Do the Ends Justify the Means?

The litmus test for feminism for many hinges on whether a person is pro-choice. Those who believe that it is not possible to be a feminist and not believe in total self-determination have an interesting point, but I can also understand the argument of women who are morally opposed to abortion and embrace women's rights. What I cannot begin to fathom is how anyone who claims to be a feminist can celebrate at the tactics used to convince the Supreme Court that abortion should be made illegal. The gist of the argument is that women might come to regret their decision, and must be protected from our potentially bad judgment.

According to today's New York Times, Justice Kennedy wrote in the majority decision that:

“While we find no reliable data to measure the phenomenon, it seems unexceptionable to conclude some women come to regret their choice to abort the infant life they once created and sustained,” Justice Kennedy wrote... “Severe depression and loss of esteem can follow.”

Forget that this is one of the scariest reasons to decide national law ever – that despite a lack of compelling evidence, some people regret their decisions, so we have to be sure that no one can ever be in that situation – and think about what this really says: women do not have the capacity to make decisions for ourselves. We need the government and other people to tell us how to live our lives, lest we regret making a mistake. It also implies that we are easily duped into harming ourselves, and seek easy ways out of difficult situations without thinking about the consequences. No feminist can possibly believe this.

Feminists who oppose legal abortion would undoubtedly argue that some mistakes are larger than others and there is another life at stake in this instance. But before they embrace any means to justify an end, I implore feminists to remember that we have heard this argument before and it pretty much never, ever has benefited women. Do you really want to go down this slippery slope? If your cause is so just, and you are truly feminists, you should have faith that you can prevail without undermining your own credibility (and mine) as people who can think and make rational decisions for yourself.

Suzanne also blogs at Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants