Safe, legal, and rare

An excellent
diary published over on Kos (off the main page, I'm pretty sure), on why abortion is not a 'fringe' issue, but a curcial core one. Via Bitch Phd.

I reiterate abortion is not an aberration among women; it is a NORMATIVE facet of women's experience and medical needs- period. To deny women abortions is to deny women autonomy. Once you can deny that large a portion of any population autonomy guess that may mean for the rest of a population?

But further, to label abortion 'horrible' is to also label those who provide, assist with, or seek, participate in, or experience abortion as 'horrible'. PEOPLE are those targeted within, but hidden by the language of 'this form of medical care is horrible'. As people who are part of that form of medical care are inseparable from and essential parts of that action.

Rather than adding to the stigmatization and isolation of those who relate to abortion, instead realize WHO you're talking about.

These same women and people are all around you every day, yet relegated to invisibility. To support women who have had abortions is to support perhaps your mother, your sister, your friend, or your wife, and yes, to support women who read daily Kos. Do not assume they'd have told you, not in this climate, where they are being labeled 'horrible' by proxy. Where to have had an abortion is to be equated to a murderess.

And then this bit especially:

Shall I even point out, as so many already have, that construct, was constructed and comes directly from 30 years of wingnuts 'seeding' and 'loading' the culture, and language, and the very ability to think about abortion with their images, definitions, particular uses of terminology, etc (Go study Francis Schaeffer or R. J. Rushdoony, or Billy Graham, and their uses of abortion to enable their broader goals of a society governed by an oligarchy of 'godly men') to the point that even those who claim to be abortion supportive can't get beyond false memes such as "no woman wants an abortion". Women do want abortions. Women and yes men too, risk their lives every single day to get or to provide abortions.

Abortion is not some 'dirty' word. Abortion is an autonomist word. It translates to 'maintaining the fundamental ability to own and control our own lives'.

What's important about autonomy? It's completely incompatible with fundy Christianity:

These people at their core do not believe in an autonomist definition of the word freedom, they believe only that all humanity lives as slaves, the only distinction being slave to jesus or slaves or satan. On this continuum, there is no self based freedom- only a "choice" of masters. Thus freedom in their lexicon is the "freedom in slavery to christ". This is also the "Freedom" Bush offers via missionaries tied to AIDS programs and foreign aid or at gunpoint.

Lots of good stuff here; I won't quote any more, though, go read for yourself.

Edit: Atrios links to this story with the tagline "it should be safe, legal, and rare, in the same way that appendectomies should be safe, legal, and rare."