The abortion debate is not about the sanctity of life -- it's about corporate capitalism

[turbinetree]

Chris Hedges and Mr. Fish, TruthDig - COMMENTARY
20 May 2019 at 10:32 ET

On Wednesday, the day it was announced that the U.S. birthrate fell for the fourth straight year, signaling the lowest number of births in 32 years, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed into law the most draconian anti-abortion law in the country. That the two developments came at the same time could not have been more revelatory.

The ruling elites are acutely aware that the steadily declining American birthrate is the result of a de facto “birth strike” by women who, unable to afford adequate health insurance and exorbitant medical bills and denied access to paid parental leave, child care and job protection, find it financially punitive to have children. Not since 1971 have births in the United States been at replacement levels, considered to be 2,100 births per 1,000 women over their lifetimes, a ratio needed for a generation to replace itself. Current births number 1,728 per 1,000 women, a decline of 2% from 2017. Without a steady infusion of immigrants, the U.S. population would be plummeting.

“The effort to block birth control and abortion is not about religion nor about politicians pandering to a right-wing base, nor is it a result of prudery, nor is it to punish women for having sex,” Jenny Brown writes in her book “Birth Strike: Hidden Fight Over Women’s Work.” “It is about the labor of bearing and rearing children: who will do it and who will pay for it.”

Raising children is not a lifestyle choice. It is labor-intensive work that demands of parents, and especially women, huge physical, emotional, financial and time commitments. The wider society reaps the benefits of this work. It has a social and moral responsibility to compensate and assist those who raise children.

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/05/the-abortion-debate-is-not-about-the-sanctity-of-life-its-about-corporate-capitalism/

[Wounded Bear]

1. It's about RW power politics...

based on outdated religious bullshit, propagandized with 21st Century media, all in the interests of corporate power.

[ehrnst]

4. How do you explain it in antiquity - before corporate power existed?

And what about in places where corporate power doesn't have a role in the culture, but fundamentalist religious patriarchies do?

[Wounded Bear]

18. Corporations are just a more modern manifestation of the nexus of power and money...

Politics and money have been intertwined since money was invented. Politics is just how we organize our societies.

Religions have always been political organizations. Small ones tend to keep it internal, but when they get bigger, their political bent expands into what we like to call the secular world. Of course, the "secular" world largely didn't exist before the Enlightenment.

I view the Catholic Church as the prototype of the modern multi-national corporation, with tentacles everywhere and no loyalties to any national entity. Modern nation building really took off with the Reformation, when regional sections of the church started breaking off from Rome.

Now, corporations are shedding any kind of national identity. They go where the money is, and where labor is cheapest.

[ehrnst]

2. It's rooted in misogyny, which is far older than corporate capitalism

Pregnancy is a way to monitor the sexual activity of women for centuries - far longer than corporate capitalism has been in existence.

Misogyny and the fear of women's sexuality exists in far more places than corporate capitalism does. I find it interesting that two white men have determined that if one was to eliminate 'corporate capitalism' then there would be no real driver for this treatment of women, which has been going on for centuries. That certainly supports the idea of putting "identity politics" in a corner, and ranking it as a distraction from the "universal issues" that affect white straight men. In the golden era of labor where white men got the work and the wages that they wanted, women suffered draconian reproductive oppression, especially women of color. Fundamentalists may have attached themselves to corporate culture, but they won't give up the patriarchy if corporate capitalism goes away.



This is the root of the evangelicals vitriol for reproductive rights: Take away abortion, contraception, forced childbearing and stds as "sticks" for behavior modification, and women have sex without disastrous consequences. It's why they oppose the HPV vaccine as well as sexuality education that teaches safer sex practices.

That's why they are usually fine with incest and rape exceptions - if it was about "babies" then they wouldn't change their views contingent on whether the woman or girl wanted sex at the time of conception.

That's why they want to shut down Planned Parenthood, which prevents far more pregnancies than it performs abortions.

“Planned Parenthood from the top to the bottom is a corrupt organization,” Miller told Ave Maria Radio’s Teresa Tomeo, “corrupt in its view of the sanctity of human life and corrupt in its view of human sexuality. And I say even if Planned Parenthood didn’t perform one single abortion, just the mere fact that its sexual ethic is corrupted means right there, should be the reason right there, that they should not receive any federal money. The kind of sexual ethic that Planned Parenthood promotes is sex for recreation, sex for mere pleasure.

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/anti-choice-organizer-defund-planned-parenthood-because-its-sexual-ethic-is-corrupted/

[Wounded Bear]

20. The only way to ensure a paternalistic bloodline is to subjugate women...

It's easy to establish who a mother is, but pre-modern medicine there was no reliable way to establish paternity other than segregating the women from any access of other men.

[angel823]

25. THIS

[Midnight Writer]

3. Currently reading "One Nation Under God" about corporations building the Religious Right. Revelatory

[Hortensis]

32. :) Oh, good book. "Unholy alliance," all right.

There's a big overlap among the power groups of the hard right. Lots of aggressive, strong conservative Christians and nativist/white supremacists in the top ranks of some corporations.

But still, if the RW did succeed in overthrowing our democracy, they'd end up fighting each other for power, and an easy guess is that the religious leaders would be rounding up and executing business leaders who didn't fall in line. To put it mildly, they're vastly outnumbered, and, contrary to some thinking around here, evil "corporations" are not driving the religious right. More like they're riding the tiger.

People really should wonder why, in all this constant talk about politics, and what's going on in the White House and legislatures, that, the extremely and increasingly powerful religious players with their hands in everything are virtually never mentioned.

And this distraction to business as our "Great Satan." Yes, erudite LW whackjobs like Chris Hedges have something to do with it, but who else? We can control "corporations" all over again by reinstituting some laws. Christian dominionism, which has been infiltrating virtually all mainstream Christian denominations over the past few decades might be a little harder to control.

[Ohiogal]

5. Wow

That is spot on.

[Hekate]

6. Misogyny was with us thousands of years before corporate capitalism glommed on to it

[ehrnst]

7. But apparently some people only recently found out about it.

So it couldn't possibly have been much of a real problem, right?

We may as well let a white dude 'splain to us all what the real problem is. Not that he needs to have any background on reproductive rights or women's history. "Issue politics."

Hint - it's not patriarchy. Hey, he even quoted a woman authoress, too! That means it TOTALLY isn't leftywhitebrosplaining.

[H2O Man]

8. Thank you.

[JI7]

31. exactly, why this need to avoid the actual social side of these issues ?

[Hortensis]

9. You have to be kidding. I know the Christian right is

almost never discussed -- the media avoid amap for various reasons, including genuine fear and genuine infiltration, but...really?!

All three branches of our federal government and many state government have been heavily infiltrated by hard-core RW religious extremists, but it's all a corporate conspiracy? We can have abortion or we can have capitalism, but not both? Gimme a break.

"Corporate greed" DOES harness religious right passions to subvert our nation to its service. But it is NOT what's driving this.

The author of "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America" knows this when he's not in his "Apocalyptic Capitalism" mood. Btw, I was very interested in this topic, already a believer, but stopped reading his "Fascists" in short order because he's far too extreme in his views, far too indulgent of his strong hostilities and biases, and far too rigidly hostile to most of our nation for me. In short, he's a wingnut, and a distinctly mean one, not a wise man. Btw, besides his profound intellectual dishonesty, Hedges's also a serious plagiarist, unapologetic even though caught red-handed. Not a fan.

[mr_lebowski]

10. It's also related to men being jealous of (younger) women having sex with someone who's not them ...

i.e. 'if those young sluts won't sleep with ME I'll make 'em pay ... no abortions OR birth control for YOU!'

At least, I'm pretty sure it has to do with this in a significant number of cases, of course not all.

[qazplm135]

11. Save us from people

Who think EVERYTHING is about economics

[gulliver]

12. Corporations and other institutions are turning liberal. Times have changed.

Imo, corporations are gradually becoming the best friends of the right to choose, diversity/inclusion, and work/life balance. Places that stand in the way of social progress are starting to see businesses shun them. I'm not saying it's all done, but that looks like the trend to me.

[Hortensis]

29. Some always have been. It's who's at the top,

and, as you say, the times they're operating in. In the liberal era before the nation moved more conservative around 1978, business in general was far more liberal because the nation was. After, of course, as conservatism increased its hold, business was unleashed, and both our people and business got downright mean.

I remember from an old class that, before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, "corporations" wouldn't move into the south in mass and it stayed mostly unindustrialized. They did after, ending the 100 years of economic stagnation and poverty after the Civil War, because the law now enabled (required) them to integrate, which allowed them to achieve the workforce they needed. It wasn't "the corporations" that changed, but the situation.

And now...I hope you're right. It's really past time for a new era of liberal dominance, and many thought Obama's election signaled it had begun.

[loyalsister]

13. And white supremacy

The eugenics movement encouraged white women to have many children who were presumed to be genetically desirable.
Since desegregation, and increases in racial diversity attributable to interracial coupling the fact that white women don't want to help white men maximize their contributions to the gene pool is an affront to white supremacy.

[beachbum bob]

14. the abortion "debate" has always been and shall remain a simple way to keep America divided

so the elite can continue to steal all our futures

[ehrnst]

16. Yeah, there's a lot of 'fortune' to be stolen from a 16 year old pregnant teen

who can't get an abortion without a note from her parents...

Whereas she can give birth with no parental approval, miss school and not graduate.

Yeah, this isn't about misogyny or patriarchy or fear of women's sexuality at all, which exists at all income levels at all - just "the wealthy elites."

Because white straight men who are not wealthy say so.

[beachbum bob]

17. American people easily divided by social issues..and doing so keeps

The distraction from the real issues that begin with money and power controlling such things like the taxcode, the military waste and spending and the protection that the money and influence buys. Yep, talk about abortion, keeps the focus away from the financial impact of lost jobs, outsourcing and all the incentives in the taxcode that rewarded and enrich companies that did so.

[ehrnst]

21. Patriarchy and men controlling women's bodies were around way before the taxcode

Yes, organized religion and wealthy conservatives have appropriated it as a talking point, but they didn't invent it, and it won't go away when they do.

Patriarchy is a whole separate issue. I know that makes many otherwise progressive men uncomfortable, but it's the truth, and has been for thousands of years.

Women's lack of self autonomy deserves its own priority in political discourse, and not simply dismissed as a symptom of economic inequity, because it is a root cause of it.

[Dave Starsky]

24. It's no more than a simple, effective way to suck $ from religious nuts.

For millenia, religious nuts have always been the easiest marks. You can screw a fundamentalist out of almost anything, if you appeal to their heightened religiosity.

The money changers in the temple that Jesus drove out with a whip? They were there for that very reason.

[cynatnite]

15. For shit's sake...

It's misogyny, it's the fear of the white majority becoming a minority, it's power over women and RW mad-house religious sanctimony.

[sop]

19. Anti-choice can be both about Sanctity of Life and Corporate Capitalism

These motivations are not mutually exclusive. The religionists who believe abortion is murder and should be criminalized by the State, and the corporatists who would legally limit a woman's right to reproductive freedom to ultimately increase their profits, both desire the same outcome, and are both working to pass anti-choice legislation.

Hedges believes corporate interests stand to gain financially if birth rates increase in the US. He further believes it's the reason American corporations have supported anti-choice movements; out of economic self interest, not to make some religious point.

Dodge v. Ford Motor Company (204 Mich. 459, 170 N.W. 668) was the case in which the Michigan Supreme Court held that Henry Ford had to operate the Ford Motor Company in the interests of its shareholders, rather than in a charitable manner, or for the benefit of his employees or customers. Public corporations aren't generally allowed to spend shareholder money on so-called religious or social causes, unless they believe it may ultimately increase their bottom line.

[ehrnst]

23. Not according to Hedges.

Politicians support anti-choice movements because it keeps them their job, and some are true believers that women are chattle.

Campaigns are funded more by angry people, and religious leaders and politicians know this. It's easy to harness the wallets of the misogynists, and promise them a return to the king of the castle days, where a white man didn't have to compete with women or the 'coloreds' in their own workplaces, and society was set up for his convenience, his comfort and his preferences.

I think that corporate interests aren't necessarily about more births, as much as it is less money going to a social safety net. The Mercers truly believe that if you don't make a lot of money, it's because you are worth less to begin with.

[sop]

26. Hedges states in his piece:

"America’s corporate state has no intention of funding programs and building institutions to ease the burden of rearing and nurturing children. Yes, the corporate state needs young bodies as fodder for the bloated military and endless foreign wars. Yes, it needs workers, especially a surplus of workers, to toil in menial, poorly compensated labor. Yes, it needs consumers to buy its products. But the corporate state...intends to achieve these goals 'with a minimum of employer spending and a maximum of unpaid women’s work.' If women refuse to produce children at levels desired by economic planners...then abortion and contraception will be banned or made difficult to obtain."

Of course Hedges believes "less money going to a safety net" will result in less funding for programs and building institutions "to ease the burden of rearing and nurturing children." Corporations never want to pay for such things, either out-of-pocket or through higher taxes. Hedges is also saying a decrease in the birth rate is not in corporate America's long-term economic interest either, and that's why they support anti-choice measures.

Anti-choice has always been an equal opportunity conservative issue, cynically used to motivate, divide and distract the electorate. It attracts anti-choice proponents from across the entire right-leaning political spectrum: fundamental religionists, paternalistic misogynists, social traditionalists and self-interested corporatists. And the issue has been exploited by opportunististic politicians pandering to these various interest groups just to get re-elected.

[Hortensis]

33. This. The RW anti-tax, anti-regulation movement means

business doesn't want to pay taxes or provide even unpaid maternity leave. For the most part, "corporations" couldn't care less what women do with their bodies as long as they're not paying for it. Now, strong religious conservatives among them are different, but they're different from their colleagues as well.

Occurs to me that, if Bernie Sanders were a private citizen who didn't have to control what he said to get reelected, and he was paid $174K/year and got to be famous and petted for badmouthing Democrats and corporations, preferably together, he'd be Chris Hedges. Hedges is also a socialist and also sees no real difference between the conservative Republican Party and the liberal Democratic Party -- even though we're the reason he's still able to write without being arrested. Not that I think he'd have the guts. He's actually careful not to irritate the religious right so much they swat him and mostly confines himself to irritating sensible people.

"The Democratic and Republican parties have become little more than squalid clubs of privilege and wealth, whores to money and corporate interests, hostage to a massive arms industry, and so adept at deception and self-delusion they no longer know truth from lies."

Is that dazzling insight or what? Gotta admit, it's me to a T.

[ehrnst]

35. Chris Hedges is a Sanders supporter, not surprisingly. (nt)

[hunter]

22. So corporations care if their customers are white fundy Christian citizens or brown immigrants???

That's news to me.

All the clerks in our local Wal-Mart speak some degree of Spanish, most of them with great fluency.

Most of the customers speak Spanish.

[get the red out]

27. Good point!

They make the same money no matter what the customer looks like.

[Farmer-Rick]

28. Well, I keep wondering why the Waltons let Alabama do this.

Nothing goes on in Alabama that the Wal-Mart heirs aren't approving of. I mean if they can run over and kill people without repercussions or any charges being filed, then they certainly can fund anti choice legislators. I really think they are behind Alabama's 3rd world abortion laws. After all, they have a history of funding RepubliCON initiatives.

Here's one where they get into the middle of LA politics: "For more than a decade, however, one of the biggest of the billionaire interlopers has been the Walton family, heirs to the Walmart fortune, who have poured millions into a privatization-oriented, ideological campaign to make LA a laboratory for their ideas about treating schools like for-profit businesses, and treating parents, students and teachers like cogs in what they must think are education big-box retail stores."

https://billmoyers.com/2013/03/02/why-are-walmart-billionaires-bankrolling-phony-school-reform-in-la/

[JI7]

30. it's about Controlling women and keeping us from being equal citizens, has nothing to do with

corporations or whatever the fuck.

has everything to do with men who want to control women.

[lindysalsagal]

34. "It is about the labor of bearing and rearing children: who will do it and who will pay for it."

Exactly. The government wants the cheap labor that comes from impoverished citizens, as well. And if we're too exhausted just trying to pay rent, we can't keep an eye on the powers that be, let alone organize to overthrow them.