Oh Boy, I Would Never Have Guessed

Guess what, guys? Crazy shit is afoot. Turns out having an abortion doesn’t psychologically damage teen girls, leaving them scarred and unlovable sluts for the rest of their lives. Because absolutely nobody would have guessed that beforehand. The study followed 289 pregnant teen girls. The girls who got abortions suffered no more depression or anxiety than their pregnant peers who kept the babies.

What I found insulting about this article was that it was filed under “Weird But True”. I would bet anything it was an anti-choicer or a dude who filed it under that. Since when is deciding not to give up a great deal of freedom or deciding not to give birth (which is kind of a big deal in case nobody realized) in your teen years weird? That seems pretty natural to me, but maybe I’m just a statistical anomaly. Oh boy, I’ve always wanted to be an anomaly!

Auditing Abortions

This is disgusting.

A proposed law, H.R. 3, would force the IRS to audit abortions. That’s right. To make sure that taxpayers (read: WOMEN taxpayers) have followed the law, IRS agents would have to investigate terminated pregnancies; specifically, whether the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest. The law could even end up adding a few new questions to your tax forms, like, “Have you had an abortion?”

Is it any of your freaking business? No, it’s not.

Our screwed up, patriarchal system makes it hard enough for women to accuse and convict their rapists, regardless of the fact that pretty much every rapist ever accused (or not accused, considering the high rate of unreported rape) has been guilty. If this law were passed, women would have to prove that their terminated pregnancy was a result of rape/incest, or whether any tax benefit had been used to pay for their abortion. They would have to prove it preferably through “contemporaneous written documentation”. How many women do you think have “contemporaneous written documentation” of their rape? Who could, in their right mind, believe that it is not outside of a woman’s rights to have to explain to an IRS agent how they were raped, and have them judge whether or not that was the right thing to do? I may be only 14 and not exactly have much experience with taxes, but I sure as hell know that this is a sick law.

What if the woman was a victim of rape or incest and did not use a tax benefit to pay for her abortion (even though you should be able to have a federally-funded abortion regardless of your situation), but the IRS agent happens to be a super-right-wing “pro-life” (read: anti-woman)  asshole and think that abortion is wrong no matter what the circumstance? Is it not possible that an IRS agent with that much power could let their own personal beliefs affect their decision? If the law is passed, it’s going to happen, and we all know it.

There is no real logic behind this law except to debase women and set up another law that would harass women who’ve had abortions.

I really, really hope this law isn’t passed. It’s revolting.

Read more here.

South Dakota Decides Women Can’t Think For Themselves

So I guess women aren’t smart enough to decide whether or not to have an abortion and need permission from centers that are notoriously anti-abortion (I refuse to say pro-life because shouldn’t the woman’s life be valued above a fertilized egg?). Three days ago, South Dakota signed HB1217 into law, which will require women to get permission from “crisis pregnancy centers” before getting an abortion. There are so many things wrong with this, and I want to cry.

I am all for informed decision; in fact, it is a good idea to make information about abortion more easily available. If the purpose of the centers were to give women information about all of their choices and abortion itself in a supportive and caring environment, then it would actually be a great idea.  But these centers promote information that is likely to be flawed, biased, or simply untruthful. They can spread the false rumors about abortion causing breast cancer and all women having depression issues after an abortion. The centers are not staffed by licensed medical or psychological professionals; you don’t have to have any kind of a license to work there, or prove you are unbiased in any way. Oh, OK, because that makes so much freaking sense– let’s give random people power over women’s decisions and bodies? How is that any different than walking up to a stranger on the street and asking, “Should I have an abortion” and going with whatever they say, regardless of different beliefs or opinions?

Oh yeah, and the centers don’t actually have to see you at all. They can just delay your appointment until it is too late to actually have an abortion. Really, this is just too freaking convenient, isn’t it? After all, now you don’t even have to go to the fake pregnancy “help” clinic to be denied your rights to your own body. This pisses me off so much. I can’t believe that there are still people in this day and age who would value a fertilized egg over another human being. The belief that women are too stupid to know what we’re getting into in an abortion is also prevalent (and completely idiotic); so many people seem to think that women will carry this deep, dark secret at the bottom of their withered little souls forever. Because obviously a dumb woman wouldn’t know what she is getting into when she makes a major decision, right?

It is this kind of condescending, patronizing idiocy that makes me wonder how people can say sexism is nonexistent. Just look at how the government can control women’s bodies through b.s. like this– what parallel is there for men? There is none.