This was posted on Scottie’s blog — and since I felt the message needs to be shared to as wide an audience as possible, I’m posting it here as well.
I will add that not EVERY man ignores their part in unwanted pregnancies, but there are (too) many that do. Bottom line is just what Ms. Nichols says: NO MAN (and especially politicians) has the right to dictate what any woman does with her body. Period.
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In an amusing rant regarding the Catholic Church’s involvement in sexual affairs, a Dutch comedian (“cabaratier”) addressed the bishops and cardinals:
“If you don’t practice the sport, don’t interfere with the rules of the game!”
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Very passionate post for sure!
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agree, all the way down. A man’s basic involvement with pregnancy is making it happen. One way or another, he’s involved there, but nowhere else, unless he chooses to do so.
What happens after that, for good or ill, is out of his hands.
And the idea that a fistful of politicians have decided that abortion is up to them to regulate (which is what it feels like to me) is appalling. It forces a 12 year old girl to carry to full term a child conceived in rape or incest. it forces an already frail woman to have a baby that could kill her. It also subtly shades the concept of abortion as being a thoughtless act by selfish women…and come to think of it, Im curious as to how many female politicians are involved with this too.
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All six women in the Tennessee legislature were involved in holding up the vote on shortening the time you could have an abortion, so they stood together regarcless of Party. But othe places, other results. Most of the women in government (certainly not all) are past child-bearing age, so to many it’s a matter of controlling the lives of others. And Repubicans love to control the lives of others! They do not belueve in freedom!
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Many of those republican women, regardless of age, are still women, many of them with children and grandchildren. This affects them as well.
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Yes, I looked at only the women themselves, not their offspring. But there are a large number of women who would see abortion outlawed, and I am not sure how these women think, or what inspires them to vote against abortion rights. In my small mind I think all women should be in favour of abortions, yet they sre not. They let religion influence their beliefs, and while religion is a powerful factor, their own ecperiences of reality should speak differently. They are also influenced by the men in their lives, but men cannot experience pregnancy or childbirth, they can only have opinions — whereas most women have the lived experience.
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I think most men are in favour of abortions, or at least letting women contol their bodies. But it’s the religious conservative types who “need” that power to be able to call themselves “masculine”!
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religion and religious practices (most if not all of them male mandated) want babies. Lots and lots of babies. Any woman in a religion is well aware of the strictures dumped on her by the rules of that religion. Breed, breed, breed. All those babies will one day grow up to have more babies, within the confines of that particular religion. Those unborn kids are a churches future. So make it a sin to refuse a mate his “needs”, to use birth control; and to welcome into the family as many kids as you can pop out. My cousin and his wife, both raised Catholic, used the rhythm method. After the 7th baby his wife said, to hell with it, I’m going on the pill. Turns out the rhythm method doesn’t prevent pregnancy, it encourages it.
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This is one reason why I believe parents should not be allowed to own their children. No child should be exposed to religion until they are at least 16, but preferably 18, when their parents cannot control them anymore. A child is too impressionable to be able to understand what religion is about, let alone being forced to believe one without choice.
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unfortunately, in this modern world of social media the lack of parental control simply means children will be even more influenced by Twitter and YouTube and their ilk
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Parental control on social media is not ownership. Saying a child is a Christian, or a Muslim, or a Republican is!
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Agree 100%. These anti-choice people are ghouls.
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I agree completely. If men got pregnant, there would NEVER have been any debate about abortions.
Best wishes, Pete.
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ABSOLUTELY!!
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This:
“Getting a vasectomy can cost anywhere between $0 and $1,000, including follow-up visits.” (Planned Parenthood)
In my opinion, this well-worn discussion ought not be about gender/sex/nature, termination of pregnancy, laws, love, or responsibility. I think it should be about preventing something we KNOW how to prevent. We are talking politics AND religion here. Am I unrealistic?
I wonder how many men read such a letter and suddenly become more responsible. I wonder how many pro-birthers/anti-abortion (men and women) have their way of thinking adjusted even a hair. All I see are more and more draconian laws regarding medical care of pregnant women, abortion, and trans youth.
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You’re right, of course. No one is going to stop supporting abortion via this meme. Nevertheless, I support the message and think it needs to be front and center at every opportunity.
I don’t know if you recall, but I wrote a post on vasectomies sometime back — https://sayitnow.wordpress.com/2022/08/19/abortion-workaround/
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there is also one other sad thing that happens in problems like this, be it environmental, physical, or emotional; “if it ain’t in my backyard, I don’t care.”
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Indeed, Judy. I’ve heard it said, “it depends on who is pregnant.”
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There is a lot of male ego invested in this: it’s about control, it’s about “their” sperm being aborted (shock and horror), it’s about the fact that it’s a woman’s fault she got pregnant in the first place. riiiight.
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These men do not care. They just want to laud it over women and show them who’s boss and controls the world. Pure and simple and some use religion to up the ante.
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And one other vastly painful and vastly important thing that we haven’t touched on, as far as i know: a woman becomes pregnant, and a few weeks into her pregnancy she has an ultra sound. Something isn’t right in there. Further down the line, another ultrasound, and it turns out she is carrying a child missing most of its brain, or no face, or some other dreadful event. According to this ruling, she still must carry this poor fetus full term, give birth, and then someone has to deal with a barely living creature.
What the f— is wrong with people who insist that this must happen…
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That’s already happened in Fla.
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Could not agree MORE with all this, Ms. Nichols, you Nan, Scottie, and the abundant science—embryology, obstetrics, genetics, fetal development—regarding ALL stages of pregnancy. The true FACTS do not backup the radical Pro-lifers of the theological mentality!!! Period!!!
Excellent share Nan. Thank you, and to Scottie!!! ❤️
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Pretty much the way I look at it. I have the right to an opinion, everyone has one, but I don’t have the right to act on it. It’s a decision I’ll never face.
Another one of those sit down and shut up, be seen and not heard moments …
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I think this is a dangerous and false course of thinking. It is a false dichotomy to divide people into men and women in this regards. What is wrong is wrong regardless wether it could happent to me, or not and it is high time people understood as much in other issues as well. It is a dangerous and harmfull thinking because it sets up division between some gender lines, when women can be just as easily mislead about this issue as men. In so doing, it only muddles the waters from the real questions regarding the issue. We do not need a fight between men and women, but we need to fight false claims and immoral attempts to controll others. I really hate it when good causes are defended by bad logic. Especially, when there are plenty of good and logical reasons.
A woman must have the right to choose abortion, because it is their body. Regardless wether we would consider the embryo a nother human individual, or not – and we do not, because no society considers it that at any level, as they are not counted in any censuses. No person can be held accountable to provide their personal organs to support a nother person. Not an individual who is a living breathing member of the society, let alone a biological entity, that is merely a potential to become one some day. People today invest emotionally a lot to this future possibility, but the culture that assumes the potential allready as an individual is terribly damaging, just look at all the women and men suffering from childlessness, at the same time the world is full of kids without home, or parents. As a species we are fully capable to take care of human children regardless if they are our own flesh and blood. Only culture claims this to be a matter of interrest and that culture needs to be abolished, as it is damaging and toxic. Finally, the most important argument is, that all the arguments and emotional reasons, that demand the embryo is a human individual with a persona and rights, from the global political bloc that is trying to restrict the right to abortion of pregnancy are religious. As such, the UN charter (and a number of constitutions) remind us, that the religion of one person may not be imposed upon a nother person.
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It’s a good argument but flawed. Just because I have no uterus isn’t the equivalent to having opinions in the discussion. True I’m not a woman, but using this argument I could as easily ask your opinion on cats and claim you have no right to it because you are not a cat.
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Of course logic can be called upon. But I think you know it’s more than that for women.
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That’s not logic. It’s nonsensical … it doesn’t make sense
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