Inga Muscio’s essay, “Abortion, Vacuum Cleaners and the Power Within,” struck me as an interesting piece of writing but as one with a questionable message. From the very first paragraph in her text it seems that Muscio will be sharing pro-life sentiment as she proclaims she is “adamantly against clinical abortions” (LU 112). As the story goes on though and Muscio familiarizes the reader with the gritty details of clinical abortions and her personal experiences with three separate abortions it comes to light that Muscio is not necessarily pro-life but anti-external-dependence. Muscio criticizes ‘western medicine’ and the reliance upon doctors to perform abortions when there are other options available; options that she herself has successfully implemented. Muscio’s bolstering of herbal methods of abortion that can be accomplished without the use of doctors or invasive medical procedures is where I disagree with her stance regarding abortion. One of the most beneficial aspects of clinical abortions is that those individuals searching for help have the services of skilled professionals to aid them through the difficult process. These are not only medical professionals but mental health and counseling professionals who can help women and their partners decide the best available options and if they so choose to follow through with the abortion these professionals can provide much needed support. My happiness for Muscio regarding her personal success is tempered by my incredulousness regarding her repeated, three times to be exact, unwanted and unfulfilled pregnancies. While Muscio supports a system of choice where women can control their pregnancies on their own, without clinical measures, I personally think Muscio is a model of questionable decision making. Muscio’s own use of “he was fun to romp with and blah dee blah blah blah” to explain how she got pregnant in one instance underscores her own inability to explain why she got pregnant as well as her level of immaturity during the decision making process to have sex in the first place (LU 116). However, from a realistic standpoint I understand that education about contraception to prevent unwanted pregnancies will still leave margin for those people who become pregnant even still. In this regard my stance on abortion parallels Allison Crews’ from her essay, “And So I Chose.” Crews’ last paragraph beginning, “being pro-woman, being pro-choice, means being supportive of any reproductive choice a woman makes for herself” most closely resembles what I feel to be the best method to help woman deal with this difficult issue (LU 148). Crews’ main focus on being supportive of the decision a woman makes is an aspect I feel is missing from Muscio’s method of avoiding clinical abortion. While clinical abortion may leave a woman with more physical pain in the immediate wake of abortive procedures, I feel the support systems and counseling staff at clinics can help soothe, or avoid all together, the deep emotional wounds that can result from terminating a pregnancy and that can last for many years. There is truly no one correct way of guiding this issue, however I feel Muscio’s stance is misdirected and Crews’ focus on support systems and the importance of personal choices aided through support from positive individuals presents a favorable model that can easily be followed.
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ReplyDeleteIn our culture, abortion is a controversial issue. A google search of the word "abortion" produces an array of sources - from wikipedia definitions to planned parenthood to the health care bill. What I find troubling about "the abortion debate," is just that - the issue has become a very polarized debate. True, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but when it comes to abortion it seems as though people are so eager to push an agenda, whether it is personal, political, religious, etc. that we often forget about the actual women who are faced with difficult choices. Often the debate is boiled down to two camps: pro-life vs. pro-choice. But what does it really mean to be pro-life? Is pro-life also anti-choice? Is pro-choice also anti-life? Does the belief in one necessarily mean the denial of the other?
ReplyDeleteI had mixed feelings about today's readings, but I was most interested in the articles by Arcana, Muscio and Crews. All three are written by women, all three speak from personal experiences, and all three presented different perspectives. I think that reading personal experiences is valuable because I believe that abortion is a very personal issue. With that said, I would be lying if I didn't say that I was horrified by Muscio's "Abortion, Vacuum Cleaners and the Power Within." Her crude language and sarcastic tone, tools which she seems to utilize for "shock effect," only highlighted her immaturity. She compares medical abortion to a vacuum cleaner sucking out her organs (133) and later compares herself to "any oppressed individual" including those in the ghettos of Warsaw fighting the Nazis (116). There are so many things wrong with that. If Muscio has a problem with clinical abortion, which I believe she does, she could have done so without bringing in vacuums and the Nazis. I know that I don't understand how it feels to be in her position. However, what she calls "alternative organic abortions," which she supports, are still abortions (117). I think that every woman should have the right to make her own decisions about herself and her body. If Muscio wants to have an "alternative organic abortion" then that is her right. It is her choice. What she fails to acknowledge is that this choice may not be right for everyone.
I have several other problems with Muscio's paper, but I think it is more important to address the value in Allison Crews paper "And So I Chose." Right away, I found myself impressed by her statement, "Young mothers need to be supported in their choices, whatever they may be. Whether they elect to abort a pregnancy, to place a child for adoption or to raise their children, resources to help young women make and cope with their choices need to be readily available. Women must speak boldly and proudly of their choices, so that other women feel safe in making their own" (143). For me, that says it all. Information is valuable and information is power. Women should have access to information in order to make an informed and healthy decision. Near the end of her paper, Crews writes: "Being pro-woman, being pro-choice, means being supportive of any reproductive choice a woman makes for herself. Women, of any age, in any social situation, have the right to bear children...Our bodies are out own, our future ours to mold. No one should be allowed to interfere with them. Whatever our reproductive choices, nobody can ever deny us our right to them. And that is what being pro-choice means to me" (148-9). Crews touches on an important point - we all may have different meanings and understandings of what abortion is and isn't and should be, but in the end, a woman's choice should be her own.
I was very surprised while reading Inga Muscio’s article, Abortion, Vacuum Cleaners and the Power Within. Until over half way through the article I never expected where the author was going. By starting off the piece by claiming one of her “little sayings [she] hopes to see made into a bumper sticker motoring down the nation’s byways is ABORTION SUCKS” (112), Muscio sets the tone of a pro-life perspective. As the article progresses, however, the reader comes to understand that rather than opposing the fundamental concept behind abortion, Muscio intends to criticize Western medicine in general.
ReplyDeleteThroughout her three experiences being pregnant, the author turned to today’s standard abortion method to terminate the first two. Muscio describes the immense discomfort and pain she endured after both of her procedures and remembers the disdain she felt towards protesters outside of clinics. The amount of suffering she undergoes, however, is not enough to prevent Muscio from becoming pregnant for a third time. Experiencing an unwanted pregnancy for a third time, the author looked up on alternative methods to aborting the fetus. The author used natural and organic methods, such as rubbing certain veins or drinking specific herbal teas, and eventually the fetus was naturally aborted as Muscio was brushing her teeth. Although I was disgusted by Muscio’s blunt language towards her abortion experiences and the crude rhetoric she used, I found the purpose of Muscio’s piece very compelling. The author does not make a case against methods of birth control, as one is initially led to believe she will, but instead focuses her attention on the individual woman. This article challenges us to consider alternative methods of terminating a pregnancy other than abortion. Muscio argues that Western medicine has become an impersonalized and mechanical operation. She challenges us to once again concentrate on “the power within our own circle of women” (117) instead of that society grants to doctors and specific individuals. It is not necessary for us to rely on harmful and negative forms of contraception when there are simple and healthy options we may be overlooking.
Although I believe Muscio loses most credibility by not learning from her mistakes (not once, but twice) and her careless tone, her article approached abortion from a perspective I have never encountered before.