So in the course of this class we have learned of two inconvenient partnerships that have and continue to have grave consequences in establishing as Cara Page put it “an equitable balance.” During Sanger’s era tying women’s reproductive rights to the eugenics movements brought gains in women’s rights for but at the consequence of reinforcing a way in which to control populations deemed inferior or incapable by the dominant population. The consequences of this partnership can still be felt today. A woman has the choice to get an abortion, but what good is that choice when the factors and conditions (health, income disparity, etc) that affect her decision are not assessed and addressed to see how the can be improved. As Mia Mingus pointed about in class, what is the value of having the freedom to choose when the options are limited and not as good?
Another inconvenient partnership I had never heard about until our class on Tuesday was that of certain environmental interest groups with family planning advocates. The thought that people having less children will help us preserve the earth may seem like common sense, but when we think more about it, having less people in the world does not make any difference if those who are left continue to exploit valuable resources and cause damage to lands and habitats. The “gains” made by such a partnership add further confusion to the matter of family planning and shifts the focus from making the decision to have children in a way that flows with other parts of a couple’s life to one that encourages/coerces certain individuals to have no or fewer babies through practices or sterilization or not having the adequate pre-post natal resources to ensure a successful pregnancy.
This is yet again another example of actions that may appear to bring about the desired short term, immediate result. But have long term effects which are sometimes unforeseen and not properly addressed. I found many parts of Mia and Cara’s presentation interesting, the most important point they made is that addressing the issue of women’s reproductive health and justice we must at look the conditions such as access to good health care, environmental safety, and actions of the systems of control to determine how best to improve the health and rights of women, especially those of marginalized populations
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I too had never heard of environmental groups involving themselves with family planning. However, once this connection was made a lot of other factors fell into place. Environmental groups are always talking about how the world can't sustain this many people and how the massive numbers of people are leading to the increase in greenhouse gases. Instead of laying the blame with corporations, big business, and governments they blame the common people. Especially the people from India, China, and Africa who are never given a voice to fight back with. Family planning should be an individual decision that reflects a person's personal beliefs and desires. Family planning should not be exploited to further the aims of big business. I was also particularly shocked by the ad that was showed about paying drug addicts to take permanent birth control measures. This approach could not be more wrong. The emphasis should be placed on finding solutions to why people abuse drugs in the fist place and not stigmatizing and labeling those who do. Same with the environmental groups, the focus should be on the problems at hand and reducing carbon footprints not on reducing the population.
Your point about the first inconvenient partnership can be applied to so many other areas of life. You could not have said it better: "What is the value of having the freedom to choose when the options are limited and not as good?" This very statement reminded my of the article that we read concerning the idea of the invisible white knapsack. The author of this article points out several situations that people experience differently depending on the color of their skin. She discusses employment, safety, accountability, as well as many other topics. We often assume that everyone has similar and equal rights and freedoms, but this is simply just not true. Both Mia and Cara pointed this out in their discussion and broadened the perspective of the invisible knapsack. They raised many flags questioning the underlying reasons for many of the inequities that we see in the health care field. I appreciate their scope and passion for the work that they do!
Post a Comment