Last week, Nick Cannon appeared on the popular radio show The Breakfast Club. Cannon said a lot of stuff about a lot of hot-button issues. For example, he had a lot of thoughts about the presidential election, like how none of the candidates respected African-Americans’ votes and that somehow, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump represented the same kind of “oppression.” He can f—k right off with that nonsense, by the way. And if I hear one more dude make that false equivalency, I will pull my hair out. As it turns out, Nick’s statements all had the same general theme, which is that women’s rights aren’t important. That’s how you get to “Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are the same.” That’s how you get to “Planned Parenthood is genocide.” Just listen to the first few minutes of this interview:
If you’d like a good primer on Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger and eugenics, read this NPR piece. Basically, the history of Sanger’s work in the “field of eugenics” is part of a historical context, and none of that changes the fact that in the modern world, low-income and middle-income women want and need access to inexpensive and safe reproductive care, care that includes everything from cancer screenings, pap smears, birth control and abortion. The fact that Nick Cannon is perpetuating this idea that abortion is somehow being “pushed” on African-American communities as a way to stop their population growth is a ridiculous right-wing talking point. Ben Carson talks this way. Steve Bannon talks this way. And Nick Cannon believes what Ben Carson and Steve Bannon are selling.
After Cannon got some “????” from people following that interview, he tweeted this:
Same issue I have with Planned Parenthood I have with corps like McDonalds, Hennessy, Privatised Prisons, public education etc. #Eugenics
— Nick Cannon (@NickCannon) November 26, 2016
McDonalds provides safe and easy access to birth control?? Cannon was also stopped by a Splash News Online videographer late last week and asked about his Breakfast Club comments. He doubled down, saying Planned Parenthood was responsible for a “real genocide” and that “it’s modern-day eugenics.” Bruh.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
We really need to stop asking celebrities what they think about serious matters. They are, more often than not, idiots. Creative, beautiful, lucky, whatever, but idiots.
Yes, agreed. It just gives them a bigger platform, so they up the buffoonery. Case in point, the soon-to-be leader of the free world.
I agree. If anything, Nick Cannon and other idiot celebrities are an argument FOR eugenics. (I’m saucy today, my vacay was too short)
ugh, vacations are always too short. I’m counting down the days until my end of year vacation! So tired …
I just got back from Vegas last Tuesday and I want to go somewhere better than that. I loved meeting my future Hawaiian family though!
I wonder if this is a celebrity thing or the LA black religious conservative mantra. Please let’s not forget that gay marriage was voted down by conservative blacks in CA. All black people are not democrats.
I also don’t think Nick Cannon is bright.
@DeniseMich, I wonder the same thing because I do think this is an African American cultural narrative that is not entirely divorced from reality (Tuskegee). I’d go one step further and say because the AA community is inevitably the conceptual object of eugenics, they are entitled to some paranoia.
Ultimately I guess this just shows you why it’s still a white man’s world. Those of us oppressed by white patriarchy are unable to see our common interest: black and other minority Americans and women should all be on the same side. But reality never unfolds so neatly, does it?
If republicans weren’t racists, a lot of black people would be republicans.
black Christians are the same as white as Christians minus the racism.
@Greenieweenie – nope, not entirely. It wasn’t just African-American people, it was anyone with “undesirable” traits. Poor people, people with a criminal history, the “feeble-minded.”
I think I recall reading that Nick Cannon’s mom considered abortion but then decided to continue the pregnancy to term and raise him. Sadly, he misses the point that she had options and the right to make the decision that was right for her, which included being permitted to continue the pregnancy.
@Taiss – rightwing black “Christians” may not have issues with other black people but they can, and frequently are bigots/racists when it comes to other POC, religions (not to mention homophobes)
I’ll say it again. People really need to see what has been said about Margaret Sanger (and try to understand the context) before they start judging this guy for these comments.
But, whatever. Y’all know everything. Please continue to Bernie Brother your way through this episode of, “What Black People Should Think.”
Why do you make the assumption that no one has?
I respect some of Cannon’s opinions and don’t have an opinion as to what he should think. I both agree and disagree with him here. I agree with his general premise – this country is not kind to Black Americans. There are Black Americans who do well, but in general the institutions do not favor the community.
However, I don’t agree with the Eugenics and Planned Parenthood correlation, not in the present day. Most institutions that have been around over fifty years were founded in racism. That the founder – long gone, dead founder – of the institution had a bad record on race would drive the current mission doesn’t make sense.
Hell, by that argument, no Black American should join the army, ever. It historically was not a favorable place for people of color. Now it is one of the few institutions where most people will likely encounter a Black boss.
Head hurts.
Planned Parenthood and privatized prisons under the same umbrella. There are some sharp critical thinking skills at work.
Oh, and public education somehow = BAD.
–
People really need to see what is being said about Margaret Sanger before they start judging this guy for his beliefs.
Moron.
I don’t think that he explained it well but there were comments from the founder or top level people at PPH years ago that were made about keeping the “blacks” from becoming too numerous. I don’t think that population control is a bad thing in itself, but when it seems to be focused on a particular group it feels wrong.
What exactly is he on?
Is his turban too tight? Genocide and reproductive rights? Go and educate yourself what a genocide is you dumb fool.
Trump is probably calling him right now to offer a cabinet position.
He’ll fit right in with the rest of the nitwits.
Me st of these celebrities barely have high school diplomas, if that, and don’t expose themselves outside their bubble. I don’t need or want to hear their opinion on anything more than their career, because it often leads to high blood pressure. How this idiot is still getting jobs is beyond me.
I agree a lot of them are uneducated and should just stop if they don’t know or are not going to use critical thinking. What’s sad is that Nick apparently got into university this year (Howard, I think) and this is what he’s going on about.
WTF is that mess on top of his head?
His hair looks incredibly stupid in the upper and lower photos. Shockingly stupid. Other than that…I just hope no one takes him seriously in the past, present or future.
It might be for the Halo kids awards show, Nickelodeon? He was hosting.
Saw the Nickelodeon banner behind him. Considered that he might be aiming toward that audience. Still thought his hair looked stupid. Turban…not so bad. Wish I could pull it off myself. 🙂
Yeah, but the kids eat that stuff up… Wild hair is fun! He’s a frequent host for the Nickelodeon awards shows, the kids apparently love him.
Wait…so if Planned Parenthood ‘exists to diminish the african american population’, why are so many politicians who are seen and labeled as ‘not caring about black people’ so adamant on shutting it down?
If this was even a thing, I feel that republicans and conservatives would be singing PP’s praises under the guise of ‘i think it’s great’ but secretly think ‘i think it’s great b/c it’s fewer black babies being born’. They’re not asking black communities to open more PP’s or abortion clinics, they’re actively trying to rid the country of them altogether. WTF is this kid talking about?
Ah but you see, you have critical thinking skills and good ole logic on your side. Nick has *crickets*
Yeah, and what an insult his comments are to black women.
“Oh, I was going to keep this pregnancy but then I got a flyer from Planned Parenthood that said they were having a 2 for 1 sale and also said that ‘it would be fun’ and that I’d get a sticker after. So I thought, eh, why not?”
Like maybe he should read up or talk to REAL black women that have had abortion and what their reasons were before opening his uneducated mouth. Because it wasn’t because they were “tricked” by some sneaky genocide clinic WTF.
Rage.
I personally don’t care what he or any man has to say about Planned Parenthood, abortion, or womens’ reproductive healthcare in general. Men should stay out of the issue. It doesn’t concern them.
That has always struck me as the most offensive part of that argument, like black women are too dumb to know their own lives. It’s the average anti-choice paternalism with the volume turned up.
Exactly.
Google is everyone’s friend. Google is the most accessible friend that anyone will ever have but a lot of people refuse to turn to this friend for simple advice to keep them from looking dumb as hell.
I honestly wish men could get pregnant. If they did, they would truly understand the true positive value that Planned Parenthood and other services like PP have for families. It literally says it in its name what it is about, but so many people focus on abortion that they refuse to see anything else.
It’s really hard to believe he’d think and say something like this.
I can’t with him. Nick, go back and take care of the woman who is having your baby. Does she have the money for proper health care? Are you providing the money for proper health care? Better make sure or she may be using Planned Parenthood to get that health care for her and her baby.
I thought everyone knew about the questionable, Margaret Sanger.
Sure, I had questions. So I went digging for primary sources, not anti-choice websites and commentators. She’s complicated and at times even questionable, but the manipulation of facts has been staggering.
Besides, I’m not some paternalistic busybody. I leave it to women of colour (and all women) to decide what’s best for their bodies and their families.
Her interviews reveal her as a vile racist.
Someone upthread already said this but google is your friend. The link below is from a trusted source, by the way:
http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/08/14/432080520/fact-check-was-planned-parenthood-started-to-control-the-black-population
Oh GMAFB. Margaret Sanger died 50 years ago. Planned parenthood is, for many poor and minority people, literally the only place they can get health care and reproductive education.
+1
Eugenics in the USA was a very popular movement during the last part of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th. It laid the groundwork for nazi Germany to “justify” the Holocaust. It’s another dark stain on us history, bc people from Woodrow Wilson to Alexander Graham Bell to W.E.B. DuBois (!) supported these views. Anyone using the argument that PP was rooted in eugenics doesn’t realize that nearly every leader and almost everyone who built or created or invented things during that time probably held eugenic beliefs.
I think Margaret Sanger was a product of her time. Her beliefs then were the norm then as far as her thoughts on race and eugenics. Not really fair to demonize her about that.
Uh… I can’t believe I am defending her.
I think abortion is a vile, barbaric practice… But it’s the world we live in. I just try not to think about it. I guess if someone really doesn’t want their baby… Best that they don’t have one.
I understand where Nick’s ideas originate. But I get that he’s going to get torn apart here.
It’s not always about people not “wanting” their babies…sometimes people aren’t emotionally, financially,or mentally capable to raise a child. It doesn’t help that the same people who scream about the”sanctity of life” are the same ones that want welfare programs cut for poor families and children. They also want to limit access to birth control.
I hate the fact that he’s promoting this lie. Planned Parenthood and a woman’s right to choose has NOTHING to do with genocide and if he knew anything about “eugenics” he’d be protesting the white supremacists that Trump has on his staff. Planned parenthood provides healthcare that many cannot get elsewhere it’s not just about abortion.
This is what falling down the rabbit hole on Youtube and listening to people with more opinions than education will do for you.
Methinks someone needs an education. Or Wikipedia. Birth control and abortions give women autonomy. Black women, white women, women of all backgrounds, races, ethnicities. Unwanted pregnancies keep women down. The only two things that can really tackle poverty are education and family planning. I’m so damn tired of these morons who are too stupid to do some basic research. And I don’t mean Facebook.
littlemissnaughty…..slow clap and standing ovation!!!! ITA with everything you said!!!!
EXACTLY!
Unplanned pregnancies and lack of access to education are what keep the poor, poor. Which is probably what the republicans want anyway. They probably want to keep those people down and easy to control.
McDonalds as birth control: it would be if someone took me there on a date.
I hope one of his new professors sits him down for a talk.
Glad to have never spent a cent on this guy. I’m through trying to talk to the idiots; Go to hell Nick Cannon. Just go to hell.
+ 10000
No, I do have more: After a crappy experience at my gynecologist’s office, I decided to take my vadge, my support, and my insurance money to Planned Parenthood. Despite a long-ish wait time in the lobby, I had the best health and wellness experience I’ve had in since I moved to this town. The staff there talked to me like I was a human, the NP I saw was funny and kind and professional. I requested an IUD, and they put it in the same day (and it was only $8 and some change, even with my crap insurance. So, ladies, if you want one, get head to PP and get one). Thanks, Planned Parenthood.
That’s great to hear.
And great to experience, @minx. I signed up to give them a monthly donation; in the future I hope to volunteer for them (again. I used to be all about that in college).
Planned parenthood helped my girlfriends and I avoid unwanted pregnancies in our teens. Affordable, and started a habit of getting regular gynecological care. I am going to apply for a job there.
Yay for Planned Parenthood! Let’s all get jobs there! 😀
That is so awesome. My IUD cost $1000, although my insurance did pay for it. I think coverage for IUD’s is much better since the Affordable Healthcare Act. That’s what my OB said anyway. Still makes me want to check out Planned Parenthood, though.
Obamacare definitely helped. Apparently now all insurance is required to cover, 100 percent (or almost 100 percent) the cost of an IUD (certain brands). Thanks, Obama!
Nick Cannon is one of those celebrities that started off benign and seemingly normal and has gone off the rails in recent months. Did anyone hear his Howard Stern interview a few months ago?
Hand raised over here! That’s mainly how I’m aware of him now – when he’s on Stern. I really liked him when he was just acting and doing that MTV show my daughter used to watch. The older he gets he’s taking himself too seriously. Maybe spending as much time as he did with Mariah knocked a few screws loose? And the turban. WTF?
This just in: Nick Cannon is an idiot!!
I wish he had a vagina instead of just being a vagina.
Please don’t insult vagina’s! lol
I really hope he can be spoken to by someone he respects and made to understand how very wrong he is. I hope he can then be just as vocal with his new perspective.
I see he got to keep some of Mariah’s turbans in the divorce.
Okay, what a lame brain.
Hard to take him seriously looking the way he currently does. Just makes his comments seem all the more idiotic and uneducated. I thought he started taking college courses and was working towards a degree? What the hell is he studying??
This is, quite simply, hotep madness.
That was exactly what I was thinking.
Also people who think like Nick are the same ones who will dog the hell out of black women for having multiple children, using social assistance to care for said children, living in low income areas, getting pregnant in the first place, having children out of wedlock etc. Yet if the women have condoms or other birth control to prevent this they are a thot, slut etc. We just can’t win.
Right, don’t forget their complains about paying child support.
I learned a new word. Thank you for spurring me to Google 🙂
It makes me think of this hip hop album I listened to incessantly in college called Wrath of The Man by this rapper named Jeru the Damaga. I remember when I was 17 thinking that his lyrics were so female-positive because he rapped about how women should dress in a way that shows they “respect themselves” i.e. modest and that we’re more than just our looks. Lots of lecturing about how women who dress provocatively will get treated like hookers, etc etc.
Listened to the whole album again recently and I was horrified by how misogynistic and slut-shame-y so many of his lyrics were….plus a healthy dose of respectability politics in there too, which I never picked up on as a teenager. Anyway, if I understand correctly the term correctly, I believe he would be considered a “hotep”.
ETA: It’s still an awesome album IMO but very, VERY problematic lyrics.
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m notcing this pattern of some black men essentially saying, “women’s rights don’t matter, because we have to talk about racism.”
Why can’t we talk about them both?
Because they don’t care about black women’s rights. The black men who avoid talking about or acknowledging black women’s struggles are misogynistic and are only worried about themselves. They expect all black people to care about racism and the struggle of the black man, but when it comes to black women and the black lgbt community then they have nothing to say.
Sing it again!
Bingo! This is to true for so many of the black male celebs out there. They are held up as examples for all that they do against racism but are outright hostile to black women and black lgbtq.
Exactly, for a lot of them, pro-black means pro-black-straight-men.
The moment black women want to express themselves they say: “feminism is destroying the black community”, or “you bring all problems on yourselves, if only you did ABC you’d be fine”
true but sadly, it’s nothing new. i study and teach about the 60s & 70s and the same thing was happening then. black women made to feel (by men) as if they must choose either race or gender, can’t have both, and women who support that way of thinking. (((heavy sigh))) history just repeats itself…
He is one of the worst dressed celebs out there.
IDIOT!
I wonder why people ask men what they think about something that is essentially a woman’s program. PP is for women and he is not one, so therefore what he thinks doesn’t matter
This to the thousandth power. I’m sick of male commentary on my life and the lives of women in general. STFU and sit down. I’ve never presumed to tell a man why he is not succeeding in his career, how to have an orgasm, whether his clothing is sexually provocative, whom he should vote for, whether he was eating too much, that he is “too sensitive and has no sense of humor” or that he “deserved what he got” after punching the S^%$ out of him. I am glad my SO is not like this.
But I am SO done with this BS.
Shite for brains, essentially.
Hillary and Donald are not the same. Hillary is experienced, competent, and not openly racist. But they are both rich elite New York whites. They run in the same circles and their daughters are friends. If you really think that they don’t share many of the same views then you don’t really understand classism and racism in this country. Hillary proved her racism with her “super predator” comments. Birds of a feather flock together.
Trump grew up a rich New York elite. Hillary Clinton has lived there for approximately 16 years (since she was approximately 54 years old and ran for Senate in New York). I strongly disagree that Hillary was rich or elite prior to being in her 50s. Really, this comparison doesn’t make any sense at all.
Please look up the Rodhams. Hillary has always been rich and her father was a life long republican.
@Luffy – the Rodhams were not rich. Hung on to the lower rungs of middle class respectability for the most part, although when Hillary hit her teen years her father’s career became more established and they moved into the solidly middle class. Yes, her father was a Republican.
One of the reasons the Clinton are so avaricious is that they both came from less well off homes. Well, Bill came from poverty.
serious moron alert.
I believe Nick Cannon represents morons.
Now, go away, Nick, and do whatever the hell it is you do.
*sips tea* WHYEVER would anyone consider an opinion from corny *ss turban wearing Nick Cannon something worth listening to?? It’s to early still for me to get worked over a Clearly out of his depth Immature Man Baby espousing dumb hotepish stuff about women’s rights? Let’s all be better than this Cornball I mean FFS LOOK AT HIM! he looks like an old timey Batman Villain
Kasier- you should read the book Medical Apartheid. While I agree that planned parenthood is needed, there is a deep distrust in the African American community around planned parenthood and medical organizations in general. Nick Cannon, isn’t the first to say this, join any African American facebook group and this is what is being discussed. Cannon just has a platform. There is a history of eugenics in America, forced and unknown sterilization of black women, medical testing on black bodies, plans to keep population growth down, the Tuskegee issue. What he is saying is not that shocking.
I should add Depro Provera (spelling) to this list as well.
Exactly, why are we normalizing Sanger’s racist thoughts and behaviour because she was “a product of her time”. I don’t give George Washington or Abraham Lincoln a pass for their racism and I won’t give her one either. She specifically pitched planned parenthood to the Sisters of the KKK and other white nationalist groups as a way to control the black population. This is the roots of the planned parenthood program. Also, Nick Cannon wasn’t saying women’s issues aren’t important he was exposing what is being talked about in the black community right now, as a serious issue that both men and women need to take ownership of.
I said she was a product of her time in my comment before and I apologize. I wasn’t trying to make light of anything that was said and done. And you are correct… Doesn’t make any if it right.
Wow. I think we need to have a Licensed Parenthood. Two idiots (he and Mariah) had two children who are probably as dumb as their parents …. and yet that’s legal!!
In the words of Cookie Lyon, “Shut up, stupid!”
This is a personal issue for Nick Cannon. He has always spoken about abortion and Planned Parenthood, mostly because his mother considered abortion and changed her mind upon having a moment of clarity at the clinic. I think this would color his perspective about abortion and Planned Parenthood’s role in that. When he mentions fast food places, it’s another issue being talking about in black movement groups. Basically, a lot of these companies have chemicals they put in their foods that have more adverse effects for African Americans than other ethnic groups (proven in studies), there has been extensive research done about how more fast food restaurants are allowed in poor minority communities (and less grocery stores) and how the number of Planned Parenthoods are double in poor disenfranchised communities.
NIMBYism. Seriously. You said it yourself, “poor disenfranchised communities.” No middle class or upper middle class neighborhood is going to get a PP. It’s not a function of race, but of class, of strong anti-choice organization, and the fact that PP needs to exist somewhere. So it goes where it can.
There are other ways besides Planned Parenthood. There are other ways to build medical clinics, women health centers, or Urgent Cares, besides allowing Planned Parenthood dominance. The point I was making is that the foundation of Planned Parenthood was to decrease the numbers of the black community. That is a part of it’s history. We can’t gloss over that.
Wow, learned TWO new words today 🙂
Thanks, Betsy!
There may be other ways, but someone’s gotta do it. Our government isn’t doing it… the other for profit hospitals aren’t doing it… I’m not doing it and you’re not doing it. So de facto, PP is the one doing it. I’m not glossing over the origins of PP, but the fact is that NOW, PP does amazing work and is the source of low cost healthcare of thousands of women. There is a PP clinic (not called as such) in my predominantly white upper class neighborhood. They do not provide abortions, but they provide women’s health services at very low cost, take insurance and have advisers to help women apply for state benefits if they are eligible. It’s clean and welcoming and low cost and offers services women desperately need – yearly pap smears, HPV vaccines, STD testing, breast cancer screenings, birth control/family planning, prenatal services, ultrasounds, postnatal checkups, etc. The doctors and nurses who work there are wonderful and non judgmental. It devastated me to tears that our government doesn’t directly do this for us, but I just thank all the powers that be and all of our donations and government funding that this does actually exist.
If that is true about his mother, then I can completely understand why he is saying what he is.
Yeah this isn’t a new topic for him. He actually had a rap song/music video that came out 10 years ago, or longer, that discussed this very topic. In the music video he shows how his mother decided not to go through with the abortion and how grateful she was to never “make that mistake”.
Justin Bieber’s remarks some years ago about abortion came from the same place – his mom was very young and unsupported by family and was seriously considering abortion. Sometimes it’s just personal.
I don’t see why his mother contemplating getting an abortion and then not getting one would color his thoughts on abortion and Planned Parenthood either way. It very may well color his thoughts on his mother, but abortion and Planned Parenthood in general had nothing to do with his mom contemplating abortion. That was his mother’s thought process and decision. All abortion did was exist as a concept and medical procedure, and all Planned Parenthood did was exist as a means to facilitate that concept and medical procedure. Ultimately it was his mother’s thought process and decision, and her’s alone.
As a terrible example: just because Taco Bell exists and I’m already in the drive through line doesn’t mean I have to buy it and eat it, but getting mad a Taco Bell for existing is just stupid.
I can completely understand why his mother’s actions would color his view of these things. Just as I have known people who were adopted that abhorred abortion. For some people, it makes them emotional thinking of what could or could not have been. My mom planned and wanted me very much… But for someone who experienced what he did… I can totally understand his feelings.
I agree with some of his comments and respect much of what he is saying. This country is not meant for black Americans. Black Americans can thrive here, but the institutions and systems are not in general favorable to their community.
He is also absolutely right that when you go into neighborhoods to get out the vote, voting for local issues and candidates is vital, particularly for minorities. The Drain Commissioner will affect your life – getting sewage properly treated is vital to the health and well being of a community.
I am not sure that message got through – but if he influenced one or two people only, I appreciate his work.
AmunetMaat – while I agree that McDonald’s is probably horrible for a person’s body – references please so I can read the articles?
When you get all your news by skimming social media posts and conspiracy sites, Nick Cannon’s thought process happens. It seems to be a jumble of things. He’s aware that things exist, but not the real nitty gritty of any issue.
For example, McDonald’s isn’t necessarily the problem, but inner city food deserts are. Public (tuition free!) school isn’t the problem. But under funding it is.
You can’t lump all these things together. His pov seems seriously under developed and therefore also very left field and sideways and wrong. This is not an uncommon problem these days, unfortunately.
this
If he’s now enrolled in Howard, that will help him get more nuance into his thinking. He probably hasn’t been challenged enough by people with other viewpoints and experiences.
He married Mariah Carrey. I’d only ask him about that because what else do I need to know about his thoughts?
He’s only regurgitating B.S. he’s heard his elders say. This is not the first time this is being said about PPH either. Churches put up signs about the abortion genocide misinformation during prime birthing seasons like Christmas & Easter and also after prime mating seasons like Kenny Chesney concerts and Mardi Gras and Coachella. I think EPT sponsored a booth at and EMD festival in NY. haaaa
He’s an idiot.
Most institutions founded in the country were founded by racist people. I’m not going to give up going to the library because Ben Franklin had two slaves. Big picture, people.
Says the guy who wrote these lyrics about his ex girlfriend, “She’s the best in the bed when it comes to the head.”
You already know how he feels about women. It’s not a surprise he could care a less about women’s rights.
Thanks for the theory, Nick. Now you can go back to being Carey’s baby-daddy and a talentless tv presenter.
Until he grows a vagina, his opinion means nothing to me
One word: Idiot!
Why is he dressed like Gloria Swanson? Please tell me he is smoking crack or something, because this kind of verbal diarrhea is just scary.
He’s allowed to feel strongly about abortion. But it doesn’t seem right to assume people working with Planned Parenthood today share that racist and eugenicist history. That’s not their reason for working with PP and my bet is that most of them don’t even know about Sanger’s ugly side, just as most people don’t know a lot of things about our history in such matters.
I do think it’s a good thing to point out that history, though. I remember being rather horrified at reading about the eugenics movement in relation to other groups when I was still in high school or college. Don’t want to be doomed to repeat that stuff, so we need to know about it. The times doesn’t excuse such thinking but knowing the social and political climate does help us understand how easy it was for people to believe such crap. I think it is still a component of racism for many people who are afraid that they will be increasingly outnumbered by the “others”.
Don’t know how feasible this is – but considering the serious differences in beliefs about abortion, can PP split off abortion services well enough to deflate the objections to government funding? Or are they already doing that? I’m thinking go for private funding of abortion to avoid the ever shifting climate in legislatures. So much energy is wasted trying to deal with that. The effort is better placed maintaining the legality of abortion, I.e. no penalties for women or their medical care providers. It is important to keep emphasizing that keeping it legal is simply not the same as forcing it or even encouraging it. Many people with religious objections to abortion itself see that distinction and just want the government to back away from the decision, leaving it to the woman, her doctor, and her God. Most conceptions never result in a live birth quite naturally, it’s a rocky road for the zygote. I like to point out that it is much easier to deal with the reasons for abortions and to reduce the frequency if it is kept legal.
I’ve always wished war would be funded by bake sales myself…. That really is a related issue. I don’t want my tax money used for murder and mayhem at the international level, so I can sympathize with people who don’t want to pay for abortion services (although we’re talking pennies per taxpayer there rather than the 50% to 80% of the federal taxes going to war-related activities). Abortion isn’t just another medical issue because serious beliefs about life and death and independent right to life are involved. We need to respect those beliefs while maintaining true choice and not just rage on about how they are not interested in the baby past birth (which isn’t true for many of them, just some of the loudest). This also goes for beliefs about contraception – we have to take seriously concerns about potentially abortifacient methods, even when the chances are slim. They are not zero, and it’s worth looking for approaches that avoid that aspect. it’s complicated because for some it is also mixed in with irreconcilable differences on the morality of sexual activity in the first place. But that is ultimately easier to deal with once the abortion issue is separated.
I have to deal all the time with otherwise good people who are convinced that it’s not only okay but necessary to drop bombs on other people, killing and maiming them and destroying their communities. That’s a very serious religious difference involving life and death issues but I manage without yelling “lock them up!” for every person involved in such awful stuff by direct action or funding it. Maybe that’s another way to reach those who feel that way about abortion. Laws against war and preparation for war are already on the books (as treaties which are the law of the land) but it doesn’t matter as long as people don’t believe such things are wrong. So I don’t waste my time on laws against such things. Likewise, trying to force penalties for abortion won’t even make a dent in it.
The problem with spinning off abortion services from “healthcare services” is that you perpetuate the lie that these two are mutually exclusive. They are not. To a woman staring down the barrel of a dangerous pregnany complication, abortion is very much a healthcare service – a critical one. The same could be said for rape and incest survivors facing the trauma and mental/emotional toll of a forced pregnancy, one which their bodies may not even be fully developed enough to deliver safely. Abortion is not some frivolous, optional convenience. It can be a horrible, heartbreaking, but ultimately lifesaving choice that prevents tragedy from compounding itself.
And though it’s easy to hide behind these more “socially acceptable” examples, and force these women to carry all the water for reproductive rights, it’s dishonest and wrong and a betrayal of women in general, to do that. Because like it or not, a woman’s right to autonomy over her own body – and it IS still her body, no matter what else is happening – is not some disposable bargaining chip: “Okay, what if we give up all the BAD GIRL abortions…. then can we have a ‘life of the mother’ exception, pleeeeease?” Until we have an equal right to control our bodies and futures BECAUSE THEY ARE OURS, not because we gave someone else a good enough reason to let us, we’re all second-class citizens begging for extra privilges.
It might make things more expedient in the short-term to “shelter” healthcare services from the controversy of reproductive rights… but it would be a step backward for ALL women – not just because we’d be isolating abortion services and making them that much at risk, but because we’d effectively be saying, “Here… you don’t have to treat us as equals, you can make us beg and bargain and negotiate for rights, like children told to pick one present.” Women who want an abortion must not have to justify it. Women who don’t want one must ALSO be allowed the dignity to make their own choice, not just agree with the choice made FOR them.
I used to try to appeal to men, but no more. Men are fathers, but women are wise. We have evolved enough to know what we need. We are the gatekeepers, and abortion and infanticide have existed in every culture i’ve heard of and certainly exists in all of the strongest countries we have today. My personal feelings about it are that it is so wrong, but I am not narcissistic enough to think that every civilized female before me got it all wrong.
“Men are fathers, but women are wise.”
What does that even mean?