Personal Freedoms, Liberties, and Rights
After a brief comment exchange with my book editor, Katie, over my article “Morning Thoughts”, I was left with a restless mind. This restlessness is not from her comments or mine, but more thinking about the basis for our beliefs and the ideologies we have created for ourselves. On a portal call, I off-hand made a comment about her family moving to Texas. No expectation, mind you, but she brought up a point about her daughter wanting to have the best health care, but this was really about a woman’s personal right to freedom of choice. If we were just talking health care, I would put Texas up against any state’s healthcare system. I made a comparison in talking about the Texas law about private citizens’ right to sue a person getting an abortion to California’s gun law based on the same implementation. After her comment “and frankly idk why you brought up California’s gun laws when we were talking about women’s health”. In my growing up and through my adult life this has never been about women’s health or her right to quality healthcare. It has always been about pro-choice or pro-life. After the Supreme Court’s ruling that overturned Roe v Wade, the media and people converted to this terminology about health care. Was this diversion of terminology to isolate the issue or mask the real one?
I ask this question because pro-choice and pro-life both cry for an answer that would get to a compromised outcome and neither side seem to want that. It’s all or nothing. For instance, when using the argument about when does life begin? This is the long-held argument against abortion, which by the way is the only aspect of women’s reproductive health in question. No other aspect, such as birth control, just abortion. Somehow, that one thing becomes a health issue, I’m not sure I get it. I’m not saying it is wrong, I just merely see it as a tactic to escape the real fundamental question of choice.
And that is where gun law similarities become near the same issue with the main two political factions flip-flopping on pro-life versus pro-choice. Yes, I just made gun law issue also a pro-life issue. That is in fact the basis for the Left’s and centrist Right’s wanting of more gun laws. It is due to the epidemic called mass shootings. It is about savings lives. The Right’s stance on abortion has to do with pro-life and some reference to when does life begin. I was ok with the Roe v Wade decision, but even without the recent ruling by the Supreme Court, the fight by the Right was strong in the political judicial system and was ongoing. It never stopped their need to have a determination of that ideological question. The throwing around about the Bible and some religious aspect of pro-life is about as mis-directional as women’s health versus pro-choice. I’m also afraid that if the challenge is going to be women’s health and the quality of it, it is too easily discounted. It is just as easy to discount a pro-life argument when saying the church condemns abortion. Which brings up another often-used term about a baby life and gun laws, this verbiage about God Given Right. God didn’t give rights other than the right to choose. In the end we are judged in the after life by our actions against or in support of commandments. And that, my friends, is my argument, the only thing we have is the right to choose. It is my one and only God Given Right and it should be applied universally for everything.
But, of course, it won’t be because man is notoriously fallible. We need laws to protect civil liberties such as the freedom to have happiness without the fear of someone harming us. We need the ability to look at ourselves in the mirror and be ok with our decisions. This stupid battle against “woke” is just another idiotic symbolism thing incorrectly applied. If I read my dictionary right, woke or the term, was first used to talk about civil liberties of people persecuted for their race. The more modern version is broader and refers to caring for others socially and providing aid in support. In either case, I think I would rather be woke than anti-woke. I care about people, I care about their rights, liberties, and freedoms. I don’t believe issues are black and white and I do believe in compromise. We either win-win or we lose-lose, it just depends on which side of proverbial coin you happen to be on when flipped as to which it is for you. When a coin is flipped and lands on the edge for a sports event, it is reflipped. We don’t get that luxury if the coin doesn’t land your way for most issues, I would hope for the edge to be where the coin lands all the time.
Back to my original point, pro-choice or pro-life, is there a compromise that satisfies both aspects of belief? I personally think we could scholarly come to some agreement about the origination of life and when abortion can begin and end in a pregnancy with the exceptions of a woman’s health and the compromise of it. If this country was to decide on, say 12 weeks, then that would give plenty of time to eliminate a pregnancy that happens out of rape, incest, or even a poor decision to not use protection in a consensual situation. On the same note of personal liberties, extending background checks, red-flag laws for mental health or criminal background, and even certain types of bans on specific assault weapons should be ok. It is the fear of both extreme political factions only accepting one or the others way is, and in the end also the reason why these issues and other similar issues will never be truly resolved. Laws will continue to change as political factions are in control of the three houses of lawmaking. Until we find some way of leveling how the Supreme Court is constructed and removing personal opinion and following only the letter of the law, this country will always be in this political landscape debate.
Our issues are the world’s issue. There are very few countries that have laws that appease all ways of thinking. If you think America is the greatest country it is because we are conditioned to think so. There is a YouTube video from the show “The Newsroom” where Jeff Daniels character is pressed to answer the question of “Can you answer why America is the greatest country in the world?”. His answer, when pressed to answer the question, resonates so loudly with me and is why my heart hurts for this country I love and why seeing the continued destruction by extremism rips at my true sense of why this country will never be the greatest country again. I want it to be, but too many are hell bent on personal gain and making the equation somehow always result in their favor. We don’t want to work to better anything for our neighbor, only ourselves. We want to judge people right or wrong for whether they believe the same as we do. We take no pride in a diversified ideological approach where everyone brings value to the table. In this age where Gen Z and Millennials were supposed to be the ones that fixed the deep-rooted division have instead just perpetuated an even deeper trench to be wrong or right and finding no compromise for the good of us all. I’m not encouraged for the future and when we can’t get adults in the highest of offices in this country, we are destined for despair.
I do not believe for a second that Katie is wrong, but I also don’t believe she is right. The issue is too convoluted for that simple approach. I believe she feels she is right. Her conviction is that she is right on the subject, and I like that about her. She didn’t arrive at her conclusion without a lot of thought. On the other hand, her conviction about her belief may be, not necessarily so, what doesn’t allow for compromise. Not that she couldn’t, but knowing her, I think she would always feel compromised about compromising if the law was nothing but a no restriction woman’s right to choose. It solely lies with the woman to choose. But would she be happy if all issues were left to each person to have the right to choose for themselves on all issues? Of course not, none of us would, because we all rationalize importance and hierarchical order for decision making. I do believe when we make decisions to single out a group, i.e.. Women, blacks, asylum seekers, etc. and we go backwards on issues and not move forward on things like voting rights and a woman’s right to choose or the right to seek opportunity, then we digress as a country. There was no better time in America than now. We can’t make something great again that doesn’t involve all the advancements made through time. If you’re stupid enough to think the fifties are where you want this country again, think about what you’re saying. In my mind, you are wanting a life that doesn’t provide civil liberties and voting rights. What MAGA really should be is MAWA (Make America White Again). That is the real agenda for these people. The acronym would be too long for adding in women barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.
This country is in trouble. We need to advance this country in a healthy and productive way, not regress to a time that benefited the majority. We need common rights, liberties, and freedoms that serve us all fairly and justly. But maybe that is impossible being that our country was born out of extremism and revolt to accepted societal norms. Maybe I’m the problem and that a believe system based on win-win is not good for the whole. I was taught to believe in that principle, but it seems I’m archaic and that I’m holding back the cultural civil war that has begun to ultimately resolve these long-standing issues that have hinged on some previous kind of compromise. Time will tell and I may never see the results in my lifetime. But, just once in my life, I would like to go to bed knowing that all is good in the world.
Yes it is absolutely womens health. Let’s first use me an example. I was in the second trimester making me ineligible for abortion in many states, and I was also not actively in peril. So if I was not able to get one I would have had to wait until I got an infection and was hospitalized. We can also look at late term abortions. Less than 1%* of abortions are late term abortions during the 3rd trimester which are extremely controversial. But they are typically done due to their babies being incompatible with life and would shortly die there after. So why police women who would have to make the worst decision of their life to spare themselves and their babies from unnecessary pain? And more broadly just being pregnant and giving birth is a health risk. There are soooooo many complications that can occur as you know. Pre eclampsia, gestational diabetes, ruptured uterus, c sections, ect. So to say it’s not womens health care says to me that we are thinking of the unborn baby more than the woman who is carrying the child.
And if we move on to womens mental health care having a child when you aren’t stable financially or possibly living in a bad situation means forcing women to upend their lives. Babies are such a blessing and a highlight of what life is, and I want every baby that is brought on this earth to feel how special they are. Not that they are a burden or unwanted.
I still stand firm that laws on abortion and gun laws are not similar. Yes you are right they are both polarizing topics. But one is using a weapon that could kill many people in a very short amount of time in a crime of violence. Where abortion is taking the life of a potential life, and typically thought out and done with a heavy heart. You also cant accidentally have an abortion.
You’re also right that I dont believe everyone should have complete control over every issue. I do think that when you are talking about people’s health, society has always said you have say over what happens to you. You can go into a hospital and refuse treatment for a deadly illness/injury and they have to honor that. Same with DNR’s you have the say even when you’re not conscious. You also have a say what happens to your corpse. The fact you dont have a say over the next 19+ years of your life seems insane to me.
I believe this is left over bs from the days that men had complete control over women. Which is not that long ago.
As far as compromise goes I think it is completely necessary for change otherwise we constantly find ourselves in a stalemate. I think there are also issues that are black and white. An example could be slavery or the right for every citizen to vote. There are just somethings that will end up in history as sounding like something terrible to live through to future generations, and I believe this is one of them.
I’m sorry you dont have high hopes for our future. Sometimes it feels grim and hopeless, especially now with every single atrocity being shown to us all day long. With the loudest among us not always being the majority of what Americans think. But as you said it is the best time to be alive in terms of human rights. There will never be a day of all being right in the world and that’s just human nature. Which is what makes the good and right so beautiful.
*https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/fact-sheet/abortions-later-in-pregnancy/amp/
Hot damn!! There’s my Kate!! Very well said and of course I agree with everything you said. You know I can make you a contributor instead of a subscriber? I think the problem, and forgive me if I oversimplify this, the whole debate about pro-choice versus pro-life is boiled down to this simplified matter of political division. A high level of explanation often gets cast aside because people only want to read the first paragraph. So many folks, these days, don’t want to or don’t feel they have time for contemplative thought or they misdirect with something like gun control. I find it very refreshing the effort you make! As far as a health issue, I’ve thought about everything you’ve said and am certainly aware of the personal nature for especially you, but also for April (our friend down here) who faced a very similar way as you at the same time you were. But also Cort, my sister, and numerous other women I’ve been associated with. I wonder, in a less pointed viewpoint than yours, if people tend to separate health politics versus politics on the topic of abortion. Does the political establishment want to keep health a healthcare system issue out of the debate and ball it up into the insurance and big pharma shed. I’m serious about offering you a platform to address serious issues. I’m never going to come with the same perspective, I’m not a woman and I’m from a different generation. Kudos Kate! Thanks for your perspective!
You are 100% correct when people who are pro life hear abortion, there isnt a ton of thought on the mother and it’s all about a baby. So many people don’t even want to hear anything from the other side because they truly believe it is murder and that nothing excuses that. At least that’s how it seems.
I think the most illuminating way to open someone’s eyes is to live through it, or support someone going through it. I have had many pro choice friends that are just as ignorant of the role abortions play in healthcare rather than a choice about when you have a baby. I think womens healthcare is just barely getting started and hopefully more conversations and better health classes will help people understand.
Kate, I understand your viewpoint, but is the idea of it being a healthcare issue singularly focusing on a woman and her right to choose what’s best for herself only? Granted, that decision certainly will be weighed and take into account the viability of life for the unborn child, but also the woman’s mental health, her physical health, and if a personal relationship with a husband or significant other is a factor with her also weighing their thoughts. The responsibility is huge in your ideology, in that, the responsibility ultimately belongs to the woman and that the rest of us have to trust that she will make the right decision for all involved. In other words, what importance lies in the partner’s responsibility? Should it be equal? I will remove rape or incest as I believe we are in agreement on that with the exception of a timeline that the decision would have to be made within for the woman.
In a situation where the woman’s health is at risk, does or should the sole responsibility lie with the woman? As a parent, I would choose my daughter’s health and life over the unborn child, especially in a viability issue, but what if the unborn child could have a strong chance at living and the mother would be at risk of death to continue with the pregnancy? Should that responsibility solely lie with the woman? If there is another person to ensure a loving relationship with the child, should that decision be solely in the hands of the woman who’s pregnant? In a situation where two people lovingly created a child, does the woman simply be reduced to a vessel for another life? I do believe there are a large number of people that feel the partners decision matters as much as the woman’s. I’m trying to stay within the confines of health and not any other factor of why abortions are done. I believe I understand you believe the decision should lie with the woman. I would assume you believe she should factor in the other persons decision, but ultimately it should lie with the woman. But I think that is something not all agree on.
The problem is that it is such a convoluted question from the start. There are so many factors involved, and that in a loving situation, there are still two people that need to make the decision. Again, there are situations that the woman should have the only choice, but as long as it is not clear cut black and white, there will always be a debate about who should ultimately have the responsibility; the woman, the baby, the partner/other parent, or some third disinterested person like a judge or people with a vote? I haven’t said, necessarily how I feel, but there is a reason for that. In that I have more questions than answers, more concerns than decisions, I feel like I could be in several camps of thought around the subject of abortion all at once. I don’t think the media, either right-wing or left-wing do us any favors. It struck me yesterday while watching Morning Joe, that the panel couldn’t stay in one ideology or the another and this being a program that you would think is 100% pro-choice, but there were those referring to it as a woman’s health issue and others calling it a pro-choice v pro-life issue. If I’m a third party, without ever having the factor of living through it, and it becomes an issue we all get to vote on, how do I make the decision. Even for those couples that have gone through what you both have, I’m not sure every couple comes out of it with the same decisional resolve you both have. My support was all behind you both, but not all family members give the same level of support to their adult children. It’s a mess of a topic trying to be resolved by men that think they know best, they don’t, or use some biblical backing when until around 1979, other than the Catholic church and a few other denominations, most all believed that the woman should choose. It isn’t as easy as saying pro-choice or pro-life any more than simplifying it to be a woman’s health concern or issue.
Well I mostly say womens health and not pro choice because I think it leaves out the health of the person completely.
When talking about if the partner should have a say you were right to assume I think it should be taken into consideration, but ultimately up to the person spending 9+ months growing and healing from creating life. If we look at vasectomies or tubal ligation as a choice not to have children which is the opposite of the coin, the partner can’t decide to elect their partner to that surgery. And that would require way less risk or downtime so idk.
I dont think it’s as complicated as it’s made out to be. Society would be a kinder more gentler place if that choice was left to the pregnant individual. America needs to stop being all weird about death. We kill people on death row but dont allow people who are terminal elect for euthanasia. I know that’s completely off topic but just how mixed up I feel people can be about “playing god” and when that is socially acceptable or not.