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In his July 18 column “It is time to negotiate peace in the abortion war,” Michael Bacon says he’s tired of talking about abortion. Imagine how those actually impacted by this loss of rights feel.
While his suggestion that birth control be made accessible and affordable is a laudable one, I think he’s both patronizing and wrong in his assertions that abortion rates are due to women being too uneducated or unmotivated to use contraceptives properly. He uses words such as “require” and “comply” when discussing women’s use of birth control, while men are merely encouraged to “consider” their role in creating unintended pregnancies. And he fails to acknowledge that abortion restrictions such as those he suggests actually don’t reduce abortion rates.
Women have long carried the weight of family planning in a system designed to punish us for having sex (like when your employer bars you from getting birth control coverage, or the pharmacist refuses to sell it to you). I believe the only reason to continue foisting the responsibility – and the blame – on women is to control them. Irresponsible ejaculation is the cause of all unintended pregnancies. If reducing abortion rates is the true goal for those sick of hearing about the topic, then those people with penises should be the ones whose sex lives are regulated.
There’s no compromise when it comes to bodily autonomy. I’m hoping Bacon takes his own advice, and leaves decisions about pregnancy to the person who’s actually pregnant.
Mindy Woerter
Durham