Saturday 7 April 2012

Kicking Butt with An Arthritic Knee

Seriously, I’m too old for this shit. I feel like I’ve been giving the same lessons on the fundamentals of women’s rights since the 1970s. A court decision ushered in a short period of relative calm and rationality concerning our reproductive rights. It was a done deal, Canadian women had full autonomy of their bodies, and we breathed freely and focused on other work to improve the lives of women and girls.

Harper knew this was the status quo and perfectly acceptable to most, except for a small, loud and annoying minority. That’s why Harper disingenuously claimed that he would not re-open the abortion debate. He was walking that tightline between moderating his image for the general public and appeasing his hard right supporters. But Harper is a liar and pushed his agenda incrementally. It’s been a carousel of slight of hand initiatives (e.g., the Status of Women cuts and mandate changes, the CIDA maternal health program and defunding of Planned Parenthood, the appointment of a rookie, anti-abortion backbencher as Minister for the Status of Women) and disingenuous motions from individual backbench MPs (e.g., Epps, Vellacott, Bruinooge).

The bottom line is that Woodsworth is a dishonest, evangelical, woman-hating creep who is more concerned with getting a toe in on criminalizing abortion than about updating a 400 year old law where the toe in a birth canal is some defining benchmark for legal personhood. And it’s galling to see self-described progressives claim that such a debate is timely and reasonable.

There are no nuances that need debating when it comes to my right to decide what I do with my body FULL STOP. My ‘lady bits’ (h/t Alison) are wizened and of little interest to these patriarchal hacks, but I will continue to kick and scream in order to protect the rights of younger women and future generations, so they too can consult with their GPs about health decisions in privacy and without intimidation.

Meanwhile, let’s hope we manage to save universal healthcare so that clinical termination of pregnancies and knee replacement surgery remain accessible for all.

10 comments:

Cathie from Canada said...

Exactly, yes! There is no "debate".

fern hill said...

Yay! BY on the front page!

Silver lining to ProgBlog ugliness.

Alison said...

Brava! From another old broad.

deBeauxOs said...

Beijing York, thank you for that perspective; with that I believe that DJ! has pretty much addressed all the misogynist and regressive aspects of Wankworth's M312.

Anonymous said...

I too am tired at the thought of going down this road again. But if I have to, I will do it with my daughter at my side and it will be good.

Beijing York said...

Merci a vous, dBO and fern, and all you other good blogging PROGRESSIVE women, for doing so much of the heavy lifting for the past many years.

And yeah, I'm ready to rumble.

Mike said...

No Canadian has the unequivocal right to do whatever they want with their own body. Our criminal code is full of laws that prevent us from using our bodies in any way we wish...and we best be thankful for them!

fern hill said...

Um. Like what?

Mike said...

There are unlimited examples...

I'm free to drink a case of beer on my patio, but not free (and rightly so) to get in my vehicle and drive across town. The right of others to walk/drive safely trumps my right to drive intoxicated...no matter how desperately I need to get across town.

Or, I have two trigger fingers...there are laws (and rightly so) that say what I can and can't do with them.

fern hill said...

Seriously?

I'm too tired for this. If Mike comes back with more such idiocy, it won't be published.

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