I am Pro-Woman not Pro-Choice

You see, unlike all the penises who believe they have the right to dictate the contents of a woman's uterus, I happen to believe that women are not only fully human but are also capable of making decisions for themselves. Without the help of a penis. 

I support unlimited access to abortion on demand because I believe women are human. I believe women are more than capable of making decisions for their own bodies. 

I believe no woman will have an abortion at 37 weeks for shits and giggles. 

I believe that we need more sex education for children that their parents can not opt out on.

I trust women to make the decision to have an abortion or to continue with a pregnancy for themselves.

I trust women to make the decision without political interference. 

I trust women.

The people I don't trust are the anti-women nincompoops who want to curtail women's rights to access abortion. I don't trust male politicians who will never have to make the choice to write the laws which will effect my body. My "pro-choice" MP didn't think it was important for him to show up to the debate in parliament today since the debate was "purely for expressions of view, and do not make binding policy. There are no votes at the end of these debates." His refusal to attend meant that the voices of the anti-choice women-haters were the loudest. His refusal meant that the men who claim that fetuses are "fully human" were heard and not the voices of those who believe that women are fully human. 

These men dictating their right to control the contents of a woman's uterus are the same men who voted for cuts to benefits. It is the same men who are currently carving up the NHS. Who do they think will pay for the incredibly expensive neo-natal care of a fetus born at 22 weeks? As one of the anti-choicers pointed out today in the debate, people were already fundraising for special care baby units. Where will this money come from now that the NHS is being destroyed? Who will pay for the long-term care of these children? Who will pay for their housing as housing benefit is slashed? Who will pay for their education as the schools budget is decimated? Who will pay for their childcare as benefit payments are destroyed? 

Anyone who is anti-abortion and who also votes to cuts to the welfare state, in any shape or form, is a hypocrite. I'm sick to death of the hypocrites. 

I am pro-choice because I believe women are human too.

Some excellent blogs on abortion: 

I'm a civilian, not a ship's captain.

How I lost faith in the pro-life movement

40 Days of Choice

Please join Abortion Rights today.

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We're a Culture Not a Costume:

I love Halloween. It is my favourite holiday ever. When I was a child, Halloween was about making the most original costume possible. Witches, skeletons and cats were dull. I have been a ladybug, a broken heart, a cabbage patch kid and a punk rocker; my mother being far more artistic than me. Unfortunately, the push to be creative at Halloween involved costumes based entirely on offensive and racist stereotypes. I frequently find myself with clenched teeth handing out candy to small children dressed as "Indians" wondering why their parents thought it was a good idea to dress their child up as a racist stereotype.






Last year, a group of students from Ohio University's Students Teaching about Racism started a campaign called "We're a culture, not a costume' on this issue. These are some of the brilliant posters from this years campaign whose tagline is "You wear the costume for one night. I wear the stigma for life". For me, this is a feminist issue. The Patriarchy requires racism as much as it requires misogyny to keep functioning. We can not destroy the Patriarchy whilst this type of racism remains socially acceptable.

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Yet Another Example of Male Entitlement Bulldozing Over Women Without A Thought

I don't usually write about articles in the Daily Mail. Frankly, they are so misogynistic, racist, disablist and homophobic normally that it just doesn't seem worth even trying to unpack them. This article, via Leah Hardy, is about a male student midwife complaining about being prohibited from attending a women-only breastfeeding class run by the National Childbirth Trust (NCT). You did just read that right. Chris Butt is pissed off because the NCT put the needs of their paying clients above a male student midwife. Obviously, he has felt the need to go off whinging about this. Rather than drive up the hits the article recieves  and, therefore, their advertising revenue, I have just posted the whole link below. I can not access the original article that Butt wrote for Midwives magazine as it is subscription only.*

So, Chris Butt went whining to the press because the NCT wouldn't let him into a women-only breastfeeding support group. Here's the thing, many women wouldn't care about having a male midwife. Many women wouldn't care about have a man in a breastfeeding support group. But, these women do. They joined a women-only group for a reason. We don't need to interrogate each of them to decide which of them has a Patriarchy-approved reason for choosing a woman-only group. They did. Now, their choices need to be respected. It's not like the NCT banned him from all their groups; just the woman-only one. And, yeah, as a midwife, he will get to see lots of women naked but these specific women don't want him too. So, why should his desire to be in a women-only group trump the desire of these women to access support in a women-only environment? 

Frankly, I can't think of anyone I'd rather not have deliver my baby than a man who doesn't get the need for women-only support groups. By putting his selfish desire above the wishes of a group of women who aren't even his patients, Butt is demonstrating a distinct lack of empathy which I've always thought was necessary in the medical profession. Does Butt not understand that a large percentage of domestic violence starts during pregnancy? That these women-only groups are sometimes the *only* place a woman has to access support without the violent partner being involved? What about women who aren't allowed to be in the presence of men they aren't related to? Shouldn't those women be able to access support too? Or, victims of sexualised violence who feel uncomfortable around men? Thankfully, the NCT said no but we shouldn't even be having these discussions. There is nothing wrong with women-only groups. The fact that some men think there is says more about male privilege than it does about anything else. 

And, doesn't it strike anyone else as just a little bit creepy that this man is demanding the right to access a women-only breastfeeding group, even though, the NCT had offered him an alternative group that men could attend. I mean, why?

* If anyone has a copy I could view, I would be extremely grateful. 

• Chris Butt, 30, has been refused entry to sessions because women are 'sensitive to men being present. 
He is one of only 132 male midwives out of 20,000 in the UK

By MARTYN HALLE
PUBLISHED: 01:51, 7 October 2012 | UPDATED: 14:04, 7 October 2012

A student training to be one of  the country’s few male midwives  has been prevented from attending breastfeeding classes – because he is a man.
Chris Butt, 30, who is in the second year of a three-year training course, tried to attend breastfeeding classes run by the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) near his university. But since last summer he has been rebuffed several times by local branches that have refused to allow him to attend certain sessions after claiming some women are ‘sensitive’ to men being present. 

Mr Butt, who is studying at Bournemouth University, has had the backing of his course tutor and the head of midwifery at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester, where he is doing his on-the-job training and has delivered five babies on his own. 

The Department of Health encourages women to breastfeed because  of the health benefits, and midwives play a key role in educating new mothers. Britain has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world. Even so, members of the NCT in Southampton objected to Mr Butt’s presence at the women-only class despite the fact he is a health professional – but said they would have no problem with a female midwife. The NCT said he was invited to attend more open classes in which the male partners of new mothers also attend. 

But Mr Butt – one of only 132 male midwives out of 20,000 in the UK – has criticised the situation in an  article for Midwives, the magazine of the Royal College of Midwives. ‘I didn’t believe for one minute that I would be turned away from breastfeeding groups,’ he wrote. ‘Do the facilitators of such clinics think I practise midwifery in some magical way where I don’t see intimate parts of women’s bodies?  Do they think I stand behind a screen as a baby’s head is crowning, shouting out advice on when to breathe?’ 

Mr Butt originally agreed to expand on his comments in Midwives but said he had come ‘under pressure’ not to say anything further. The NCT denied it was against men attending breastfeeding groups. A spokesman said: ‘He wanted to attend a women-only session, where there were no break-out rooms available if the women attending felt uncomfortable with a male presence. ‘We also offered him the opportunity to attend an antenatal breastfeeding workshop.’ One breastfeeding counsellor in Southampton said: ‘Chris has to understand that some women are sensitive to a man’s presence.’

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Everyone Needs To Join Abortion Rights Today.

So, Jeremy Hunt still thinks the time limit for abortion should be cut from 24 weeks to 12 weeks. I don't care that Hunt is wandering about claiming this is just his personal opinion and that the Department of Health swears there is no discussion about changing the limit, we have a Health secretary and the Minister for Women both espousing pro-life rhetoric. Nadine Dorries is still campaigning to change the regulations on abortion counselling services. The war on reproductive rights has already started and our, already limited, access to abortion is getting worse. 

All women [and men] should be joining Abortion Rights today. 

We can not allow these misogynists to curtail women's rights further.

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