Why now?

    The thing that I immediately questioned while doing today's readings was, why are reproductive rights being repealed now after 30 years of existence? What shift occurred that suddenly made the American population favor this repeal? It would make sense that once a liberation such as abortion rights was won that it would remain in place, yet this is not the case.
    I definitely agreed with the idea that abortion has become less of a private matter, which is exactly why it has become more stigmatized. One of the readings mentioned how the "abstinence only" method of sex education helps work toward the stigmatization of abortion by causing pregnancy to immediately mark a girl as a "slut", and to get an abortion is to acknowledge this "slut" status among your peers. Again, it's just super weird to me that when Roe v Wade was passed, the topic of abortion wasn't even that big of a deal among the American people. At the time of the case, it wasn't a very controversial piece of news. Only in the years following the case did it begin to attract attention.
    It is also worth getting angry over the fact that the people in charge of women's reproductive rights always seem to be old men. The image that the reading painted of the men standing over Bush while he signed the law about abortion was purely sickening - those men were supporting pieces of legislature that had absolutely no implications in their lives. It's why I believe that personal issues such as abortion have no place in the laws of this country while the laws are still primarily controlled by men.

    This is completely off topic, but it kind of fits? Maybe? At least it fits with the idea of men controlling congress. The other day, my aunt was telling me how on the day that Jon McCain announced he would be running with Sarah Palin, my grandmother, a devout republican, gave her a call. She said, "can you believe it? A woman running. This is such a great day for women everywhere, don't you think?" My aunt, a devout democrat, said "Not that woman! It isn't just the fact there there is a woman potentially going to be in power like that, it has to be a woman that actually supports women's rights." She referred to Palin as being a "dude in a skirt" mentally, with her agenda largely ignoring helping women. I just thought this was a good example of how equality in congress isn't just about a game of numbers - it's a game of having the right people be those numbers.