Do You Trust Women?

A post over at Bitch Ph.D discusses the implications of being pro-choice.

An excerpt of the post:

The bottom line about abortion is this. Do you trust women to make their own moral judgments? If you are anti-abortion, then no. You do not. You have an absolute moral position that you don't trust anyone to question, and therefore you think that abortion should be illegal. But the second you start making exceptions for rape or incest, you are indicating that your moral position is not absolute. That moral judgment is involved. And that right there is where I start to get angry and frustrated, because unless you have an absolute position that all human life (arguably, all life period, but that isn't the argument I'm engaging with right now) are equally valuable (in which case, no exceptions for the death penalty, and I expect you to agonize over women who die trying to abort, and I also expect you to work your ass off making this a more just world in which women don't have to choose abortions, but this is also not the argument I'm engaging right now), then there is no ground whatsoever for saying that there should be laws or limitations on abortion other than that you do not trust women.

I, personally, am not sure that I agree with her opinion: I find her ultimatum to be a bit harsh when she seems to say that one can not be pro-choice while still finding certain types of abortions/situations to be morally uncomfortable. It is an interesting piece, however, and well worth reading. I feel that this brings up an issue that one often finds when discussing freedom of speech, as the quote atributed to Voltaire puts it: "I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it." While I may not agree with some women's choices, I do believe they have the right to choose to make that choice. However, that does not mean I no longer have a right to decide what feels right or wrong for me. The whole point is that everyone should have the right to do what feels right for them, and not tell others what that right feeling is. So I am entitled to my discomfort in the same way I am entitled to access to reproductive health care.

I feel that eventually she comes around to this, writing that

If you're pro-choice, you have to give up the right to have a "say" in someone else's choice. If you're pro-feminist, you have to give up the right to expect your personal feelings to be more important than women's public rights--including the right to be unpleasant, if, in her judgement, unpleasantness is called for.