Monday, September 01, 2008

Why the GOP hammers at abortion rights so much

I think Amanda Marcotte has nailed it, with a simple clarity. Key excerpts:

But for the small cadre of hardcore anti-feminists, you have to understand that they’re deeply invested in a fantasy and in the fantasy that they can vote that fantasy into existence. That fantasy is, as cliched as it is to say, a fantasy version of the 1950s, where women knew their place and everyone was happy all the time.

And dismantling reproductive rights is the key to this fantasy. Topple that, topple feminism. There’s a weird logic to it—women generally maintain careers because they can limit their fertility and aren’t always taking time off to manage a brood of 5-10 kids. Once the cost of day care outstrips any salary you can command, you have to quit your job. ... Feminists were right to think that the right to contraception and abortion are fundamental to women’s liberation, and anti-choicers agree, so they want to take that away.


Go read the full post for the fleshed-out argument.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry Orange. I don't read anything Amanda writes (and I agree with her this time!). I don't click to Pandagon because I don't want any money going to her. The treatment Hillary Clinton received from her site, and from "teh blogger boyz" is enough to keep me away.

Delia Christina said...

yeah, i've stopped reading pandagon because of that whole seal press/feminists of color get short shrift thing some months back - but her pieces for RHRealityCheck.org on reproductive justice are really sharp. (that's the only topic I read her for, actually.)