"Post-Abortion Syndrome?"
This might be the most annoying shift in anti-choice rhetoric since the whole linguistic invention of "partial-birth abortion."
In the Jan. 21 New York Times Magazine--which is not out yet; this summary is from Slate--is an article titled "Is There a Post-Abortion Syndrome?"
Well, is there? Read on, my sistahs and brothahs, read on:
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Many anti-abortion activists have dropped right-to-life rhetoric in favor of claims that abortion hurts the mother, despite scientific evidence that abortion doesn't increase the risk of depression any more than unwanted pregnancy or giving birth. Their viewpoint "challenges the connection between access to abortion and women's rights--if women are suffering because of their abortions, then how could making the procedure readily available leave women better off?" writes Slate's Emily Bazelon. To treat ensuing feelings of guilt and regret, abortion-recovery therapists "offer a diagnosis that gives meaning to the symptoms, and that gives the women a way to repent," says psychology professor Brenda Major.
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GOOD LORD.
I've heard this psychologization of abortion before, from the right and the left. From those little Christian "clinics" that are really fronts for anti-choice activism. From Hilary Clinton, who way back in one of her early Senate speeches talked about women who choose abortions as "victims," and about abortion as "tragic." From my own mother, for Chrissake, who considers herself "pro-choice" but who is convinced that it's traumatic. (Would she know? No.)
Could we recognize this for what it is, please? It's a political ploy to dismantle the idea that abortion and family planning are rights issues, and instead to construct women once again as emotional victims without the ability to make reasonable choices about their own futures.
In related news, check out the conversation between Katha Pollitt and William Saletan (two of my favorite journalists, and both pro-choice), Is Abortion Bad?
In the Jan. 21 New York Times Magazine--which is not out yet; this summary is from Slate--is an article titled "Is There a Post-Abortion Syndrome?"
Well, is there? Read on, my sistahs and brothahs, read on:
****
Many anti-abortion activists have dropped right-to-life rhetoric in favor of claims that abortion hurts the mother, despite scientific evidence that abortion doesn't increase the risk of depression any more than unwanted pregnancy or giving birth. Their viewpoint "challenges the connection between access to abortion and women's rights--if women are suffering because of their abortions, then how could making the procedure readily available leave women better off?" writes Slate's Emily Bazelon. To treat ensuing feelings of guilt and regret, abortion-recovery therapists "offer a diagnosis that gives meaning to the symptoms, and that gives the women a way to repent," says psychology professor Brenda Major.
****
GOOD LORD.
I've heard this psychologization of abortion before, from the right and the left. From those little Christian "clinics" that are really fronts for anti-choice activism. From Hilary Clinton, who way back in one of her early Senate speeches talked about women who choose abortions as "victims," and about abortion as "tragic." From my own mother, for Chrissake, who considers herself "pro-choice" but who is convinced that it's traumatic. (Would she know? No.)
Could we recognize this for what it is, please? It's a political ploy to dismantle the idea that abortion and family planning are rights issues, and instead to construct women once again as emotional victims without the ability to make reasonable choices about their own futures.
In related news, check out the conversation between Katha Pollitt and William Saletan (two of my favorite journalists, and both pro-choice), Is Abortion Bad?