Stigma surrounding abortion is sexist

Disapproval of women's choice is misogynistic, hypocritical

ROE V. WADE made abortion a federal concern. Prior to that time, the states had their own laws on the books regarding the legality of abortion.

It strikes me as absurd that the government gets involved at all.

But even today, a woman’s sexuality is apparently not her own.

If an unmarried woman has sex and gets pregnant, she is often viewed as a harlot. In a newly released book, “Shameless,” by Arlene Stein, the author makes a comment that sums it all up.

She says that women have been viewed as either, “…a virgin or a slut.”

I would add, “or married.”

It is the sexuality issue, I think, that affects societal views on abortion. It is 2007 and our society is still trying to control a woman’s sexuality. Today, it has taken on the cloak of protection of the fetus, but I don’t believe that is at the root of the controversy.

I imagine it is more difficult for some young adults to be aware of the impact that the abortion prohibition laws had upon young women in the 1950s and 1960s.

Please bear with me. I do not mean to be condescending. But I lived through those times, and getting pregnant, while not being much of a deterrent to having sex before marriage, caused almost unbelievable shame and fear for a woman who became pregnant.

The words “unwed mother,” “sex,” “birth control” and “abortion,” were literally whispered, if said at all, in polite society.

Even the word “pregnancy” was disguised with euphemisms — a woman had “a bun in the oven.”

The scenario was that the pregnant person had to keep sexual relations secret. When she got pregnant, there was little chance of that secret being kept.

She faced condemnation from family and friends, from the courts and churches. She was often hidden away at a home for “unwed,” (think about that word) home for girls.

She was usually expected to give up her child at birth.

She then lived under a veil of shame and longed for the child she was forced to bear and give away, because by then she had carried it for nine months and felt the result of all those hormones that flood pregnant mammals and make us want to care for our offspring.

That’s pretty powerful and hard to walk away from.

But for others, the fear and shame resulted in a decision to get an illegal abortion. Too often, these abortions ended her life, because unsavory characters cashed in on her desperation.

In the past, the states controlled the laws concerning abortion. I can’t tell you exactly how many states outlawed it, but many, if not most, did.

There have always been exceptions, but if a fetus were viewed as a human life by the courts, then wouldn’t it seem that it could not be aborted under any circumstance? So why the conditions?

It seems clear to me that in any cases, the woman was (and is) seen as innocent. She could be “forgiven” for disposing of an embryo (or fetus) and could go on with her life. That is, she would not have to live with the condemnation of society over her having an abortion.

And of course she would live, because she was able to have a legal abortion by a licensed medical doctor in a safe, clean place with sterilized instruments and all the rest. However, if she was unmarried (there’s that word again) she was still seen as a slut, whether she had a legal abortion or not.

I want to state here, that I’m not a baby hater. I love infants. They’re precious.

But they are living, breathing human beings. A fetus is not.

I’ll state the obvious that babies that are born weeks before the due date are often saved through intensive care over the course of weeks or months, in hospitals. Many more do not survive. But we never hear about them.

In addition, the hospital care often involves breathing for them, and feeding them through tubes. Still, these babies breathe using their lungs, mechanically assisted or not.

They are living human beings. A fetus in the womb is not.

The abortion issue hinges on the still double standard of men and women when it comes to sexuality.

I believe that if men got pregnant, there would be no debate. It is our society that carries on the sexuality stigmas.

Today, while many teens get pregnant and may be accepted and supported by their families, the stigma remains. How much respect does she get?

And any negativity that comes is not because she had a baby — it is because she had sex that was not sanctioned by society.

Cheryl Johnson is a senior majoring in women's studies.

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