Blog Swarm: Protesting Maternal Deaths

If you live in Knoxville, Tennessee you may see a fake funeral procession on ~~Mother's Day~~ the day before Mother's Day. This fake funeral procession is being organized to protest abortion.

ShortWoman and The Crone Speaks are calling for a funeral procession that represents women who died from forced pregnancies or poor maternal health care.

Well, comments ensued, and it has been resolved that we will honor the women who died from pregnancy. We will honor the lives ruined or outright ended by forced pregnancy. We will honor the children brought into this world to unwilling or unable parents.

Kathy Peterson has some questions about the phrase "forced pregnancy".

My definition of a forced pregnancy is one in which the woman was, you know, forcibly impregnated. She calls it “forced” pregnancy, when women are “coerced” into not having an abortion [but of course, I guess women are never coerced into having an abortion (p. 37)?? And, so much for having a "choice," huh? Isn't remaining pregnant a "choice", or is abortion the only "choice"?], or do not have easy access to an abortionist. I don’t consider a pregnancy that results from consensual sex to be “forced,” and furthermore, I think it is a slap in the face to victims of sexual assault to speak of a consensual act as being “forced.”

What do you think about both of these planned protests? Would you participate in either? Would you blog in support or against either protest?

~~Denise
Flamingo House Happenings

Photo Pro-Life Aliance at the University of Florida

Submitted by Denise (view blog

) on Sun, 05/04/2008 - 07:39

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For the record...

Yes, I beleive that "choice" includes the choice to carry a pregnancy to term. I used the term "forced pregnancy" to indicate those who for whatever reason wanted to terminate a pregnancy and were unable to do so. There are many reasons that a pregnancy might be "unwanted", and sexual assault is only one of them: birth control failure; certain fetal defects; fetal death; risks to maternal health.

The right way to prevent abortions is to prevent unwanted pregnancy.

Submitted by Bridget Magnus on Sun, 05/04/2008 - 09:58

Last line was perfectly said

And the only way to that is education. I wasn't going to post but I saw this article on MSN. I hate that this issue has come down to mock funerals and staged events. This is not just an American issue but a World issue. Women all over the world are not informed or misinformed about their sexual health.

Once women are properly educated on their rights and choices will you truly start to see change.

Submitted by lilmommythatcould on Sun, 05/04/2008 - 15:20

Don't dilute the pro-choice message with
"pro-life" verbiage

The anti-choice movement has a lot of power, because it represents itself as “pro-life”.

I can see how it would be tempting for the pro-choice movement to try and use the same powerful verbiage by saying, “we are saving lives too”, but I think it’s a mistake to do so. Control over reproduction is a basic need and a basic right for all women. It’s a powerful enough message and should not be diluted with messages that are borrowed from the opposing movement.

So no, I am not in support of either of these protests.

Vered DeLeeuw
www.momgrind.com

Submitted by Vered on Sun, 05/04/2008 - 10:33

Good point

Thanks Vered.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

Submitted by Denise on Thu, 05/08/2008 - 10:01

Forced and Choice

And, so much for having a "choice," huh? Isn't remaining pregnant a "choice", or is abortion the only "choice"?]

Unfortunately, there are quite a few women that are coerced into bringing a pregnancy to term. Off the top of my head: via medical scare tactics like abortion-breast cancer link, which not only has been debunked, but remains alive and well; via legislative acts to give women mis-information, forced waiting periods; via the church through convoluted idea of shame and singling out (the local organizers for the fake funeral have at least one billboard that says "Mommy, I know you were pressured. God still loves you. The Unborn" which I keep meaning to get a picture of); via some idea that women are supposed to feel sorry; etc. In these instances, the woman is having her choices limited -- she is not given all the choices that should be available to her.

How can one say being coerced to bring a pregnancy to term when that pregnancy is unwanted in the first place is not a "forced pregnancy"?

Denise, I know you were just quoting Kathy, but I don't think we can narrowly define forced pregnancy when women are dying from the same.

Submitted by archcrone on Sun, 05/04/2008 - 10:51