News from my home state of Michigan...
For speaking out against new abortion legislation, (or perhaps for the manner in which they spoke out,) two State Representatives were banned from speaking on the last day of this latest session of the House of Representatives.
Rep. Barb Byrum suggested that the legislation be amended to require men to prove that their lives are in danger before receiving a vasectomy. I'm not a fan of joke legislation, but I can accept that it is an effective way to impact public opinion. I'm not sure I can accept the equivalency of abortion and vasectomy, but I respect Byrum's point, however imperfectly made.
Rep. Lisa Brown's comment? "I'm flattered you're all so interested in my vagina. But no means no." There has been a strong reaction to the idea that Brown is being punished for using the word "vagina" but I think she is being punished for using sarcasm (which is as unprofessional as it is un-clever). I doubt anyone is bothered by her (probably intentional) evocation of rape and sexual assault with the words "no means no". They should be. Comparing this legislation to rape is intellectually dishonest, and throwing around rape humorously, even if it is pointed humour employed in a serious situation, is tasteless.
That being said, Brown's comments are hardly the most offensive thing said in a legislative session, and Byrum's are even milder. This is an obvious case of one political party censuring and silencing another. I wish I could say that this kind of thing is shocking. It isn't.
What is so interesting to me about this incident is how it highlights the impossibility of approaching the abortion issue in an intellectually honest way. I sympathize with these two lawmakers for that reason.
I've written at length about abortion before, but I'm more twisted up now. Please excuse the following burst of cognitive dissonance, I just have to get it out of my system: I wish there was a way to frame this issue that didn't involve simplistic narratives depicting a two-sided war between backwoods Biblical-fundamentalists/True-Believers and enlightened/myopic cosmo-feminists. Coercing a woman to do something isn't very Christian, and squelching the act of childbirth isn't very feminist. No, both of those statements are absurd. Maybe. We can't and shouldn't legislate based on Biblical values if we wish to remain consistent with the principles of this government's secularist founders. I suppose that also means we can't legislate based on feminist values, because those founders were also, for the most part, staunchly patriarchal. I don't really mean that, obviously. I believe in keeping the US government totally secular, and I certainly want to defend the reproductive rights of women, but aren't there other, less painful methods? Isn't our willingness to accept abortion a symptom of the same values that fuel our militarism? The idea that I have more of a right to exist than you do is the most destructive idea in the history of ideas. Abortion must be allowed in order to keep our laws consistent with the values of our culture. On the other hand, fuck those values. Human life, even though I can't define exactly where it begins, should be cherished, not trivialized and devalued like it is in our selfish, irresponsible, late-capitalist cesspool of callous violence and myopic ideological crusades. Women should be allowed to get abortions. No one should get an abortion. Except in cases like ectopic pregnancies, maybe incest, maybe rape. Rape is the most evil act imaginable because it attempts to reduce a person to a disposable hunk of flesh that can be thrown away. Abortion is rape. No, that is a false equivalency, like abortion = vasectomy. The government has no right to decide what people do with their bodies. Abortion is good for society. Abortion is a violent act. Our society's survival requires certain acts of violence. Is it worth it? What are we preserving?
That didn't feel good. In fact, it felt terrible, just like it feels terrible every time I think about this issue.
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