Speaking of those creepy christians, I ran into some pro-lifers (or anti-choicers, as I like to call them) protesting in front of the Art Institute on my way home today. Who were they targeting? Harmless tourists trying to enter the museum and maybe check out Millennium Park? There was a whole flock of them carrying HUGE signs that featured pictures of aborted fetuses. [Side note: I've got to wonder if those pictures are even real. Not that I don't believe that fetuses might look like that (big gooey blobs of reddish brownish shtuff), but I really wonder how they access pictures like that. Who originally took the picture and then who gave these crazies permission to use it?] I'm curious if those pictures were accurate or if they were purposefully designed/altered to frighten women away from abortion because its not a pretty posy.
Either way, I think its a pathetic tactic to resort to. Think about it--what purpose do enlarged gory pictures with "Choose Life" written across them serve?
They don't educate.
They don't inform.
They don't prevent.
They don't pose alternatives.
They are meant to shock. They are meant to frighten. They are meant to gross people out.
And why would this be an effective way to protest?
Because, anti-choicers want people to believe abortion is shocking, frightening, and gross. What I think these protesters are missing out on is that no one is arguing the position that abortion isn't a complicated, difficult, and messy experience. I don't think that many women or partners make the decision to terminate a pregnancy lightly. And I certainly don't think that anyone going into something like that believes a cute little angel is being extracted from their uterus. Abortion is certainly shocking and frightening -- especially for the women who have one (and these women deserve all of our support) And sometimes terminating a pregnancy is probably also kind of gross. But so what? What is it about all of that that somehow leads to the conclusion that all women don't deserve the right to choose? Nothing. And that's why anti-choice tactics such as that are so infuriating. They are simply meant to frighten and they serve no higher purpose.
And guess who is most likely to be affected by those tactics? Let me give you a hint--its not the educated middle class woman with feminist leanings that will choose to keep a baby because they ran across some freaks with signs. It is going to be the vulnerable, somewhat uninformed, young woman who probably has fewer accessible resources and fewer people to lean on. Tactics like scary pictures are meant to scare young girls--not help them. But, if they were really pro life like they claim, wouldn't they care about helping the young women already walking around in this world become resilient and make healthysafe choices? Apparently not.
Ugh.
well said!
ReplyDelete-neill.