Jack Hitt's Article

Jill at Feministe has done an amazing job of commenting on Jack Hitt's "Pro-Life Nation," which came out in today's NYT Magazine. It's a must read. Completely chilling, as I've commented on before, especially (for me) the complete criminalization of women for attempting to control their own bodies, and the elevation of the fetus's life over that of the woman (misogyny at its best, folks, when you'd rather wait till the ectopic fetus self-terminates and bursts a woman's fallopian tubes -- a medical emergency akin to a burst appendix -- than treat the woman as a being in defense against this doomed pregnancy and save her reproductive organs & body from such trauma). And lest you think the US would be any more enlightened in their policies that reveal hatred and indifference toward the lives of women, Jack Hitt includes this from Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer (head of Human Life International), who is on the record as saying that "El Salvador is an inspiration."

As you'll see in Jill's response, such government policies haven't stopped abortions:

But despite that illegality, abortion remains common throughout the continent. Brazil, for example, has a higher abortion rate than the United States. In some Latin American countries, one out of every three hospital beds is filled with a woman suffering from a botched illegal abortion.

Women’s empowerment and reproductive rights are deeply and inexoribly related. Anti-choice activists aren’t interested in “saving babies,” or they’d be pushing for wider contraception access and universal healthcare. Instead, they’re willing to say anything — and I mean anything, no matter how obviously dishonest — in order to keep women indentured as servants to their biology.

Quite the inspiration. Why do anti-choicers still vehemently believe that a draconian law will suddenly change the abortion rate? Most women aren't in favor of handing their uteruses over to the state and elevating a potential life above their own health, safety, and freedom. Apparently, even in countries where they're told everyday that their bodies don't really belong to them, women are still not obeying this law. Do we really want to follow El Salvador as the "inspiration"?