{"id":247400,"date":"2021-06-23T10:42:14","date_gmt":"2021-06-23T15:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=247400"},"modified":"2021-06-22T22:31:02","modified_gmt":"2021-06-23T03:31:02","slug":"womens-health-protection-act-women-inferior-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/womens-health-protection-act-women-inferior-men\/","title":{"rendered":"The Women’s Health Protection Act treats women as inferior to men"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) re-introduced the so-called Women’s Health Protection Act<\/a> this month, aiming to ensure abortion remains legal throughout the United States even in the event that the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade,<\/em> the 1973 decision that legalized abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. Though the bill is marketed as pro-woman, the wording actually treats women as inferior to men<\/em> based on their biology.<\/p>\n

The Act states:<\/p>\n

Abortion-specific restrictions are a tool of gender oppression, as they target health care services that are used primarily by women. These paternalistic restrictions rely on and reinforce harmful stereotypes about gender roles, women’s decision-making, and women’s need for protection instead of support, undermining their ability to control their own lives and well-being. <\/em><\/p>\n

These restrictions harm the basic autonomy, dignity, and equality of women, and their ability to participate in the social and economic life of the Nation.<\/em><\/p>\n

Autonomy, dignity, equality<\/strong><\/p>\n

Laws to protect women from the abortion industry are not oppressive and do not undermine a woman’s autonomy or dignity. In fact, many women who have had abortions have stated that their abortion experience made them feel<\/a> like cattle<\/a> being herded<\/a>. Laws such as waiting periods or ultrasound requirements exist so that women have time to actually consider the decision to abort \u2014 which is lifelong and has a major impact on a woman’s mental health<\/a>. Laws help to ensure women are treated with dignity and are not just seen as a dollar sign.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0\u2018I felt like cattle\u2019: WA Planned Parenthood clients leave poor Yelp reviews<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Just because women are the only ones who have abortions does not mean that laws surrounding abortion are “a tool of gender oppression.” Laws surrounding abortion are there to protect women just as laws surrounding driving are meant to protect drivers of vehicles and their passengers or laws surrounding hospitals exist to protect patients.<\/p>\n

Many abortion facilities are known for being far\u00a0less than sanitary<\/a>. Whether an independent facility or a Planned Parenthood affiliate, abortion businesses have put women’s health at risk with dirty equipment, unsterilized tools, and bloody drains. Untrained staff<\/a>\u00a0has also been a widespread problem in the abortion industry, and in Louisiana, an eye doctor and a radiologist were even allowed to commit abortions, to the detriment of women<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Abortion laws\u00a0do<\/em> protect women, and there’s nothing oppressive about that.<\/p>\n

In addition, abortion does not make women equal to men. Women and men are intrinsically equal<\/em> and their differences do not negate that. The ability to carry a child for nine months does not make women inferior to men, and the ability to kill that child in the womb does not make women equal to men.<\/p>\n

To say that women need abortion in order to be equal implies that they are not<\/em>\u00a0already intrinsically equal to men due to their biology. This is a direct insult to women and their bodies. The ability to become pregnant is not a flaw of the female body. Women should not be shamed for that or made to feel so inferior to men that they think abortion is their only option.<\/p>\n

Participation in the social and economic life of the nation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Blumenthal and the bill’s other sponsors state that abortion allows women to “participate in the social and economic life of the Nation.” This implies that without abortion, mothers are somehow unable to do so.<\/p>\n

This is a discriminatory and oppressive statement. Mothers go to work every day while simultaneously raising children. In many cases, they do it without the assistance of men. Mothers are completely capable of participating in society in all aspects \u2014 from athletics<\/a> to law school<\/a> to politics<\/a>. Yet Blumenthal and his co-sponsors insist women need to kill their children in order to participate meaningfully in society.<\/p>\n