Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman's Guide to Why Feminism Matters (10 page)

Teen sex cults? Sounds like a bad made-for-TV movie. I can see it now. Meredith Baxter Birney in
The Morning After
. “She thought her daughter was just ‘spending time with friends.’ Little did she know that Amy was just another teen dragged into the seedy world of teen sex cults.”

But as ridiculous as this sounds, this
really
is the reason that women don’t have access to a safe, legal form of contraception.

Even when the American Academy of Pediatrics released a policy statement in 2005 supporting over-the-counter access to EC (for adults
and
teens) and debunked the myth of EC causing promiscuity, the FDA continued to ignore the facts.

The FDA has also said that its stalling for over-the-counter status of EC really is a genuine concern for the health of teen girls, who might not take the drug properly. If that’s the case, then why is it that a new diet pill—fat-blocking Orlistat—is on its way to over-the-counter approval? Experts voiced concerns over the possibility of teens abusing the drug and Orlistat’s side effects, which include “fecal incontinence, gas, and oily discharge.” Answer: They’d rather approve a diet pill that makes you shit your pants than a form of birth control. Politics are trumping science and safety. To this day, the agency refuses to admit that it won’t approve EC simply because of anti-sex politics.

But perhaps the most distressing aspect of the EC madness is that women who need the drug most—rape victims—are being systematically denied it. Women who are sexually assaulted need easy access to EC perhaps more than anyone.
These women are in an already-vulnerable position. But again, the anti-sexers don’t have any sympathy for that kind of nonsense. (Rape? Pshaw.)

In 2005, the U.S. Department of Justice created the first-ever federal guidelines for treating sexual assault victims—but without
any
mention of EC, which is a standard precautionary measure after a rape. So basically, they created a national model for treating rape victims that states and local groups will look to when creating theirs. EC was deliberately left out of the guidelines and still isn’t mentioned today—even though ninety-seven members of Congress urged the Justice Department to put it in there.

The truth is, even if EC were mentioned in the guidelines, there’s no guarantee that rape survivors would be told about it. More and more reports are coming out that say hospitals are frequently remiss in their responsibility to tell rape victims about EC. Many Catholic hospitals even refuse to stock the drug, despite laws that tell them they must. Their excuse is that the woman can always go to another hospital if she
really
wants EC. Because clearly that’s so easy.

For any of you who haven’t been in an emergency room, that shit takes forever. I used to volunteer as a rape crisis counselor, and let me tell you, victims are in the hospital for hours. Imagine you’ve just been raped and you manage to gather the courage to get to a hospital. You wait for a couple of hours to be processed. Then, when a doctor finally sees you, you’re told (if you’re lucky enough to be told at all) that if you want to prevent getting pregnant by your
rapist, you’ll have to go to a different hospital and repeat the same process. It’s beyond cruel. It’s a despicable thing to ask of someone.

So now that I’ve depressed you sufficiently, what to do? Again, look into the policies at your local hospitals. Make sure that your friends, classmates, parents—everyone—knows about EC: that it’s
not
abortion, that you have the right to get it at the pharmacy, and that it won’t make you spontaneously burst into sex-crazed fits.

Obviously the Big A issue—abortion—is the most controversial one in repro rights, and maybe even in women’s rights as a whole. Doctors and pro-choice volunteers have been killed over it. Women have died getting illegal abortions, and we’re well on our way to having the right taken away. This shit is no joke.

I’m not going to go into the whole moral argument over abortion, because honestly, it seems like a waste of time. Some people are going to believe what they want to believe,
and that’s that. All I can say is that I think there’s nothing wrong with abortion, that the right to control our bodies is one of the most important there is, and that those who are seeking to end that right are concerned not about “life,” but about control.

Abortion has become the new scarlet letter—the shameful secret that women are supposed to hide. Even though it’s a
legal
medical procedure. Abortion means that you’re selfish, that you’re a slut, that you’re a murderer. The truth is, one-third of American women will have an abortion in their lifetime. Are one-third of women morally deficient? Are they selfish sluts? Methinks not.

Women don’t get abortions out of convenience or selfishness, though that’s what the anti-choice movement would have you believe. They want you to think that abortion is an easy way out for “loose” women.

The truth? A study by the Guttmacher Institute shows that while women offer many reasons for choosing abortion, a huge reason is concern for children that they already have. Get that—concern for children. According to Researcher Lawrence B. Finer:

Abortion is a moral choice. (Not to mention that preventing unwanted pregnancies is a priority for pro-choicers—we’re the ones fighting for contraceptive choices and commonsense sex ed, not the folks who are anti-abortion.)

But no matter what the reason behind a woman’s decision to have an abortion, it’s none of anyone’s business. Try telling that to legislators! They’re fully convinced that they know what’s best for women. Keep in mind most of the people making these decisions are old white guys. Who will never be pregnant. (Unless, of course, they’re Arnold Schwarzenegger in
Junior,
the weirdest movie of all time.)

Never mind that we’re well on our way to Roe v. Wade (the case that legalized abortion in 1973) being overturned; there are so many restrictions in place right now, abortions are near impossible to obtain anywhere. Eighty-seven percent of counties in the United States have no abortion provider, and even if they do, they’re likely to be subject to any number of ridiculous obstacles.

Mandatory waiting periods, for example, are one of the most common abortion restrictions. Basically, they make women who want an abortion wait a couple of days, supposedly to “think it over.” Sounds harmless, but not only does it assume that a woman who wants an abortion hasn’t
already
thought it over a great deal, it also puts a huge burden on poor women or women who live in rural areas. Most people can’t take more than one day off work, and for women who live hundreds of miles away from the nearest abortion clinic, this is more than just a pain in the ass. But that’s why the
restriction is there; they’re hoping women will be so put out that they won’t bother coming back.

Eleven states are trying to ban abortion outright. South Dakota was already successful in doing so. Thankfully, after a massive pro-choice effort, the law was put on the 2006 ballot and voted down. But it was close. The big reason voters couldn’t stand for it? South Dakotan lawmakers wanted to make it so even women who are raped or victims of incest couldn’t get abortions. So, you might ask yourself, when is it okay to get an abortion? Listen to what South Dakota Senator Bill Napoli thinks (and try not to be too grossed out by his enthusiasm):

Hear that, girls? If you want to get an abortion in South Dakota, you better make sure you’ve been raped
real
bad. And no hymen, no deal. As disgusting as this quote is (from a senator, no less), it pretty much sums up the anti-sex sentiment behind those who are fighting to end choice.

What kills me is that there’s no shame in their game. Anti-sexers like Napoli will straight up say nasty-ass things but simultaneously claim they are looking out for women’s best interest.

But hypocritical holier-than-thou attitudes aren’t exactly new. The members of the anti-sex, anti-choice movement are supercareful about the language they use when talking about abortion, to make it seem like they are the “moral” ones. They use words like “life,” “religious,” and “family,” but all the while they’re thinking about virgins getting ass-raped. Lovely.

Lawmakers in Alabama, for example, introduced an abortion ban similar to the one in South Dakota; it would have no exception for rape and incest. Alabama Senator Hank Erwin said, “I thought if South Dakota can do it, Alabama ought to do it, because we are a family-friendly state.”
⁷
Yeah, ’cause nothing says “family-friendly” like bullying rape and incest victims. Using sweet-as-pie language to describe forcing women to keep their rapists’ babies—real classy.

The more extreme anti-choice folks who protest outside abortion clinics do the same kind of thing. For example, they’ll say that they provide “sidewalk counseling,” when what they’re actually doing is screaming in women’s faces that they’re murderers as they walk into a clinic.

And it’s not just the appropriation of “friendly” language, it’s the fact that the anti-choice movement tells straight-up lies. And that so many people believe them.

Repeat after me: There is no such thing as “partial-birth” abortion. You won’t find it referenced in any medical journals or texts. It’s a fictitious term created by anti-choicers in an attempt to ban
all
abortions. Anti-choicers will claim that the laws they’re trying to pass will simply ban a late-term abortion procedure called intact dilation and extraction (D&E). This is a procedure that’s hardly ever used, and when it is, it’s generally because the fetus wouldn’t be able to survive outside the womb, or because the mother’s life is in danger. But the “partial-birth” abortion ban (which doesn’t make an exception for the health of the woman) doesn’t talk about this medical procedure. The legislation is so vaguely written that it could ban all abortions. Which, of course, is the point. You have to give the anti-choicers props, though—they strategically created this term, and they actually have people believing it.

Abortion doesn’t cause breast cancer. The National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have all said as
much. Yet another very smart lie by the anti-choice, anti-sex sect. In reality, having a baby is actually more dangerous to your health than having an abortion. But that hasn’t stopped anti-choicers from spreading misinformation and even trying to get legislation passed that would require telling women who want abortions that they’re increasing their chance of getting breast cancer. Can you say “scare tactic”?

Yet another fake term. It’s not recognized by the scientific or medical communities. The idea is that women who have had abortions suffer mental trauma after the procedure. The truth of the “syndrome” is just more wordplay. It flips the script for the anti-choice movement. So many people see anti-choice activists as violent protesters that talking about a syndrome makes it seem like they care about women and their health. (If that were true, perhaps they wouldn’t make shit up.) Again and again, studies have shown that women don’t suffer mentally after an abortion. Naturally, different women will have different emotions after the procedure, but it seems to me that the stigmas attached to abortion (and having people scream that you’re a murderer) would be contributing factors in all of this. In fact, the American Psychiatric Association says that “government restrictions on abortion are more likely to cause women lasting harm than the procedure itself.”
⁸

This is probably the worst of the anti-choice lies. “Pregnancy crisis centers” have been set up all over the country; in fact, there are more anti-choice crisis centers than health clinics that offer abortion. Basically, the centers tout themselves as women’s health clinics and lead women to believe that they offer abortion and birth control services. Of course, they don’t. Essentially, they’re there to intimidate or trick women into remaining pregnant. They have two strategies to do this. Sometimes they tell women that they don’t have any more appointments and she should call back. They continue to put her off—maybe even schedule an abortion and then cancel—until she is too far along in the pregnancy to have a legal abortion. Other anti-choice crisis centers will simply bully women. Writer/feminist blogger Amanda Marcotte tells one girl’s story: