Would you Characterize Reproductive Freedom as a "Woman's Issue?"

[bryant69]

Poll question: Would you Characterize Reproductive Freedom as a "Woman's Issue?"

I am starting my candidate reviews at the website today (Democrats today, Republicans Thursday) and picked Abortion as a good starting point (an easy issue to do, and since I'm reviewing the websites too, sort of, it made sense to pick an issue that wouldn't demand as much attention.) And I'm struck by how Abortion is usually put in a section of the site labeled "Woman's issues" How do you feel about that?

Bryant
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[no_hypocrisy]

1. It's a fundamental rights issue.

Every woman has the right to determine if she wants to become pregnant and carry a fetus to term. No one else gets that choice.

[bryant69]

2. That's kind of where I am too. I was a bit taken aback at seeing it

in a Woman's section time and time again. But of course there are a lot of things in a "Woman's" section that don't necessarily belong there in my mind.

Bryant

[Iris]

3. what woman's section are you referring to?

[bryant69]

9. On the various candidate websites

Obama has a section on Woman who support his campaign, under which he discusses Woman's issue. Biden has a similar section, and I believe Richardson does as well.

Bryant

[Iris]

10. I see.

yeah, that's wrong on so many levels.

[Dhalgren]

4. It is a human rights issue. If women do not control over their own bodies,

then no one else does either. This isn't about reproduction, per se, it is about the right of a woman, as a human being, to have control over her own body. So in that sense it isn't just a "Women's Issue", but a human one.

[jeff30997]

14. I totally agree with you! nt

[pitohui]

5. well in times gone by it was pretty much totally a woman's issue

the man could get his reproductive freedom simply by lying, denying, and if all else failed, fleeing the state

in these days of accurate DNA tests, even if i were a man, i'd be concerned that abortion is going away, because what would be more awful than to create a child that neither of you wanted and that neither of you could afford, which would tie you to a person you would now hate (for destroying you and your future) for the next two decades

women have always faced this destruction of their finances and future, hence, why we were so concerned to protect abortion, now men need to wake up and realize that it CAN affect them too

so really it is a case of a basic human right, if you can't plan if or when to raise a child, then you can't plan your own future

maybe as men get more aware that they or their sons can be impacted, we'll have a movement back toward easier access to abortion, but so far everything seems to be going the wrong direction

[JuniperLea]

6. This is a heart-breaker for me

I know a few men who didn't know they were potentially fathers until after the abortion. As a woman, and a mother of three, I agree that no one should be able to tell you to have a baby, or tell you not to have a baby. Unless a child is determined to have a birth defect, I could never, ever have an abortion myself. Even if raped. If the child is otherwise healthy, I would much prefer to put it up for adoption. As a parent, I grieve for the fathers out there who are largely ignored in this issue. Father's love their children as much as mothers.

I don't really think human beings can be truly fair in this issue. This is a solid King Solomon issue if there ever was one.

[blondeatlast]

7. If they can get into my uterus, they can get into Mr. B@L's prostate.

Roe v. Wade was tried before SCOTUS as a privacy case for a damn good reason.

[Hekate]

8. Fundamental human rights.But having been labeled "women's issue" marginalizes it, as intended

I don't mean to imply that it's your intention.

Around 25 years ago I realized with a jolt that literally everything that I thought was of vital importance in policy and politics was neatly boxed into "women's issues". It was a jolt because in my naivete I simply thought these issues were vital to all humanity. So we have to keep working to reframe and break them out of the box that marginalizes over half the human race.

Hekate

[Totally Committed]

11. Woman's body -- Woman's choice.

TC

[ContraBass Black]

12. Where it concerns the potential of forced sterilization of males or females,

No.

[bryant69]

13. how often does it concern the forced sterilization of males or females

I try to keep up on the issue, yes I do. But I've not heard this discussed. Are people proposing forced sterilization?

Bryant

[ContraBass Black]

15. It comes up now and then for the developmentally challenged, sex offenders,

And people convicted of child neglect. Not often, from what I know.

[jeff30997]

16. It happened in the US before the Nazis began doing the same thing.

America's eugenics laws served as a model for the racial laws passed by the Nazis in Germany:

http://www.commondreams.org/views/072100-106.htm

The first country to concertedly undertake compulsory sterilization programs for the purpose of eugenics was the United States. The principal targets of the American program were the mentally retarded and the mentally ill, but also targeted under many state laws were the deaf, the blind, the epileptic, and the physically deformed. Native Americans were sterilized against their will in many states, often without their knowledge, while they were in a hospital for other reasons (e.g. childbirth).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_sterilization

If it happened then it can happen again.

[bryant69]

18. Isn't that kind of the opposite of Abortion though? n/t

[jeff30997]

19. It's kind of not just a woman issue.

Abortion rights is about the reproductive rights of human beings.Eugenics laws fits the category.

[blondeatlast]

17. That's why R v. W was argued before SCOTUS as a privacy issue.

Medical issues should be inherently self-determining unless there are serious competency issues.