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A Woman's Right to Choose
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Mick Hall • 5 November 2004
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I
found the Blanket article by Joanne Dunlop
on a woman's right to choose extremely relevant
and timely (Your Silence
Will Not Protect You; 31/10/2004). However the
debate that followed its publication on Slugger
O'Toole, shocked me to a degree that I found
somewhat surprising. Whilst one cannot but be aware
of the conservative nature of much of Irish society,
particularly in the areas of politics and culture,
as one comes across small examples of this on an
almost daily basis, the tone and content of the
debate on Slugger O'Toole made me feel as if I had
been taken back thirty-plus years, for the last
time within Europe I had heard such reactionary
arguments around the issue of a woman's right to
choose was that long ago. Although sadly, to this
day in the U.S. one often hears such stone-age arguments
from fundamentalist born-again Christians, not least
during the recent Presidential election campaign.
Perhaps before I go any further it may help if I
give a brief synopsis of Ms Dunlop's article; in
it she tore into the political establishment in
the North —which now it seems includes Sinn
Fein— accusing it on this issue of conspiring
to maintain the Status quo, as far as she is concerned,
on this vitally important issue of a Woman's Right
to Choose. Gerry, Mark, David and Ian are in total
political agreement and it is an agreement based
on the most gross hypocrisy, as they and the rest
of the north's politicians are well aware that thousands
of Northern Irish women travel across to England
to get abortions if the need arises. Yet these politicians
prefer to bury their heads in the sand and ignore
this and all the implications that flow from it.
As to the often made claim in Ireland, north and
south, that abortion is not a political issue, well,
Joanne basically regards this as being too stupid
for words and par for the course as far as the majority
of Ireland's male politicians are concerned. She
is absolutely right too, for the very people who
claim this, the reactionary, often misogynist religious
bigots and the politicians who keep an ever-watchful,
opportunist eye on the pulpit for fear of offending
it, themselves regularly conspire together politically
to keep the Right to Choose off Ireland's political
agenda. How else can one explain out of all West
European Nations, Ireland North and South stands
almost alone as far as refusing a woman's Right
to Choose? All in all, a fiery straight talking
article from Ms Dunlop, that in all probability
expressed the views of a majority of the north's
young women.
What followed the article's publication has taught
me that I have a long way to go before I fully understand
the truly reactionary nature of the cultural attitudes
that can lurk below the surface of Ireland's civil
society. Those who post to the Slugger O'Toole blog
come from across the sectarian, class and political
divide; in the main when posting they stay within
these narrow confines, rarely crossing over into
unfamiliar territory, nevertheless whilst managing
to keep a civilised discourse when debating on list.
However many of them bizarrely seem to believe,
having taken their lead from Ireland's mainstream
politicians, that the Right to Choose is not a political
issue. This being so they felt free to express their
opinions in a manner that would probably be thought
outdated if not somewhat misogynistic elsewhere
in western Europe. It was as if the supporters of
the North's main political parties were determined
to prove Joanne's case for her. Slugger O'Toole
to date (4/11/04) has received well over 140 posts
on this subject alone, the overwhelming majority
opposing the Right to Choose, all of course from
the very highest principles. It became clear from
these posts that out of all the parties that contested
the last Stormont Assembly election, only the Greens,
Alliance and the small Derry based SEA support the
Right to Choose. This being the case it is difficult
not to agree with Joanne when she claims that there
is a conspiracy of silence on this issue and it
is based on not offending powerful religious forces,
both Protestant and Catholic, thus this being so,
as Joanne claims, this conspiracy cannot been seen
as anything but supporting the status quo.
As to the Gerry and Ian connection on this issue,
well one would expect the 'good' Doctor to oppose
abortion, as he is the closest politician and religious
leader Ireland has to the fundamentalist Christian
bigots in the USA. But to find out that Sinn Fein,
with all its talk about being at the forefront of
progressive politics in Ireland and that it intends
to become the vanguard of radical politics in the
South, is as reactionary on this issue as Big Ian,
although admittedly after adding a great deal more
spin than Mr Paisley, must come as deeply disappointing
to many of its socialist members and supporters.
Or for them is this just another example of real
politick, as when their Ministers implemented Public
Private Finance Initiatives (privatisation) when
member of the Stormont northern Irish Government?
If so they should take care, as if/when they finally
gain power in the South, their cupboard marked political
principles may well be bare and they will find their
party becoming Fianna Fail Mark 2. A SF member stated
unambiguously on Slugger that "Abortion is
Murder". It almost takes your breath away,
such certainty on this issue but so much fudging
on so many others.
After fifty or so posts someone at Slugger noticed
that bar one, Ms Dunlop, it had only been men who
have contributed to the debate and perhaps it might
help if some females had some imput. Joanne, by
now at the end of her tether, thunders in reply:
“What
is the point? It's not going to stop all of you
trying to decide exactly how much control I should
be "allowed" (gee, thanks) over my OWN
FUCKING BODY”.
The
level of the debate among some then descends to
comments like the following, which is a peach, worthy
of some Colonel Blink writing in the letters page
of the London Daily Telegraph and signing
himself, ‘Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells’
"Frankly
that sort of ill-tempered outburst is counterproductive
to Joanne converting people to her point of view."
Joanne
rages with a heartfelt outburst, which makes one
wish to cuddle her and cheer her on, and this character
replies as if she is something nasty on the bottom
of his shoe, priceless.
At the start of this piece I said that this Kafuffle
took me back thirty years and more. The reason being
this type of argument was common back then prior
to the Right to Choose becoming law in England and
other West European countries. Identical arguments
were put forth against the Right to Choose, also
almost entirely by men. Much of it couched in the
same terms, i.e. one of high moral principle, the
right to life is sacred, etc. Thus those who put
forward this type of argument claimed they would
never change their minds on this, no matter whether
the law changed, they would always oppose the Right
to Choose.
Of course the overwhelming majority went on to accept
that it is a woman's Right to Choose and the State
has a responsibility to help them do this in safety
and provide the means to put their decision into
practice if they choose to terminate their pregnancy.
Since then from time to time the odd believer attempts
to resurrect this issue onto the political stage,
but to date they have had little success in doing
so. When believers start harping on as if they had
a monopoly on compassion towards the unborn, most
of us who see religion as either a private matter
or don’t believe feel pretty offended and think
with their track record of causing humanity's ills,
they would be far better off keeping their thoughts
to themselves. This is especially true of religious
fundamentalists whether they be Christian or Islamic,
with their nasty advocacy of capital punishment,
invading other people's counties and forcing their
beliefs down the throat of others.
These days within much of Europe most men sit back
thoughtfully when this issue is raised; we may still
hold strong opinions about abortion, for or against,
but we have been there, had the argument and witnessed
that in a civilised society women are not going
about aborting unborn foetus without a thought.
A complex often heartbreaking process takes place
in the minds of the majority of women before they
decide to terminate a pregnancy. And even if it
could be proved that occasionally some do not, whilst
perhaps disapproving, we understand it is not us
who have to carry the child and give birth to it
and bring it up, so we try to show a bit of compassion.
If we really feel that strongly against abortion,
we know it is far better for us to spend time badgering
our children into using a form of contraception
when they have sex, not moralising and pontificating
about what a woman can or cannot do with her body.
How have I reached this conclusion, well thirty
odd years ago, I too wrote silly letters to the
press and made daft arguments against a woman's
Right to Choose.
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All
censorships exist to prevent any one from challenging
current conceptions and existing institutions. All progress
is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and
executed by supplanting existing institutions. Consequently
the first condition of progress is the removal of censorships.
- George Bernard Shaw
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