a specific kind of insanity, known as ‘hysteria.’ The cure was to remove the uterus (didn’t you ever wonder why it was called a ‘hysterectomy’?). My uterus does not make me any less rational than anyone else and should not put me at a disadvantage in the eye of the law. I am pro-choice not because I think abortion is a good idea or something we should all run out and do, but because I don’t want to live in a society where my ability to make a decision is determined solely by biology.
Today, though, my uterus is pissed.
Posted by Susan @ 5:56 am • Uncategorized
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November 2nd, 2005 at 9:20 am, kyra Says:
and so is mine! in fact, maybe it’s not the uterus that dislodges to make its way to the brain, causing the kind of hysteria that induces autonomous thought and independent action in 51 % of the population. Maybe it’s the rest of the organs that migrate to IT, because whether or not it is used to grow new life, it remains a place of power and possibility, of fecundity and resiliency, and that, my friend, scares the shit out of some people. the actual shit.
HEY! HOW DID YOU DO LAST NIGHT? HOW MANY WORDS?????
November 2nd, 2005 at 10:35 am, Kara Says:
honey, just stop thinking. i
t makes everything so much better.
if you need to have a thought, your husband can have it for you. or, if he’s really enlightened, he can give you special permission to have one. because, babies, not ideas, are what women are supposed to have.
read this, it will explain EVERYTHING:
http://www.alaska.net/~clund/e_djublonskopf/Flatearthsociety.htm
November 2nd, 2005 at 10:41 am, Kara Says:
okay, the full link won’t show up on the comment, so try this:
http://www.alaska.net/
~clund/e_djublonskopf/
Flatearthsociety.htm
November 2nd, 2005 at 10:53 am, Susan Says:
Kara, I assume that you’ve seen the Flying Spaghetti Monster site?
The only thing that aggravates me more than Judge Alito and his Patriarchal Revival is Intelligent Design. Welcome back to the Dark Ages! The Plague will start on Tuesday.
November 2nd, 2005 at 11:31 am, Jack's Raging Mommy Says:
Amen
November 2nd, 2005 at 11:42 am, Candace Says:
See, I think Roe v. Wade *will* be overturned in my lifetime.
And I’ve already told Pete that if it happens, we’ll pick up and move because I will not have my children raised in a country that would force a woman to have a baby.
There are about five million reasons that a woman wouldn’t want to tell her husband she’s getting an abortion.
My uterus is pissed, too.
November 2nd, 2005 at 12:35 pm, Felicity Says:
uhm, my uterus is begined to be mad, too, I think, just let me check with my husband on that.
November 2nd, 2005 at 1:06 pm, Homestead Says:
Overturning Roe v Wade will only serve to mollify the more moderate conservatives and stir up the pro-choice crowd… that isn’t the master plan. The master plan is to simply continue to peck away at Roe v Wade and limit the options and choices available to women until they are trapped in a very small box. Start with parental notification… then move on the spousal notification and then paternal notification… OH, and then throw in a law change that will make each individual woman go to court that wants an exception to ANY of the rules…..
I wish I could say I thought all this up on my own but it was on NPR this am. I missed most of it (because we were singing… loudly) but I did get the above bit out of it (in my own words, of course). The only positive thing I took away from it was the fact that a large percentage of moderate Republicans believe in reproductive rights and that something-like 75% of Americans overall support choice.
Get out your coat hangers and knitting needles ladies… we are going for a ride into history.
November 2nd, 2005 at 1:42 pm, theyellowwallpaper Says:
I feel your pain…After Alito was nominiated I was watching the news and groaning, feeling completely crushed. I didn’t realize how loud I was until my two year old came over and comforted me, telling me not to worry and that everything is going to be okay.
Unfortunately, I agree with Misfit on this one. I do beleive that Roe v. Wade will be overturned. I love this country, but I just can’t understand why it feels like we are moving backwards.
November 2nd, 2005 at 1:43 pm, Susan Says:
Homestead, I love you. You and your smartness.
I think what is distressing me the most these days (and by ‘distressing’ I mean pissing me off) is precisely this strategy of chipping away, little by little, at all sorts of things. The demand to teach ID, the bans on gay marriage, the lockdown on stem cell research–this is the new culture war. I am infuriated by the way the conservative right have taken up the rhetoric of fear and are using it to demonize everyone who doesn’t agree with them. And I think that’s most of us, even if you define yourself as a conservative or a Christian (or both).
I think faith–in ANYTHING–is only valuable when people come to it willingly. Limiting behavior does not lead to faith. It leads to totalitarianism.
Wow–welcome to Friday Playdate, the blog of wacky liberal politics. Cake for everyone!
November 2nd, 2005 at 2:00 pm, Mary P. Says:
Ironic, isn’t it, if the only way to retain control over this decision would be to have babies without being married? Refuse to identify the father? So the “marriage is the cornerstone” folk make marriage even less appealing for women than it already is? (oops. did I say that?)
November 2nd, 2005 at 3:43 pm, M&Co. Says:
And the word count today is…..
No pressure or anything. How do you have time to write and read the NYTimes?
November 2nd, 2005 at 4:07 pm, adria Says:
Personally, I am stressed with any decision that comes from the Bush Administration, especially his picks for important jobs.
Let’s just hope the Democrats take more stands like they did yesterday. I wrote letters to my senators and representatives this week, do not forget to send yours.
Please pass the cake.
November 2nd, 2005 at 5:18 pm, Jenorama Says:
I think you are right. And yes, Susan, in some areas, you do have to get your partner’s approval to get a tubal ligation. And vice versa. In Utah, my friend Kim had to give her signed consent for her husband to have a vascetomy.
I am horrified that our taxes, our incomes, our mortgages are all tied to our marital status. Our health insurance. It is an overwhelming hegemony that seems almost impossible to fight against.
I also believe that not only will we see Roe v. Wade overturned in our lifetimes (if not the next three years), but also that we will find it nearly impossible to get any kind of birth control such as IUD’s or the pill– anything that might allow a fertilized egg to slip through or not be implanted.
November 2nd, 2005 at 6:54 pm, Homestead Says:
This is all starting to sound like “The Handmaid’s Tale” to me. Ew.
Speaking of books…. anyone else read a sci-fi/mystery kinda paperback about a group of women who secretly kidnap a very vocal anti-women (read: anti-choice) priest and install (can’t come up with a better word) a pregnant uterus in him…. then remind him he can’t have an abortion. I can’t remember the book (I read it about, oh, 15-20 years ago) but that image has stuck with me all this time….
I still say they won’t overturn Roe v Wade… but what “they” will do is going to be much, much worse. This I have learned about politics….
Oh, and Susan, stirring this pot isn’t going to get any of us to stop asking HOW MANY WORDS????
November 2nd, 2005 at 6:56 pm, Susan Says:
Dammit. You’re on to me.
Word count soon. Right after this next martini . . .
November 2nd, 2005 at 8:21 pm, Susie Says:
My uterus is also pissed, yet also begining to tremble with fear. Scary times. Oh and Intelligent Design conversations make me want to shower with a Brillo pad.