The Abortion Debate and the Oppression of Low-Income Women

Something that struck me watching the documentary was the sheer power of rhetoric. Obviously this is true of all political issues, but the language around abortion—pro-choice, pro-life, etc.—is particularly potent. At several points in the documentary abortion-rights advocates referred to anti-abortion activists as “anti-choice.” Similarly, anti-abortion advocates refer to abortion-rights activists as pro-murder and anti-life. The interesting thing to me is the disconnect between these terms. I am very pro-accessible abortions, but I can see how for a “pro-life” advocate, choice has very little to do with the issue at hand. I do not believe that a fetus is a person, but to me the argument “if you don’t like abortion then don’t have one” seems inadequate to those that do. If, as these people say, pro-lifers see every life as valuable and thus see abortion as murder, it isn’t sufficient to not be murderers themselves, they actively want to prevent the loss of innocent life. However, I find it extremely hypocritical for “pro-life” advocates to claim the high ground when they are not pro-life in all situations. For instance, those who don’t believe in abortion at any stage of pregnancy but are not opposed to in vitro fertilization seem rather inconsistent in their beliefs. Similarly, those who support the death penalty or war cannot really classify themselves as “pro-life,” when they accept killing in these other situations. This is not to say that no pro-life advocates are concerned with the preservation of life, but that we cannot separate the abortion debate from the political desire to control women by regulating their bodies.

I think a common misconception in this debate is the misconception that the government gives money to abortion providers. The Hyde Amendment, passed in 1976, ensures that no federal funds can go towards abortion, except in very rare circumstances (rape, incest, etc.). This means that no woman who relies on medicaid for healthcare can recieve an abortion with those funds. A common slogan in the pro-choice movement is “abortion is healthcare.” I personally agree with thsi statement, but I also think that regardless of personal belief it is wrong that under the Hyde Amendment poor women are denied abortion, which has been ruled a constitutional right. Henry Hyde, the chief sponsor of the amendment, even stated “I certainly would like to prevent, if I could legally, anybody having an abortion: a rich woman, a middle-class woman or a poor woman. Unfortunately, the only vehicle available is the. . . Medicaid bill.” As noted in the documentary, historically there have often been ways for wealthy white women to access family planning. For low-income women and women of color, the barrier is much higher. Similarly, many TRAP laws make it nearly impossible for low-income women to access abortion providers, while wealthy women are still able to have such procedures. Much of the time, due to socio-economic factors, these low-income women are those who need access to family planning the most. By allowing TRAP laws and the Hyde Amendment to persist, we are saying that we do not care about the reproductive rights of low-income women and women of color.