Why Birth Control Shouldl Not Be Covered by Health Insurance: A Pro-Women’s Rights Take

On Tumblr earlier today, I posted a short piece against health insurance coverage for birth control. Mind you, I was not opposing birth control as such, or the idea of women who can’t afford it, getting birth control paid for. What I was saying, was that birth control is not a health issue, and therefore [...]

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Born Unwanted: Psychosocial Consequences for Children Whose Mothers Were Denied Abortion

Abortion is, of course, a vjery controversial but relatively common means of fertity planning. A lot of research has been done on various aspects of it, such as mental health and medical consequences of abortions as compared to completed pregnancies. However, little research has been done on the consequences of completing an unwanted pregnancy for [...]

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Saving Lives Act: Ending Lives

Jill over at Feministe has an excellent commentary on a new bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that would allow doctors to refuse therapeutic abortions even in life-saving cases. Thomas over at Blog for Choice also posts some commentary and links to further information. Whether you are pro-choice or pro-life, you should oppose [...]

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GOP Knows Best Whether You Were Raped

Over at Feministe, there is an excellent post summarizing the anti-reproductive rights proposals made in H.R. 3, the so-called No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. Most strikingly, the Republican Party, who obviosuly sponsors this bill, seeks to redefine rape for the purposes of abortion access. Only victims of “forcible” rape will be able to obtain [...]

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Abortion as a Matter of Bodily Autonomy

Over at Feministe, Frances Kissling writes an interesting post, entitled When Does Life Begin?. Frances does not attempt to answer this question, even though she appears to feel that life does not begin at conception. Her point, rather, is that it doesn’t matter when life begins: no-one should be forced to give their body to [...]

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Thoughts on Requirements for Legal Sex Change

As Helen G pointed out on Questioning Transphobia, in the United States, sexual reassignment surgery is no longer required for a sex change on one’s passport. The reasoning behind this change of policy is that some trans travelers have been at risk in countries where changing sex is dangerous. People can also get a temporary [...]

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Of Bodies and Burdens: Abortion vs. Child Euthanasia

Sometimes, it would’ve been easier if I were still radically pro-life, so that I could tell anyone supporting abortion or euthanasia that people have no right to take the life of anotheer person, no matter how dependent that person is on someone else. Yet I recognize a person’s right to bodily autonomy, too, and for [...]

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Fetal Personhood and Viability

The reason I have always considered the fetus a person – a significantly dependent person, but a person nonetheless -, is that I have never been able to find a non-arbitrary point at which the fetus could possibly acquire personhood. If birth is said to be the criterion, preemies acquire personhood at the same developmental [...]

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Enabling Informed Choice on Abortion

First, for those who think I am still politically pro-life, this post is written from a pro-choice perspective. That is not because I have made up my mind about abortion – I am still personally against abortion, and am not sure where I stand politically anymore -, but because my frame of reference on this [...]

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“Please Don’t Get Pregnant.”

Yesterday, I had a discussion with my sister that started out about abortion. She has always identified strongly as pro-abortion, while I used to identify as pro-life (with exceptions to save the health of the mother) and am increasingly shifting towards politically pro-choice. Personally, however, I remain strongly pro-life, so, even though I choose not [...]

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