The Wake

I was disgusted, although not surprised, to read the reactionary comments from Sam Brownback, a senator from my home state of Kansas, in the March 20 edition of Newsweek about South Dakota’s ban on abortions, as well as those of several other politicians (both pro-life and pro-choice). I was surprised at the noticeable absence from the article of a quote from a woman. Any woman at all. As with any other scientific investigation, the next step was to check Google to further examine what I considered this great injustice. In the first 15 hits on Google news under the search “abortion” only one woman, who has not had an abortion, mind you, is quoted. On Google images, under the same search, the first 40 pictures contain five women: one blurry, undefined figure under the title “It‘s not right,” three protesters and a picture of Hillary Clinton with the headline “Hillary Woos the Anti-Abortion Vote,” along with 19 images of mangled fetuses. Appalling.

These discoveries are indicative of a phenomenon that I had not, up to this point, noticed; there are no well-known, visible females involved in the abortion debate. The dominant voice on the issue is undoubtedly that of the rich white male, i.e., our politicians. Since its inception, and even more so lately, the question of choice has been framed by the conservative men running the country. This is why we hear “unborn child” instead of “clump of cells,” and “partial birth abortion” instead of “third-trimester abortion.” It is quite rare indeed to hear the voice of the pregnant woman, the woman whom the procedure would be performed on, the woman who will have to deal with the consequences of her decision (whatever they may be), the woman whose body and life are being regulated from a hill in Washington, D.C. by men in suits who will never, ever be in her position. This is why calls to “end the murder of the innocent” have all but eliminated the political space once reserved for sexual equality and women’s rights regarding pregnancy.

There are few biological processes that humans undergo more emotionally, physically and mentally trying than pregnancy. It is not just a woman’s medical records that become government property after an abortion ban, but her very body. When control of a ball of cells in her uterus was taken away, the government performed the most grotesque violation of privacy imaginable. All U.S. citizens have the right not just to the security of their own persons, but also to liberty and the pursuit of happiness without meddling from the government. In the debate surrounding one of the most intensely private decisions a woman will ever have to make, interference from politicians whom she will never know is outrageous and absurd.

In addition to the security of privacy, the right to an abortion without interference from the government is absolutely essential for sexual equality among women and men. Only when women are sure of their right to an abortion they can have sex without the fear of an unwanted pregnancy.

Men know that such a pregnancy will cost them, at most, child support. Whether or not they choose to act on this knowledge and shirk all responsibility varies from person to person. Needless to say, some do.

Because women do not have the ability to forget a pregnancy, they approach every sexual encounter knowing that even when the utmost precautions are taken, a single act could lead not just to pregnancy, but to a lifetime of individual responsibility for another human being, which they are often unprepared to accept. Even when adoption is considered as an option, the social stigma associated with unmarried or teenage pregnancies is both undeniable and crushing, not to mention the emotional trauma of giving up a baby. Until these fears are alleviated through the legal right to a safe abortion, women will never act or be treated as the sexual equals of their male partners.

But there is more at stake in this debate than privacy and equality. The value that society is willing to assign to women hangs in the balance along with the right to choose. A ban on abortion makes women effectively subordinate to their ability to reproduce. When women are literally forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term, their futures, their dreams, their lives become secondary to their reproductive capability. This is not true for only women who have abortions. The lives of every woman in the world, by virtue of the fact that she has, has had, or will have the capacity to bear children, are diminished in relation to that capacity. Orwellian predictions aside, the message to women implicit through an abortion ban is simple: your ultimate value lies in reproduction.

The preceding issues are rarely heard in policy debate because the argument that devalues women also largely excludes them. The lack of female voices in national politics and the media has led to a conservative-dominated discussion that centers around when life begins and what the Bible says about abortion as opposed to its real life implications for women. Is this article a call to action? Not really. I’m not asking you to write an angry letter to your congressperson or hand out pro-choice literature on a street corner. Rather, I’m asking you to remember the woman who has been left out of the debate—the silent, faceless figure looking on from the background while her future is determined.

Erika Wurst is a Voices guest columnist and welcomes comments at .