Protestants, Jews Blast Frist's Evangelical TV Role

t r u t h o u t - Protestants, Jews Blast Frist's Evangelical TV Role

This is all about abortion. I am so sick of this fight between those who want women to control their own lives in privacy and those who want to control women's lives. The more I hear about it, the more I see misogyny. Not only is opposing women's right to an abortion a dismissal of an individual woman's will, health and control of her own destiny (this I consider hatred), it also makes her invisible. In their world view, a fetus belongs to everyone but her. NO MAN WOULD STAND FOR THIS. Men even stop at these parameters with other men (an equivalent would be doping sex offenders with hormonal manipulation), but we lack the same respect for women's privacy and self-control. Maybe men were let off the hook when Paul told Christian men that they would not have to get circumcized to be Christians while he made clear that wives were subservient to them (my friend Barbara pointed this out--think about it).

Many people advocate less social control on men, more social control on women.

Anti-abortionists who work to limit abortions are instrisically arguing for more control over women. It's not a harmless argument, folks. We have an attorney general in Kansas trying to get his hands on women's medical records. Again, no man would stand for that. It was illegal (not sure now because of the Patriot Act).

It is more difficult to address the religious purism that motivates people in their anti-abortionism. Although I vehemently disagree about the destiny of human souls (I believe aborted fetuses return to G_d), I can't blame people for theologically believing that every soul is in danger and might go to pergatory if it's unnaturally ended before baptism (ugh!). It's dark, but idealistic. So why not practice what they preach, model it, and teach their children to take after them. When they start forcing their religious beliefs on others we get a theocracy, not a republic. What if Jews decided to force circumcision or kosher eating on everyone? It's just not imaginable!

So to me, this fight over abortion is a time and resource waste for everyone--I'd rather be working at ways to improve the lives of women and children. But as a society we don't do that--we'd rather just blame women for all our society's ills--as many Romans did in the end (and Roman historians, mind you).

As for abortion and birth control: Live and let live. Let it be. Let women be allowed to make good and bad decisions and live with them, men are. Save your passion and influence for yourself, your family, and your community's health and well-being. What a beautiful world that would be.

Peace