NEWS & LETTERS, June - July 2009
Women's 'right to become'
Below is a talk given by a participant at the vigil for Dr. Tiller held June 5 in Chicago.
Dr. Tiller was murdered--a man who lived, breathed, loved and worked with women, so that we could have some measure of freedom. He recognized our humanity, and in that recognition demonstrated his own. He was a freedom fighter.
His murder makes it more clear to me what "life" is and how different life could be if we universalized the meaning of the work he did and the concept of humanity he practiced. The murder of Dr. Tiller is horrifying in and of itself. It is all the more so when you think about why he was murdered: to stop women from controlling our own bodies and lives. It could only happen in a society that does not see women as fully human and believes that humanity must be stopped from determining, with purpose, its own future.
The religious fanatics who killed Dr. Tiller believe that a biologically developing fetus is a human being. They love that a fetus merely exists--never mind that it is within a woman's body--because a fetus can remain god's perfect, mute creation. Women, on the other hand, live beyond mere existence, creating our lives and relationships. To the fanatics, this makes us less than the fetus and a threat to god, men and even country. Their 1991 chant, "Support our unborn troops," shows their total contempt for all of humanity.
A video shown by a Chicago feminist organization had interviews with different generations of women who had abortions--from pre-Roe to the present. What was so disturbing is how many of the young women internalized the anti-choice rhetoric that abortion is murder and that they are selfish for having one and stupid for "getting pregnant" in the first place.
It screamed out to me that we feminists need to clarify our philosophy. If we women recognized our own humanity, our own importance and our own validity to make decisions about who we are and who we want to become and in relation to whom, then it would be impossible to think of ourselves as selfish murderers for having an abortion.
After the video showing, several women in the audience talked about the need for post-abortion counseling. My reaction is the same as when I hear pro-choicers trying to "find common ground" with the anti-choicers by focusing on "prevention" and the need to "make abortion rare." Underlying these arguments is an assumption that abortion is murder, dirty and ugly.
While some women may need post-abortion counseling, particularly the kind of women Dr. Tiller treated--those who wanted babies, and child rape and incest victims--I think our time as a movement would be better spent talking about how to conceive of ourselves as human, human beings who are in the process of becoming whole and free, individually and collectively. If we did this we wouldn't internalize the hatred the anti-choicers have for us.
Let's focus on "making rare" the idea that women are not fully human and that we should not, cannot create our own futures. Let's "reduce the number of" women who need counseling because they believe they are murderers and selfish. Let's stop talking about "prevention" in terms of "reducing abortions." Let's talk about women's liberation and the power to determine our sexuality, lives, and world. Let's talk about making the world better for ourselves and children. The murder of Dr. Tiller can help us rethink how we talk about abortion and bring back its liberatory content and broader implications: self-determination for every woman, child and man.
Speaking out about our own abortion experiences is an important way to combat women's shame and to take back the ground of the abortion debate. I had an abortion when I was 24 and I'm not sorry. I don't feel and never have felt guilty. It was not "the hardest decision" I ever made and I don't feel it should be a "deeply personal" secret. My body conceived what my mind could not. My heart is so grateful that I made the decision I did and that there was a doctor, another human being, who recognized my right to life, my right to become. Dr. Tiller was a man, a human being with a life. He had a right to life and so do we.
--Sonia Bergonzi
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