Declarations of feminism must encompass pro-choice rhetoric

Publicly prioritizing the agency of a clump of cells over that of a grown person is nothing short of shameful.

There’s been a long line of women at The Journal who’ve built this paper up and emphasized the critical need for abortion. Two recent Journal Editors have detailed their personal experiences accessing abortion care. Another Editor’s reporting shed light on crisis pregnancy centres that seek to manipulate young pregnant individuals into giving birth under the guise of support.

There’s been a long line of pregnant individuals who have courageously shared their experiences seeking abortion care as a means of destigmatizing the procedure.

Folks in the Queen’s community who have had abortions are grateful for their labour.

So-called feminists who oppose abortion argue being pro-choice means advocating for violence against both women and babies. To pedal oppressive policy changes, these folks argue pregnant people who seek abortions do so due to an inability to financially support a child, as if a lack of funds is the only reason not to celebrate an unwanted pregnancy.

While better social supports to relieve the financial burden associated with raising children are undoubtedly necessary—especially with the escalating cost of living—those who refuse to recognize the devastation of carrying an unwanted pregnancy to term are either delusional or willfully ignorant.

Those opposed to pro-choice arguments need to better engage with stories told by their peers, especially those stories which detail the physical, emotional, and relational devastation posed by an unwanted pregnancy.

Even worse are the anti-choice extremists, who fail to consider the people who don’t want to become parents in the first place and would see a child born into a world where they’re not wanted.

Pregnancy poses permanent—and sometimes dangerous—changes to the pregnant person’s body starting as early as the sixth week of gestation. While it’s easy to write off debilitating illnesses associated with pregnancy when you’re lacking empathy, staggering maternal mortality rates—particularly among Black women—should be enough to emphasize that the decision to carry a pregnancy to term should be left to pregnant individuals specifically.

After all, there’s nothing misogynistic about wanting to reclaim the trajectory of one’s own life.

Though it can be a difficult decision, abortion is nothing short of liberating. Though the procedure can be associated with grief, people deserve the opportunity to decide for themselves whether a pregnancy is something they’d like to continue.

If hopeful feminists want to advocate for women’s rights, it’s time to appropriately tune into the stories shared by those around them to understand whose agency they’re advocating for.

Cassidy is an MA candidate in the philosophy department and one of The Journal’s Editors in Chief.

Tags

Abortion, feminism, Pro-Choice

All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s)-in-Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.

• Previous
• Next