Sarah Jones courtesy of google.com
Sarah Jones, a writer for The New Republic offers advice on how to seek a compromise to end the abortion war. (“Turning Pro-Life Blue,” by Sara Jones, The New Republic, Jan. 8, 2018, pgs. 9-10) Unfortunately, being young, she fails to recognize her advice is already battle hardened and has failed.
She suggests those of us in the abortion rights movement speak to pro-lifers in “a nuanced” way. Our job is to get “people to understand that without access to legal abortion, the consequences for their friends, neighbors and loved ones can be fatal.” (Ibid pg. 10) Forgive me for becoming a snarly bitch, but I can’t help slapping my forehead and saying, “Wow, someone should tell Gloria Steinem about this strategy.” “Wow,” again when the writer concludes, “without legal options people will take matters into their own hands.” You mean back alley abortions, Sarah? Glad you figured that out but most of us already knew. (Blog 12/28/16) (Click)
Sarah Jones is a professional writer, probably typing a quota of words to meet an assignment. Unfortunately, she has nothing to add on the subject of abortion and even less to add on how to bridge the gap between right and left. She writes as if she’s ignorant of all that’s gone before her celestial arrival on the planet.
I know. I know. I shouldn’t be hard on my little sister. I’m glad she landed on the right side of the issue. Still, as one who’s been in the trenches along with Gloria Steinem, I know rosy illusion when I see it. The abortion war won’t be won by building bridges. There can be no compromise on abortion rights just as there could be no compromise on slavery. People are either free or they aren’t. And a woman without choice is a slave.
What the pro-Choice Movement needs isn’t rosy illusion but endurance. Sheer grit and a determination to stay the political course. As more young women, like Sarah Jones, make their way in the world as professionals, it follows they will want and will need to control their bodies. Make more room at the top for women and the right to choose will be assumed.
