Wolf in our midst
Cleis at Sappho’s Breathing is angry at Naomi Wolf for arguing abortations after the first trimester should be forbidden:
Speaking of which, women need abortions after the first trimester. That’s real. If women had unfettered access to birth control and abortion, the need for abortions past the first trimester would decline. But barriers to access: that’s what’s real. If I don’t know or can’t face the fact that I’m pregnant, if I don’t know abortion is an option, if I think I’m a bad person for getting pregnant or wanting an abortion, if I can’t find someone in my area to perform an abortion, if I have to travel, if I have to raise the money first, if I have to get signed permission from my parents or a judge, if I have to pay for a hotel room so I can stay overnight while bound by a 24 hour waiting period, if I need a friend or family member to take time off from work so they can travel with me and accompany my release from the clinic, if I’m psychogically manipulated into believing that I’m causing a baby great pain or risking my own future health by having an abortion, if I can’t get the money or help or sympathy I need … then, if I manage to get an abortion, it may well be after the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. We don’t solve the problem of second and (very rare) third term abortions by calling for the stigmatization or criminalization of women trying to take care of themselves.
In what way could Naomi Wolf, formerly avowed feminist, claim to be helping women by calling for a ban on abortions after the first trimester? You know who you’re helping, babe? You’re helping the conservative Right, the people who want to take my rights, and your rights, away.