Quote:the teen pregancies are just as likely as the female wanting to get pregnant then getting shot of the male.
Indeed, howard, quite right - there is certainly the case that some females want to get pregnant, and then get rid of the male. But my point is that it is a biological function that it's the woman who carries the baby, and that is something of which to be proud. We are different from men, and our identity can be different and flexible and fluctuating also (sometimes we can think of ourselves as one, when expecting we are two or even more in the same body, when breast-feeding we are in a partnership).
Pursuing this, it then becomes a big question as to why a woman should want to emulate a male function, ie having sex without the baby-consequence, to the extent that she is prepared to abort the thing that is growing, and potentially to suffer herself, emotionally and even to death. (Note, the 15-year old who died just this week, as a consequence of not being given antibiotics after an abortion - they had considered all the options of what to do about the new pregnancy, we're told!).
In other words, there's the talk about a woman's "right" to choose - but what exactly is she choosing? I'm trying not to mention the f-word here (feminism!) but one strong critique of abortion from that perspective is just that - why on earth do we want to be like men in this way? Is abortion, ultimately, not a feminist and female-liberating thing, but deep-down another manifestation of partriarchal thinking? Gasp!
Okay, they're various quesitons - but to return to your comment, howard, yes, indeed there are some women who get pregnant and then chuck out the male. This is a social, not a biological thing, so much - but again, one has to question ... exactly why? Because males don't take their responsibilities for the offspring (which certainly can be linked to biology)?. Because a baby is a good bargaining tool for housing? Because there is seemingly no other option for the female in terms of career? Do they have sex in the first place because they think it will make men like them - like the poor lass who thought this and got acid tipped over her by her rapists, a couple of months ago? - and why on earth do women need to seek male approval in the first place? (On this point, incidentally, Chris P perspicaciously mentions abortion as being put on a par with the boob-job.) Additionally, for my comments above, I wonder ... might there just be social class (yes, it does exist) influences operating in here too?
A long post, I know, but some points that I think are worth considering. This does not mean, however, that I would be critical or disrespectful of anyone seeking or having had an abortion (or a boob-job, come to that). Indeed not! But I reiterate the point that abortion isn't merely a question of "choice" - but that that "choice" is severely circumscribed in many ways, and some of which are not easily or immediately apparent. Abortion advertising merely continues this, in my view - it purports to offer "choice" but does so only within a very limited domain.
There was a debate on advertising abortion, incidentally, on BBC1 this morning - did anyone catch it? What did the people there say?