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| Also listed in: Campus Progress Blog |
Late last week, the UK’s Royal College of Psychiatrists released a statement (PDF) saying that women who have abortions might be at risk for mental health breakdowns. The College recommended that women be told about potential mental health problems before choosing to have an abortion.
According to The Sunday Times,
Some MPs [Members of Parliament] also want women to have a “cooling off” period in which they would be made aware of the possible consequences of the abortion, including the impact on their mental health, before they could go ahead.
Right. This is one of many similar efforts that attempts to “protect” women from abortion. Women who are considering abortion should be presented with all relevant medical findings, including those about mental health. But such findings are often tied to a set of incredibly one-sided policy proposals, like this one, which strip the research of its objectivity and credibility.
Popularization of these “cooling off” periods, for instance, promotes the idea that a woman is not fit to make her own decision about abortion—she is emotionally confused, and her tiny girl-brain needs extra time to make such an important choice about her body.
Moreover, folding post-abortion depression into an inflexible argument against abortion reduces the likelihood that post-abortion counseling will be taken seriously. As Reva Siegel and Sarah Blustain write in this fantastic piece in The American Prospect,
The figure of a woman suffering abortion grief invokes a deep truth about mother love that, in different ways, is recognized by advocates across the political spectrum. But the anti-abortion movement is deploying this image to excite acts of public coercion that will not make women, or their families, more natural or loving or free.
Seriously, read this article. It’s a very compelling look at the way people pushing abortion restrictions—like those being advocated in the UK—paint women as helpless victims of biology and pro-abortion advocates.
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You will see that women, according to polls and various comments, responded differently than this author would have you believe. Women's issues are not well served by writers who distort abortion concerns in order to further a political agenda.
"Popularization of these “cooling off” periods, for instance, promotes the idea that a woman is not fit to make her own decision about abortion—she is emotionally confused, and her tiny girl-brain needs extra time to make such an important choice about her body."
I see what you're saying - that the very notion of these "cooling off" periods is ridiculous. It is. But your sarcasm doesn't help make your point. Instead, it trivializes what women who do have abortions deal with. Maybe you've had one and this sort of language doesn't offend you ("emotionally confused," "tiny girl brain that needs extra time"). But I've had one, and it offends me. Trust me, as someone who has been an active pro-choice advocate for years, when it comes down to actually having an abortion, it's one thing to say "emotionally confused." It's another to be emotionally confused, even when you know you're making the right choice. We all know how important rhetoric is in these sorts of debates, and I think a year ago - this is the sort of language I would have used too. Now I know better. Not a criticism, just an insight - we often focus so hard on who we're fighting against that we forget who we're fighting for.