Welcome Back Y’all.
We are certain living in some crazy times right now, so I hope my blog can distract you a little from the chaos for a while.
With that said, this week we’re going to discuss abortion and its connection to both feminism and ecofeminism. But most importantly we’re going to discuss an ecofeminist’s views on abortion.
In regard to abortion there are primarily three stances surrounding it. “the extreme conservative view”, commonly known as the ‘pro-life’ debate, “the extreme liberal view”, commonly known as the ‘pro-choice’ debate, and “moderate views which lie between both extremes”. For ecofeminist, Ronnie Zoe Hawkins, the ‘pro-choice’ stance most closely aligns with her belief system, but it’s not really about either side of this argument, but rather the facts that support her ecofeminist thought. To align with the theme of my blog I not only feel inclined to support Hawkins’ views but I also find doing so to come most naturally. Her ecofeminist thoughts only strengthen the pro-choice debate while adding some rather important factors into the conversation, factors that I had never really considered to be a strong back bone to this topic. Nevertheless, now that I’m aware of these factors and the ecofeminist view of abortion my stance on pro-choice is only strengthened.
But what are these factors? What is it about an ecofeminists’ perspective on abortion that creates a whole new aspect to the conversation?
Well, as we’ve learned an ecofeminist is primarily concerned with issues that surround and connect feminist problems with ecological ones. At first glance though, abortion doesn’t seem to be an ecological issue, or does it? Hawkins starts off her essay with “While much as been said about the morality of choosing to abort a human fetus, too little attention has been given to the moral implications, from an environmentalist perspective, of deciding whether or not to add a new human life to the planet”. Right away my eyes were opened to a completely new way of approaching this conversation. There is a much bigger picture involved with abortion than I thought. According to the Worldometer our world currently has a population of 7,771,512,530 and it’s rising by the second. Although we have thousands of deaths everyday, our population continues to rise rapidly. The idea of ‘over population’ is starting to become a reality. Although within the United States we don’t see it being as prevalent as in places like China or India, we are still one of the largest countries in the world, population wise. So how does abortion fit into all this? Well according to Hawkin, specifically South Korea, without abortion it is said that their population would be 22% higher than it is now. And in the grand scheme of things South Korea is a small country, this year alone there have been 8,903,422 abortions, and counting. This is an extreme number of potential people that could have added to our current population, only limiting our resources even more. Most people don’t realize it or acknowledge it, but our planet does have a max capacity, and resources will one day run out. When they do, I don’t want to imagine how many more deaths we’ll start having per day.
Although the abortion conversation makes people very emotional and very ‘stubborn’ in regard to their beliefs, Hawkins forces us to look at the bigger picture, to forget about all the emotion and noise surrounding the conversation. Maybe this is what the topic needs, some perspective, this sort of ‘outside looking in’ concept. Maybe it’s not as complicated as our society has made it. If we can start stressing ‘pro-choice’ from an ecofeminist perspective, maybe that will open people’s eyes or at least make them question their own beliefs on abortion. What do you think? Has abortion become a way too complicated debate? Will simplifying it give people a better understanding? Had you ever thought of Hawkin’s views on abortion or at least made the connection to overpopulation? I certainly hadn’t. I’m also curious to hear from those who don’t agree with Hawkins, do you think her ecofeminist perspective is irrelevant to the abortion topic?
Thanks for joining me this week!!
See y’all next week!!
Until then….
Please stay inside and wash your hands!!
You end your blog by asking if we think that abortion has become too complicated, but I’m sure that many people who have had abortions would tell you that abortion is not complicated enough. It is important to remember that we are talking about human lives, and there are a huge amount of factors that go into whether or not someone would get an abortion. Hawkins states “There is a need to reconceptualize both the concept of the human and the concept of nature, part of meeting this challenge will lie in reconceiving ourselves as being essentially of the natural work and yet beings whose nature it is to be active choosers of our own actions.” (693) While this quote does not necessarily address the way that people who are able to give birth are treated, it does strike at the core issue with abortion, which is the way that our society contextualizes it around the unborn fetus.
Another idea you talk about is abortion in other countries. I think it’s important to add Russia to this discussion, as abortion has been legal there in the past. Hawkins references South Korea, and I think that Russia is applicable to these ideas as well. Russia is a huge country, and if we cite South Korea as adding nine million abortions to our count, these numbers could start adding up dramatically. I do think this number is larger than I would have anticipated, and it’s also a number that doesn’t impact the population of the world too dramatically. In summary, I feel like abortion should be avalible to everyone and it’s impact on nature is overshadowed by its impact on an individualist basis.
Hawkins definitely has a unique stance on abortion. Her reasoning supporting abortion are some many people have probably never considered. They are also reasons we can assume that most or all women do not use as a reason for them to get an abortion. The reasoning would be more personal and private rather than to help safe the environment. Yet I also agree with Hawkins ideas and believe that she makes some very valid points throughout her argument. I assume and at least hope that most people care to at least acknowledge the damage that the human species has done to our environment. Therfore for those who are not pro-choice may be pushed to reconsider their thoughts on abortion after reading Hawkins posts. I believe this is what makes her argument so strong and convincing, as well as like you said strengthening my beliefs supporting pro-choice even more! I was pretty stunned looking at the worldometer at how quickly our world population is rising compared to the death rate. It is scary to think that one day our resources could run short but this could become a reality especially if our population continues to rise the way it has been. This one of the major points Hawkins makes that it is important for women to have access to abortion, not only for them to be able to keep a smaller family size they want for personal reasons, but also for the sake of our enviornment. I think Hawkins does a nice job brining in a rather objective view on abortion, bringing up ideas that effect not only women, but men and the whole world as well including nonhuman animals. I think Hawkins ideas are relevant to the abortion topic but one people have just either not realized or maybe even have ignored. A lot of people try to sweep the topic of abortion under the rug all together. Yet I think it needs to be acknowledged and not always be a topic for debate and argument. In my opinion it should be a right for all women to have access to an affordable, safe and LEGAL abortion!
To set the stage for the topic of your blog and before you introduced Hawkins, you mentioned the different stances involving abortion. I thought this was a great idea and led into introducing how Hawkins shows more of a pro-choice view. I too felt inclined to support Hawkins point of view. In mentioning how much population growth affects the environment and in knowing from Biology and Ecology the effects it will continue to play if it doesn’t wipe us out first, it puts my mind at ease knowing that we have this form of contraceptive along with others. Our planet can only hold a certain number of people. When taking carbon footprint tests sometimes one will see that we need multiple Earth’s to withstand their lifestyle. Now imagine if in say Korea, that 22% population growth without abortion came into effect. How would they manage to support everyone? Hawkins took such an easy to support approach in her accounts on abortion and why we should be pro-choice. For Hawkins, as an ecofeminist it wasn’t about taking the life of a child, but more saving the lives of children already amongst us by giving them a planet that is beautiful and clean, and not overpopulated to live on. Hawkins goes on in her essay to mention the problems she faces as well as other ecofeminists when it comes to such a topic. Anti-abortion feminists believe in having an abortion, women are becoming inferior to men and allowing males to make the decisions on what they are to do with their body. Also mentioned was the problem of lack of respect for the interconnectedness of life. Within this interconnectedness is our connection to nature. In overpopulating the Earth, aren’t we lacking respect for that same interconnectedness? Your blog was so enjoyable to read. I look forward to the next!
Madison.
I wanted to tackle one of your concluding questions on complicating abortion. It has always been complicated, and one of the reasons it is: because our rights to it have been compromised by the patriarchy. We have men in office right now dictating the rights to our own bodies. According to the ACLU, “Since 2011, state legislators across the country have passed 479 such restrictions, leaving increasingly vast areas of our country with few or no abortion providers at all. Today, there is only one clinic left standing in Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, and West Virginia.” That is clearly the work of the anti-abortion movement, comprised of both men and women benefiting from a patriarchal society. Being pro-choice, I get easily infuriated when asked to consider pro-life views. That is why I feel this perspective is so important. It sides with neither, merely states the reality of the situation. More people need to see this.
– Cece X.
Source: https://www.aclu.org/news/reproductive-freedom/abortion-is-legal-in-all-50-states-and-we-intend-to-keep-it-that-way/
Before Hawkins I never thought about abortion as a way to keep the Earth’s population down. I just assumed it was a huge liberal/conservative argument that focused on morals. I think it is interesting how the world holds these crazy judgmental views on abortion and feels that the unborn fetus has more rights than the mother versus caring about foster care/homeless children. Like okay, you forced the mother to keep the child full term and then what?! The child becomes a part of the system, neglected, abused, resented, a foster child, etc. Are these people truly in it for a moral compass? What about when the child is here; on the planet. The people that are true conservatives need to visit adoption agencies as much as they visit abortion clinics and protest. Then society turns a blind eye. I feel like society is going to judge you anyway so do what is best for YOU!