Traditionally, the coat hanger has been treated as a trump card for abortion-rights advocates the same way that fetal photographs (particularly of living babies) have been for pro-lifers.
Chuffling Tiger points out the underlying truths with which we rationally counter the irrational implications of the coathanger. She goes on:
These are all true, and I agree that it's important to speak out about these. But I think we've been missing something much bigger: coat hangers belong on the same shelf as the curettes and forceps. All of them kill unborn people and sometimes women as well. We can't treat illegal abortion as an undesired side effect of an otherwise ideal post-Roe America, and we can't dismiss it or minimize it. We can't remain defensive. We have to treat it as part of the problem and go after it just like we go after legal abortion.
Preach it, sister!
Go, now, everybody, and read the rest.
UPDATE: The link went dead, so I went to the Internet Archive and rescued Chuffing Tiger's words of wisdom:
01/30/06
Don't fear the hanger
With January 21st, the anniversary of Roe v Wade, came everyone's favorite political image: the coat hanger. Counterprotesters made sure the famous symbol was on display wherever pro-lifers congregated, particularly in San Francisco at the remarkable Walk for Life West Coast.
Traditionally, the coat hanger has been treated as a trump card for abortion-rights advocates the same way that fetal photographs (particularly of living babies) have been for pro-lifers. Both stir the viewer's emotions in a way that words can't. It's hard to argue that a fetus isn't a person -- and, further, that it should be treated like a malignant growth -- when it looks a whole lot like a baby. And all but the most hard-hearted anti-abortion activists, when confronted with a wire weapon, will shudder, then offer one of the following defenses:
Imagine if we could take back the coat hanger. Imagine if we could splash it on posters and proclaim: "We don't want this either!" We would have so much to gain. By demonstrating that illegal abortion is not a "side effect" of pro-life laws but instead a problem to be solved, we'd show our peers on the fence that we are realistic about the issue of unplanned pregnancy and we know that just changing the laws won't solve the underlying problem. Moreover, we would show them that supporters of abortion rights do not have a monopoly on concern about women's health in a society where legal abortion is not an option. Finally, we'd be more consistent. Pro-lifers see every abortion as a tragedy, whether the government allows or forbids the choice. Our work is not done when Roe is overturned (and even if/when we achieve a Human Life Amendment).
We're already winning the image war in a big way, friends. If we could pull this off, not only would we see support for our legislative initiatives swell, we'd be in a better position to tackle the problem of illegal abortion itself when it comes time to confront it.
Traditionally, the coat hanger has been treated as a trump card for abortion-rights advocates the same way that fetal photographs (particularly of living babies) have been for pro-lifers. Both stir the viewer's emotions in a way that words can't. It's hard to argue that a fetus isn't a person -- and, further, that it should be treated like a malignant growth -- when it looks a whole lot like a baby. And all but the most hard-hearted anti-abortion activists, when confronted with a wire weapon, will shudder, then offer one of the following defenses:
- "The number of women who sought illegal abortions - and died from them - are orders of magnitude less than NARAL tells you."
- "Most illegal abortions were performed by doctors in hospitals, not by back-alley butchers."
- "The development of antibiotics like penicillin did significantly more to reduce abortion mortality rates than Roe -- or any of its predecessors on the state level -- did."
Imagine if we could take back the coat hanger. Imagine if we could splash it on posters and proclaim: "We don't want this either!" We would have so much to gain. By demonstrating that illegal abortion is not a "side effect" of pro-life laws but instead a problem to be solved, we'd show our peers on the fence that we are realistic about the issue of unplanned pregnancy and we know that just changing the laws won't solve the underlying problem. Moreover, we would show them that supporters of abortion rights do not have a monopoly on concern about women's health in a society where legal abortion is not an option. Finally, we'd be more consistent. Pro-lifers see every abortion as a tragedy, whether the government allows or forbids the choice. Our work is not done when Roe is overturned (and even if/when we achieve a Human Life Amendment).
We're already winning the image war in a big way, friends. If we could pull this off, not only would we see support for our legislative initiatives swell, we'd be in a better position to tackle the problem of illegal abortion itself when it comes time to confront it.
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