Women's Choices As Election Nears

The first time I saw two adult women physically fight about abortion, I was trying to teach speech. One of them approached the other, fists clenched, charging forward as if she'd had middleweight training. It really was a physical fight. (America has serious class divisions, and these strong cultural beliefs often follow accordingly. The charger was white working class, and the other a Latino Catholic who had chosen an anti-abortion speech.)  A few students helped me separate them.

     I was surprised because I was raised by a strong feminist mother in a time when women's rights were prominent. And although I'm not pro-abortion, I'm not against it for many reasons. Being anti-abortion is unconscionable.

    In most cases, or at least in a classroom, you used to try to respect other points of view. Now, increasingly, politicians are challenging not only abortion, but the right to birth control. I've written before about women telling me they voted for Trump to ensure reproductive restrictions. Trump who says tariffs will handle child care.

     While politicians are telling everyone that women should focus on having children, many women are joining them – in spite of the expense, the complications, the hardships, the years of responsibility, or the broken foster care system where many children end up. Isn't it bad enough when men side against women's rights as if nothing has changed since the 19^thcentury? It's almost sinister when women against women join them.