Comments on: Is a “choice” a bad frame for childbirth?

By: radicaldoula

radicaldoula — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:08:26 +0000

k. emvee–you’re right. It was the choice framework–actually even more narrowly based on the idea of “privacy” that won us the Roe vs. Wade decision. It was based on the principle of right to privacy between a doctor and their patient.

Unfortunately we only have the constitution to work with when it comes to the justice system, so the arguments available to us are pretty narrow.

But the problem with the Roe vs. Wade win is how hard it is to defend. “Privacy” says absolutely nothing about access, so low-income women are sold up the river when it comes to abortion access (and the same would be true for alternative birth access). Not to mention young women (parental consent/notification laws), women in the military and those living on military bases or with government insurance, etc, etc.

Privacy hasn’t given us a very strong leg to stand on.

For more information about reproductive justice, check out this website: http://www.sistersong.net/reproductive_justice.html

By: k. emvee

k. emvee — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 23:52:01 +0000

I have also heard it brilliantly argued (and I’m not about to do it justice) that framing reproductive rights in the choice framework is what enabled the Roe v. Wade decision to even exist in the first place. That it was precisely the act of placing abortion on the table as a consumer right (as opposed to a social justice right) and a choice that enabled women (albeit and admittedly largely white, middle class women) to see it in terms of a medical service essentially no different from any other rather than in terms of morality. That this act gave women agency over their own bodies in a way that human rights and social justice language would not have at the time. Of course I’m kicking myself now because I can’t for the life of me remember where I heard or read that to link back to a source.

But I’ve long wondered what would happen if the birth movement fully co-opted the language of choice in the way the reproductive rights movement has and whether that would change fact that midwives of all stripes are sorely underutilized resources in the US. Perhaps the UK will be a living case study for us about this.

By the way, do you have sources you could link to about these views from the reproductive justice movement? I think most of the time reproductive justice activists are right on in their view and critique of things and I’d love to read some of these sources.

By: Annie @ PhD in Parenting

Annie @ PhD in Parenting — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:29:34 +0000

I believe that society should provide us with choice. I believe that individuals should make informed choices. I believe those who seek to maliciously influence people to make bad choices should be punished. I know that sounds a lot simpler than it is.

By: ecohumanist

ecohumanist — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 10:02:59 +0000

choice also distracts you from the fact that some institutions have more power and means than others to influence women’s decisions…