Excellent reporting and writing! I think there is more to it than just keeping women pregnant, out of the workforce and from being able to control their own bodies. I think republicans and religious conservatives have a deep pathological desire to punish women. The SBC (Southern Baptist Convention) recently expressed concern about how America is becoming a culture where women are "willfully childless" which is contributing to a declining birthrate. The SBC voted on a resolution to pursue policies that support childbearing and raising children within heterosexual marriages. This "willfully childless" comment sounds punitive and exactly how a parent might talk about a child behaving badly. I wish someone would do some reporting on the psychology behind why these assholes want to punish, humiliate and tear women down to nothing. After they strip away all of our reproductive freedoms, it would not surprise me if they tried to take away our right to vote or cover us in burkas. It feels like we are living in Iran or Afghanistan.
I already got my iud, right when roe was overturned. They will not control me! But my iud kinda sucks, my period is really heavy and crampy, but it is the cost of freedom, and I will bear it 😃 by the time it is no good my fertility will be a fart in the breeze. 12 years it’s good for!
I *always* think of the scene in the show, where June can't get her birth control filled because she's just stuck on customer service hold forever. It feels so innocuous, except that's exactly how this will play out.
I just have to say, as a psychologist who works very very frequently with children who suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome disorders that not telling women about the dangers of drinking alcohol during pregnancy is totally different from the other kinds of things that are being warned warned about. I really really hope that you don’t see drinking alcohol in any amount as benign to anyone who would like to have a child, or have a child adopted. No child should should have to live with fetal alcohol syndrome for the rest of their lives.
Here is the difference between the two sides. Pro Choice or now known as Reproductive Health Rights advocates would talk about fetal alcohol syndrome as part of a healthy pregnancy and lifestyle, without using it to either ban contraceptives OR to put young women in jail for miscarriages because they drank alcohol: which is already happening.
OK, I understand misogyny. It’s been “The Year of ….”
Plus, I guess those extreme hetero male legislators must have partners who buy into it, because they certainly don’t intend to go without sex. Or maybe the partners aren’t hetero. Or are prepubertal.
But where are the rest of the men?
Speak up !! Please!!
Dating? Your pick-up line will have to change from “your place or mine” to “how about a fun game of pregnancy roulette.”
Married? You do have sisters, partners, and daughters, right??
Controlling reproduction is their chosen method. But I believe the goal is always cheap labor and higher profits. Controlling reproduction means a disempowered workforce. And a disempowered workforce is how they exploit, control and profit off of all the world's resources. Including human ones. Especially in the care economy.
"After all, what better way to force women back into the kitchen than by ensuring they’re forever pregnant?"
Who are they putting back in the kitchen? When I read that statement I inferred you mean rich women, and mostly white women? Historically all poor women particularly poor women of color have had to have their babies and work in menial low paying jobs. So are they trying to make poor women poorer and to have wealthy women have more babies? Controlling women is the goal, but are they trying to also make this a race issue and a class issue? Or is there just so many layers that all lead back to control?
I think it's inherently a race issue and a class issue. Conservatives haven't been shy that they don't like jobs going overseas and want to incentivize companies to keep operations in America. How can we stack the school to prison pipeline for cheap prison slave labor if there are less kids in school? Or worse, the same amount of kids, but with better funded schools so they can actually escape the cycles of poverty?
Wealthy white women are wanted to be back in the kitchen, and so are middle and upper middle class white women. Poor white women are barely thought about, and for everyone else, they want us back as slaves. I don't think they've really hidden that.
Another example of how right-wing media inserts false messaging which then gets picked up by ALL media is the pervasive lie behind “hearbeat bills.” No matter how many times OB/GYN’s say “There. Is. No. Heartbeat. At. Six. Weeks.”, the next coverage by NYT and ABC, etc, etc says “state X just passed a Heartbeat Bill”….as if there is a beating heart in a clump of cells the size of a grain of rice. On and on and on.
There’s a Gofundme page set up for this family to help them relocate out of MS to a place with other family who will help with child care and allow this child to get away from her rapist, who police do not seem inclined to prioritize arresting. A fresh start, which will continue to have its own challenges. What “Regina” wrote on the Gofundme will break your heart because we know she is 1 of so many with a similar story. The fund has been verified.
What breaks my heart is why this OB-Gyn didn’t help this family find the financial help it needed to get this child help at the 11-12 week time frame. Again, the mom’s words on the page are heart wrenching to read.
The intersection of poverty, race, and a broken health care system. The difference here is they couldn't make the trip to Chicago. And of course Americans have hearts of stone when it's people of color and the poor who are suffering. If they cross the threshold of someone Americans care about, they cross the threshold of those who can make a trip to Chicago :(
Excellent reporting and writing! I think there is more to it than just keeping women pregnant, out of the workforce and from being able to control their own bodies. I think republicans and religious conservatives have a deep pathological desire to punish women. The SBC (Southern Baptist Convention) recently expressed concern about how America is becoming a culture where women are "willfully childless" which is contributing to a declining birthrate. The SBC voted on a resolution to pursue policies that support childbearing and raising children within heterosexual marriages. This "willfully childless" comment sounds punitive and exactly how a parent might talk about a child behaving badly. I wish someone would do some reporting on the psychology behind why these assholes want to punish, humiliate and tear women down to nothing. After they strip away all of our reproductive freedoms, it would not surprise me if they tried to take away our right to vote or cover us in burkas. It feels like we are living in Iran or Afghanistan.
today a client of mine told me that some boys at her children’s high school are yelling “your body; my choice” at girls https://substack.com/home/post/p-151352227?source=queue&autoPlay=false
Such a very important article/series. Thank you.
good point!
Yep. And how she is sent home from her job....
I already got my iud, right when roe was overturned. They will not control me! But my iud kinda sucks, my period is really heavy and crampy, but it is the cost of freedom, and I will bear it 😃 by the time it is no good my fertility will be a fart in the breeze. 12 years it’s good for!
And, I will say, for the 8000th time that Margaret Atwood’s handmaid‘s tale is just completely fucking prophetic
I *always* think of the scene in the show, where June can't get her birth control filled because she's just stuck on customer service hold forever. It feels so innocuous, except that's exactly how this will play out.
.....Which the Pro-Compulsory-Pregnancy and Who-Gives-a-FatF%#@-If-You-Die Crowd use as an Incel's Wet Dream Procedure Manual.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Love that comparison!
I just have to say, as a psychologist who works very very frequently with children who suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome disorders that not telling women about the dangers of drinking alcohol during pregnancy is totally different from the other kinds of things that are being warned warned about. I really really hope that you don’t see drinking alcohol in any amount as benign to anyone who would like to have a child, or have a child adopted. No child should should have to live with fetal alcohol syndrome for the rest of their lives.
Here is the difference between the two sides. Pro Choice or now known as Reproductive Health Rights advocates would talk about fetal alcohol syndrome as part of a healthy pregnancy and lifestyle, without using it to either ban contraceptives OR to put young women in jail for miscarriages because they drank alcohol: which is already happening.
OK, I understand misogyny. It’s been “The Year of ….”
Plus, I guess those extreme hetero male legislators must have partners who buy into it, because they certainly don’t intend to go without sex. Or maybe the partners aren’t hetero. Or are prepubertal.
But where are the rest of the men?
Speak up !! Please!!
Dating? Your pick-up line will have to change from “your place or mine” to “how about a fun game of pregnancy roulette.”
Married? You do have sisters, partners, and daughters, right??
Plenty of women (unfortunately) aren’t just okay with it, they’re the orchestrators. Look at Ginny Thomas.
Controlling reproduction is their chosen method. But I believe the goal is always cheap labor and higher profits. Controlling reproduction means a disempowered workforce. And a disempowered workforce is how they exploit, control and profit off of all the world's resources. Including human ones. Especially in the care economy.
The Fifth Circuit has decide against the 2016 FDA expansion of mifepristone. Not unexpected, but still deeply infuriating.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/08/16/abortion-pill-mifepristone-court-ruling-appeal/?commentID=d490afe2-4ecf-43c9-8de7-1c070d5c7c4f
Next stop is Brett Kavanaugh, where these things are always decided. To quote Depeche Mode, "I think that God's got a sick sense of humor".
"After all, what better way to force women back into the kitchen than by ensuring they’re forever pregnant?"
Who are they putting back in the kitchen? When I read that statement I inferred you mean rich women, and mostly white women? Historically all poor women particularly poor women of color have had to have their babies and work in menial low paying jobs. So are they trying to make poor women poorer and to have wealthy women have more babies? Controlling women is the goal, but are they trying to also make this a race issue and a class issue? Or is there just so many layers that all lead back to control?
I think it's inherently a race issue and a class issue. Conservatives haven't been shy that they don't like jobs going overseas and want to incentivize companies to keep operations in America. How can we stack the school to prison pipeline for cheap prison slave labor if there are less kids in school? Or worse, the same amount of kids, but with better funded schools so they can actually escape the cycles of poverty?
Wealthy white women are wanted to be back in the kitchen, and so are middle and upper middle class white women. Poor white women are barely thought about, and for everyone else, they want us back as slaves. I don't think they've really hidden that.
brilliant as always, Jessica. Thanks!
Another example of how right-wing media inserts false messaging which then gets picked up by ALL media is the pervasive lie behind “hearbeat bills.” No matter how many times OB/GYN’s say “There. Is. No. Heartbeat. At. Six. Weeks.”, the next coverage by NYT and ABC, etc, etc says “state X just passed a Heartbeat Bill”….as if there is a beating heart in a clump of cells the size of a grain of rice. On and on and on.
I get angry over Heartbeat bull crap too. Damn ultrasounds.
FYI today from The Guardian
https://apple.news/Aie6OGK_sRg2EJ_wVDRjOOw
This is not about birth control but it is heartbreaking.
https://time.com/6303701/a-rape-in-mississippi/
There’s a Gofundme page set up for this family to help them relocate out of MS to a place with other family who will help with child care and allow this child to get away from her rapist, who police do not seem inclined to prioritize arresting. A fresh start, which will continue to have its own challenges. What “Regina” wrote on the Gofundme will break your heart because we know she is 1 of so many with a similar story. The fund has been verified.
What breaks my heart is why this OB-Gyn didn’t help this family find the financial help it needed to get this child help at the 11-12 week time frame. Again, the mom’s words on the page are heart wrenching to read.
Thanks Alison. This link was copied from the Jezebel article today: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-ashley-the-time-article
Leslie,
I just came here to post that. Thank you for beating me to it! It’s a horribly tragic story.
The intersection of poverty, race, and a broken health care system. The difference here is they couldn't make the trip to Chicago. And of course Americans have hearts of stone when it's people of color and the poor who are suffering. If they cross the threshold of someone Americans care about, they cross the threshold of those who can make a trip to Chicago :(