Pregnancy, Politics and the Policing of Women's Bodies

[fizzgig]

Standing in line at a DC coffee shop, I wonder if I will get a dirty look. I'm pregnant and I remember a friend who told me that she was once scolded by a fellow customer for having caffeine while pregnant. Another friend, a doctor and an avid runner, was pulled aside while running and asked if her doctor knew she was doing that. Still, bothersome moments like these barely scratch the surface of a grave truth in this country - women's bodies are under constant control.

While pregnant, I have been amazed by the unsolicited advice that I get on a weekly basis about what to eat and not eat, how much sleep to get, whether or not to have sex, if I should carry my toddler who loves to say "up up, Mommy" and asks me to "twirl, twirl." But I am lucky. I have not been drug tested in order to utilize a safety net program, nor have I been randomly drug tested while still in recovery in the maternity ward. I have not been jailed because I was in pain and used medication, nor have I been locked in a psychiatric ward because I refused treatment for gestational diabetes.

While the rights and dignity of pregnant women are further eroded, forced sterilization and laws that cap the number of children a woman can have if she uses public assistance continue a shameful history in this country of dictating who gets to add to their family. Indeed, lawmakers play a dangerous game when they think they should decide whether a woman becomes a parent, instead of ensuring that every woman can make her own decision based on what is best for her and her family. This is especially true when it comes to the decision to seek an abortion.

In recent years, hundreds of laws were introduced with the goal of making it harder and more expensive to get an abortion or closing clinics to shut off availability of care. Many of these restrictions make the news (hello, North Dakota) and cause a big uproar among advocates (think Virginia's mandatory ultrasound law) and rightly so, but there are efforts that are just as widespread, but simply do not get the same attention - legislation that effectively withholds abortion care altogether.

cross posted from good reads

[uppityperson]

1. Thank you for the article. 1 thing that used to piss me off was random strangers touching my belly.

I mean, wtf? Don't touch me without my permission. Ever. Ever. And don't tell me I am too fat/thin or doing something else you don't like.

The new laws are scary in that I can see them being used to control pregnant women more and more. Had a miscarriage? Prove you did nothing wrong or you could get prosecuted for feticide.

Books like Handmaid's Tale are cautionary stories, not to be put into place. Unfortunately we have to continue to fight to make it not happen.

[fizzgig]

4. i was thinking of the touching the belly thing when i was posting this

i don't have kids, but i've heard other women talk about it. touching someone without their permission is pretty fucked up.

[madamesilverspurs]

2. Weld County commissioners would love this.

They're doing their best to move women and their rights back to the 18th century. Damn teabaggers.

[fizzgig]

5. i'm so glad my husband got over his wanting to move to greeley

[madamesilverspurs]

2. Weld County commissioners would love this.

They're doing their best to move women and their rights back to the 18th century. Damn teabaggers.

[Kath1]

6. What amazes me...

is that as a "good Catholic wife" I used birth control all the time with good Catholic ex-husband and ex-husband had no problems AT ALL with it. I guess it was just me that was going to hell. Hypocrites.