The Inherent Misogyny of the Abortion-as-Genocide Argument

Today, Jojo Ruba of the Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform will be giving a lecture entitled “Echoes of the Holocaust: comparing abortion to other human rights violations”. The Centre for Bioethical Reform is the group that sponsors the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) display--a display that depicts images of genocide and holocaust next to photos of supposedly aborted fetuses. While Students for Reproductive Rights does not contest Mr. Ruba’s rights to share his views, we are strongly opposed to the comparison of abortion to genocide, and would like to offer our opinion of the debate.

Students for Reproductive Rights believes that it is wrong to compare abortion with the tragic events of real genocides, and that it is also extremely offensive. To compare abortion to the real genocide of real people is highly insulting to the relatives and descendants of Holocaust victims and survivors. Genocide is an intolerable act of hatred against a particular community of people. Abortion is an essential, legal medical procedure that women desperately need, not only to give them control over their bodies and lives but to preserve and improve the lives of their families. But let us assume for the moment that the comparison is a legitimate one. Who, then, are the perpetrators of the genocide? Who should be put on trial for crimes against humanity? The answer depends on how we view the nature and status of women.

Most of us believe that women should not be limited to the sole role of bearing and raising children. We believe that women are entitled to the same respect and opportunity that men enjoy. We also believe that women are autonomous beings who have the right and the ability to make decisions in their lives. These are reasonable beliefs. And if they are true, then women must bear full responsibility for the abortions they choose to have. If, as the CCBR would argue, abortion is comparable to genocide, then women are by default genocidal murderers. This is why some consider the abortion-genocide comparison to be hate speech against women.

Do anti-abortion activists blame women for abortion? Generally, the answer is no. Instead, they place the blame on doctors, clinics, politicians, judges, and the “culture of death”. Does this refusal to acknowledge women’s responsibility for abortion stem from compassion for women? No. Anti-abortion activists are not concerned with helping real women live real lives. Their main goal is to outlaw abortion. The consequences of illegal abortion for women’s lives, health, and rights are tragic. 60 000 women are killed every year as the result of an unsafe, illegal abortion. But somehow, anti-abortion activists believe that stopping abortions will help women. How can this belief be reconciled with the awful realities women are confronted with when abortion becomes illegal? The contradiction is resolved when one realizes that anti-abortion activists truly believe that women are victims of legal abortion.

A certain view about the nature and status of women comes into play here, and it is a view that many anti-abortion activists seem to hold. It is the view that women’s natural, primary role is to bear and raise children. It is the view that women are easily victimized and led by people around them. It is the view that women are not ultimately responsible for their actions, because like children, they require direction and moral guidance. If these beliefs are true, then women do not bear responsibility for their abortions. They have been coerced and misled by others into having them. Society itself is the genocidal murderer, and doctors and politicians become scapegoats.

Such a patronizing and traditional view of women is offensive to the notion of women’s equality and autonomy, and it is for this and many other reasons that Student’s for Reproductive Rights opposes the comparison of abortion to genocide. We encourage viewers to think critically about the claims made by Mr. Ruba, and to consider the offense that this presentation represents not only to women, but also to the multiple groups whose real experiences with genocide are being appropriated. While there is certainly a need for discussion regarding the complex issue of abortion, its comparison to genocide causes great offense to many, and does nothing to promote civil debate.

Movie Night Update

Hey everyone, just a quick update that the movie shown on Thursday, September 30th (tomorrow!) will be 12th and Delaware, a documentary about the experiences of an abortion clinic and crisis pregnancy centre which are located directly across the street from one another. The movie will start at 6pm, and will be held in SUB room 42V. You do not have to be a member to attend - anyone who would like to can drop by, and feel free to bring friends. We expect the movie to last about an hour and a half, and will have a discussion session afterward for those who would like to stay. We look forward to seeing you there!

Upcoming Movie Night

Hi everyone! SRR has gotten off to a great start this year, recruiting new members during clubs days and getting to know each other at our weekly meetings. This Thursday (September 30th) will be our first event. We're hosting a pro-choice movie night, open to members and non-members alike. The movie will start at 6pm, and will be followed by an informal discussion of what we thought of the movie.

We will vote for which movie we would like to see at our meeting on Tuesday, September 28th, so be sure to come out and give your say. Options that have so far been suggested include 12th and Delaware, Citizen Ruth, and Dirty Dancing. For those who cannot make it to the meeting, don't worry; we'll be sure to send out an email to let you know what movie will be playing. Hope to see you there!

Welcome back!

The leaves are falling, classes are beginning, and SRR is ready to get back into high gear this year. Tomorrow is imagine day, an orientation and welcome back for all students. From 2-5pm all the UBC organizations will have displays along Main Mall on campus. SRR will be there with our display, so drop by and say hello! An e-mail will be sent out to our mailing list at the end of the week with a doodle link to figure out the best time for our weekly meetings this semester. E-mail us (srr.ubc@ gmail.com) to be added to the mailing list.

Stay tuned for more SRR news. In the mean time, check out this local pap screen awareness campaign by the LACE (live aware create empowerment) campaign: www.lacecampaign.com. Pap Awareness Week is coming up on October 24-30 and you can read more about it on their website.

Another semester over

The 2nd semester of SRR has officially come to a close. It was a very successful semester for our new group, including movie nights, the GAP protest, political activism through letter writing, and ongoing discussions about local and global reproductive rights issues. Along with increased membership, SRR has also become an official AMS club! It has been heartwarming to feel how the UBC community has accepted and embraced our efforts. That being said, we have a lot of work to do over the next academic year!

Part of our ongoing work is our petition to limit the extent to which the GAP display can shock and emotionally harm the UBC community if and when this display returns in the future. If you havn't already, please sign our online petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/choice12/petition.html.

Speaking of petitions, Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC) has an online petition regarding Stephen Harper's refusal to include abortion in his global maternal health initiative at the upcoming G8 summit. You can sign that here: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/safe-abortion.html.

Abortion has become a revived hot topic here in Canada, despite Harper's attempts to avoid the discussion. On the one hand, seeing our government so blatantly taking an anti-choice stance is infuriating and embarrassing when this extends to the global political stage. On the other hand, Canada is speaking out against the government and there has been some excellent coverage in the media of this issue and of the necessity of safe abortion. It's still important for Canadians to speak up and tell our government that we're pro-choice and that we won't stand for these recent decisions not to defend a woman's right to make decisions about her own body.

Happy Summer everyone!

- Justine

Letter Writing Campaign

SRR decided to postpone the support group (see last post) until the beginning of next semester. We did not have enough responses this this time, due to lack of timing for preparedness on our part, and it's also approaching finals time when UBC students refrain from all activities other than studying! The support groups will start up in September and we look forward to having a successful semester of support.

We still had the room booked, so we decided to have a last minute letter writing campaign about Stephen Harper's maternal health initiative for the G8 summit. We read some articles, including this one explaining Hillary Clinton's response to Harper's abhorrent decision not to include family planning in his initiative: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/03/30/clinton-contraception.html. After a discussion, we got to work writing individual letters to Harper. It was a successful and enjoyable event. Here is a photo of our finished letters, about to be sent off!

Bad news, good news

The buzz around Stephen Harper's spin on maternal health continues here in Canada. Here's an article of Stephen Harper's shameful neglect of international aid to the women who need it: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/the-sad-truth-about-harper-and-maternal-health/article1513829/

On the bright side, this opening up of the abortion issue in Canada has highlighted something important: that the majority of Canadians are pro-choice. Yay! Here's an article explaining the survey of the thoughts of Canadians around abortion: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/majority-backs-abortion-rights/article1519823/

As for our update, thanks to the GAP protest, SRR is enjoying its largest membership since its inception. At least some good came out of that awful display. And we have been more active than ever, working on a petition to UBC about GAP, holding our second pro-choice movie night last week showing "Lake of Fire", and organizing a peer support group for women who have had an abortion. Our first support group will be next Friday, April 9th from 1-3pm. This will be a safe space discussion, facilitated by a representative from speakeasy. No judgement, just tea, cookies, and stopping the silence and pain around this women's issue. Please spread the word about this event to all the women you know in the UBC community. RSVP to Justine at srr.ubc@gmail.com to learn the location of this event.

Choice in the news: our government is NOT pro-choice

I am often asked why a reproductive rights group is necessary in a pro-choice city like Vancouver, in a pro-choice country like Canada. We are needed. The anti-choice groups are organized and slowly chipping away at access to reproductive services thanks to the help of our anti-choice government. That's something most people don't know: Stephen Harper and the conservatives are not pro-choice. This has been in the news recently and I figured I would point it out as a friendly reminder that just because abortion is legal in Canada, doesn't mean we still don't have many battles to fight to defend our reproductive rights.

There has been much talk in the news lately about Stephen Harper and the conservatives as they head into the G8 summit with a proposal for international maternal health. They originally said contraceptives would not be included in this plan ( http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/bureau-blog/conservatives-accused-of-willfully-ignoring-contraception-research/article1503743/). Now because of the backlash (I'm proud of you Canada!) they have changed their stance to something just as bad but more confusing: that they are "not closing doors against any options, including contraception". They then go on to say that any discussion of abortion is out of the question (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/03/18/birth-control-maternal-health.html), which seems like closing a door against that option, if you ask me. Basically Stephen Harper is silencing his pro-choice country by using confusing wording so that it isn't always immediately obvious that he is not pro-choice. He isn't. If he was, contraceptives and abortion would be included in a maternal health initiative plan.

Family planning and maternal health are two sides of the same coin, basic public health research supports this. Safe abortion, access to contraceptives, and comprehensive sex education save the lives of women. 61% of women seeking abortion are already mothers. If a mother chooses to have an abortion to better take care of herself and her children, why are we not supporting them in this by 1) preventing unwanted pregnancy in the first place, and 2) making sure abortion is safe so that she can continue to mother her children? And what if the mother's life is at risk during a pregnancy? In some cases abortion may be the only option. But if this is her choice we will just stand by and watch her suffer? We need to support women and families, not judge them. I am embarrassed by my government.

- Justine Spencer

GAP came and we showed them UBC is pro-choice

Today the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) was brought to campus by UBC's anti-choice group Lifeline. These are large, graphic images comparing abortion to genocides such as the holocaust and Rwanda. Needless to say, this is horrific, disturbing, offensive, and inaccurate.

We got the word out just in time for pro-choice students and community members to gather and protest this awful display. Among the enthusiastic crowd was a wonderful group of pro-choice students from UVic who came all the way from Victoria to show their solidarity. The protest was very successful. We handed out lots of accurate information and received a heartwarming amount of positive feedback and support from the passers-by. We greatly outnumbered them and I think it's safe to say we dominated their hateful message with our positive message of human rights, justice, knowledge, and compassion.

It's terrible that GAP was able to come to UBC in the first place. I don't think it's a stretch to call it harassment, and UBC students should not be subjected to harassment on their own campus. At our next meeting, SRR will discuss writing letters and taking action to prevent this display from returning. If you'd like to be part of this discussion, or just to talk about this powerful day, our next meeting is this upcoming Monday at 1pm in SUB 245.

A quick update on SRR other than the protest: before the break, we had our first pro-choice movie night and watched "Vera Drake". It was well attended and for anyone who missed it, I suggest you rent it because it's an amazing movie apart from sending a powerful message. SRR will host another movie night in about a week (exact date TBA), to show the documentary "Lake of Fire". A discussion will follow, since this is an intense and thought-provoking movie. During our meeting on March 22 we will be writing letters to Stephen Harper about the upcoming G8 summit to encourage him to include abortion in his discussion of international maternal health.

New Year, New Semester

Happy 2010! Welcome back to a new semester, both of SRR and of classes here at UBC.

We had our first meeting on Monday and we're off to a good start. There's already lots to plan, including a "Reproductive Rights 101" workshop. Knowledge is power, especially when our opponents are constructing dangerously convincing lies.

So let's get educated! Here are some links to great, informative websites. Thanks to Kelly of Med Students for Choice UBC for passing on this list.

NAF Canada - www.prochoice.org/canada/index.html

Canadians for Choice - www.canadiansforchoice.ca

Sexuality and U - www.sexualityandu.ca

Options for Sexual Health - www.optionsforsexualhealth.org

Canadian Federation for Sexual Health - www.cfsh.ca

Medical Students for Choice - www.ms4c.org

The next SRR meeting will be next Monday, January 18th, in SUB room 245. New members are welcome and encouraged to join! There's always room for more defenders of reproductive rights and women everywhere.