Amy Brenneman’s Party Celebrating Abortions Is A Call For Conversation

Actor Amy Brenneman’s party celebrating abortions among women is actually a call to discuss a taboo subject. Not many want to discuss abortion in our society and deem pro-choice stand among women as selfish. It is a common social tendency to look down on any woman who wants to terminate an ongoing pregnancy. Being a mother is still considered the primary duty of women, thus even in developed countries, the matter of abortion is a hush-hush affair. It is to be kept under wraps and no woman is encouraged to speak about undergoing it.

So the television star’s decision to host a party along with pro-abortion comedian Sarah Silverman as part of a promotional campaign of the new book Shout Your Abortion has raised quite a lot of eyebrows. According to LifeNews, the event is an attempt to normalise abortions, and to make it easier on women who do not feel guilty for making that choice, and rightly so. Not many women find the courage to say that abortion has in fact been good for them. The social expectations that women should feel guilty and ashamed for being pro-choice, forces those in two minds to make a choice which is socially acceptable. Which is why it is critical that women come forward with pro-choice stories, just to normalise the conversation around it.

Women have the right to decide

The society is so caught with policing women on this issue, that it completely overlooks how unwanted pregnancies affect women’s lives.

For a woman who desires a child, there is no greater joy than conceiving. But even most women who enter motherhood willingly, will agree that life is never the same once you become a mommy. You have to make a lot of personal and professional sacrifices because again, childcare is still primarily women’s duty in our society. But when the pregnancy stems from a willing choice, you endure all the hardships gladly. However, things are not the same when a woman is simply not ready for the task ahead of her.

SOME TAKEAWAYS

• As part of a campaign to promote the new book Shout Your Abortion, Amy Brenneman is hosting a party for women, to celebrate their abortions.
• Abortion still remains a taboo topic even in most progressive societies.
• Often the society tricks women into not opting for the procedure by playing on their guilt.
• However, women deserve to at least be privy to both sides of the argument. They deserve to make a choice which is good for them too, because an unprepared motherhood is good for no one.

But what if a woman conceives when she is too young to care even for herself, let alone a child. Teen pregnancies are not that uncommon, and often lives of bright young women turn upside down, because peers discourage from terminating the pregnancy. Then there is the issue of unwanted pregnancies or when a sexual assault survivor ends up conceiving from her traumatic encounter. The reasons to not want a child are as many as the ones to want one. Even in these cases, the society expects women to shut up and endure.

How is this treatment of women humane? To force a lifelong responsibility on their reluctant shoulders, because biologically their bodies are equipped to conceive.

The pro-choice argument doesn’t have many takers, even in the most modern of social set-ups. But this needs to change. Women deserve to at least be privy to both sides of the argument. They deserve to make a choice which is good for them too, because an unprepared motherhood is good for no one. But for that to happen, we need to start speaking up. Women need to discuss abortion among themselves uninhibited, instead of carrying on with the age-old dictates, handed down to them by an outdated value system.

The abortion party seems like a good idea to normalise the conversation around this issue. Whether you are pro-choice or pro-life may be an individual stance, but we all can agree that women shouldn’t feel forced to make that choice.

Picture Source: Indian Express

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Yamini Pustake Bhalerao is a writer with the SheThePeople team, in the Opinions section.  The views expressed are the author’s own.