As we all know abortion is a very touchy subject for conversation. Especially for the women who make the very personal decision to have one. Many of the reasons women have an abortion are very personal and private. One may feel they are not at the right time in their life for a baby, or maybe something more tragic has happened to them like getting pregant from a rape or other traumautizing scenario. I personally believe every women should have the right to a legal and safe abortion. I believe it is no one’s business as to why she made this decision either. I agree with the point Jessica Valenti makes that “the right to an abortion is fundamental to womens equality, not just our privacy.(Valenti)” Yet it is hard for many people living in a patriarchal society to agree that abortion falls under being part of equality. Hawkins bring another very different reason from an ecofeminist view as to why abortion should be seen as the real “pro-life” choice and why all women around the world should be able to have one. Even though I believe many people would not choose to have an abortion in order to help save the environment, I do agree with her argument. I believe it is another good reason to support safe and legal abortions for all women that most people would not think of. Hawkins makes it clear that bringing another life into our world will make impacts on both feminism and the environment. I was shocked when I went to the Worldometer website and saw how our world population was constantly rising and at such a quick rate, right this second as I look at it, it reads 7,770,698, 842. The death count was pretty quick to but definitely not as fast as the birth count. When Hawkins wrote this article in 1993 she stated that the population was between 5 to 6 billion, so this means in the past 27 years the world population has increased by around 2 BILLION PEOPLE!! “The links between population growth, poverty and environmental degradation are becoming increasingly well documented.(Hawkins)” It is clear to see that the more people being born the more resources will be used from our Earth. This easily leads to the degradation of nature and increase in poverty especially in third world countries. Many women are trying to limit the number of children they have in order to be able to support their family properly and in a healthy manner. “Women, bearing an increasingly large share of the burden of poverty, are increasingly seeking to limit their family size, but for institutional or social reasons, they are denied access to the means for doing so.(Hawkins)” I believe this is very unfair because of “social” reasons women are not allowed to do what they feel is personally best for themselves as well as their families. Hawkins also makes a good point in that the human population growth is also creating problems for nonhuman animals. The more people on Earth the more land is being used, forests cut down to build homes, taking away the necessities animals need to live which can even lead to their deaths and even more serve the extinction of a species. Although abortion should be available for every women in every country, it is important for women in less industrialized countires to have access to this. Hawkins makes the point that smaller family sizes are wanted but forms of contraceptive are “unfamiliar or unavailable” in some places. People in more industrialized countries such as America are responsible for a large portion of the consumption of natural resources and stress on the environment. “As a back up to contraception,abortion plays an important role in limiting the ecologically damagine effects of the human population in all parts of the globe.(Hawkins)” Even though for this being a reason for women to have an abortion seems very far fetched it does make sense. It is our nature to make our own decisions in life and I support Hawkins reasoning and especially any woman’s choice to do what she wants with her body!
Your synopsis of Hawkins’ points felt very powerful to me. Saying that abortion is the true “pro-life” choice is a very interesting and powerful example. In the other article we had to read, Abortion isn’t about the right to privacy. It’s about women’s right to equality, by Jessica Valenti, she states that “The pro-choice movement needs to put the opposition on its heels, and make what some in the “pro-forced birth” movement say what they’re really thinking: that it’s more important for women be mothers than go to college; that the ability to support existing children” This idea is central to the argument I made in my blog post, and is crucial here as well. People are far too wrapped up considering abortion evil, when in reality abortion negatively impacts many more people. It should obviously be someone’s choice to take on a dependent, and it’s tragic that we can’t think of abortion in a way to support the already existing human population.
You also talked about how exponentially quickly the population is rising. While the rates are moving much faster than in the past, as estimations for the population from 1920 are around two billion people, they are supposed to reach an equilibrium when we reach about twelve billion people. This still may be too many people for Earth to sustain, but considering abortion as a form of population control may be somewhat extreme. Abortions are not something that we can force all people who are able to give birth to have, meaning that we need another way to control the population in order to save the planet.
Hey Allie! I found your explanation of Hawkins’ article Reproductive Choices: The Ecological Dimension to have been very detailed and interesting. As I read through your blog post one statement specifically stood out to me, “Even though for this being a reason for women to have an abortion seems very far fetched it does make sense.” I must say prior to reading the article choosing to have an abortion in order to help the environment also seemed quite far fetched to me as well. However, whether we realize it or not I believe plenty of women who choose to have an abortion are influenced by environmental pressures in one way or another. In particular, the Guttmacher Institute published reasons U.S. women choose to have an abortion and one of the most common reasons was due to financial difficulties. As Hawkins discussed a growing number of people living in poverty can be linked to the population growth and ultimately environmental degradation. Choosing to have a child is quiet expenses and requires a steady source food and shelter and sadly those unable to receive an abortion due to institutional and social reason may take drastic measures like abandoning their children. Unfortunately, studies have revealed some of the primary causes of child abandonment which include “poverty or financial hardship… a lack of sexual health education, poor knowledge regarding family planning, restrictions regarding access to abortion” ( Institute of Work, Health & Organizations). Therefore, whether we make the connection right away the lack of resources due to the environments depletion does play a direct or indirect role in a woman’s choice making all around the world.
https://bettercarenetwork.org/sites/default/files/attachments/Child%20Abandonment%20and%20Its%20Prevention%20Summary%20Brochure.pdf