by Theresa Stephenson
Abortion advocates say that I require an operation to be equal to a man. Apparently, a woman must have free access to abortion in order to exercise the same freedoms as a man.
But, as a young female, I ask: why do I need to divorce myself from my fertility in order to be equal to a man? Why do I need to deny the essence of my womanhood? Why do I need to destroy my natural dignity as a woman for the sake of so-called “reproductive rights”? Why should I change myself to be a man to be equal? I don’t. Functioning female anatomy intact, I am equal to a man.
My equality and my liberation are not dependent on the ability to kill my child. I don’t need that “choice.” I don’t want that “choice.” It degrades me.
This entire debate is wrapped in ambiguity and abstractions. The pro-choice world is obsessed with ideas of “reproductive rights” and “choice”. But what do those ideas represent? What concrete, physical reality do they reflect?
When you only think in such terms, it’s easy to forget that that the “choice” to “terminate” is actually stopping the beating heart of a child in the name of “reproductive rights.” But, abstractions aside, abortion – the willful termination of pregnancy – infringes on the right to life of another human being. When we discard those ambiguous terms we will see what is actually at the root of abortion: murdered babies and wronged women.
I won’t allow proponents of abortion to rob me of my personhood, my identity as a woman. I refuse to submit to the idea that my sexuality must be “reigned in” or mastered by means of a surgical procedure. I don’t need a surgical procedure to exercise my liberty as freely as a man. But a woman’s dignity will only be secure when the dignity of all human life is protected. Both mother and child are equally endowed with the inalienable right to life. And that is equality worth fighting for.