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March 9 - March 17, 2023
Restell was a businesswoman, a scofflaw, an immigrant, and an abortionist. She made men really, really mad. She deserves a place in the pantheon of women with no fucks left to give.
The government can’t force you to do any of those things, nor should it be able to. But in much of America, the land of the free, you can be forced to give birth. Cis-gendered men are not generally expected to sacrifice their bodies to sustain others’ lives in the way women are. The closest example I can think of is the draft, which was abolished in 1973.
Sometimes I look at photos of teenage boys confidently holding their signs at anti-choice rallies. I look at them and wonder whether, if they had to spin a wheel where a bodily punishment, ranging from “bad cramps” to “death,” was randomly assigned to them upon the eve of their (wanted or unwanted) child’s delivery, any one of them would still feel so enthusiastic about forcing people to give birth. It’s a theoretical argument, of course. But their arguments about theoretical babies end with us literally bleeding on operating tables.
Many people in the past and present do not like the idea that women choose to have sex for pleasure, just as men do.
By and large, Americans don’t like learning history. They like learning propaganda. They enjoy stories that are exclusively about how America is great and always has been. Do not let your children believe in a fictitious, rosy version of the past where every woman was happily a mother. Tell them the true history of this country, where abortion has always been commonly practiced. And tell them your own history.
Around the world, in countries from Mexico to Benin, the work of pro-choice advocates has made abortion more accessible and safer. The European Parliament has voted to denounce the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Around the world, women are gaining greater control over their bodies. Though not in America.
