'Invisibility' Of Women Who Have Had Abortions Diminishes Rights, Opinion Piece Says

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;  Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 20 Oct 2008 - 2:00 PST

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As public attitudes become more tolerant toward gay rights and "being gay is losing its stigma," having an abortion is "being more deeply stigmatized," Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman writes in an opinion piece. Goodman writes that the issue was a topic of discussion among attendees at a recent Yale Law School conference, "The Future of Sexual and Reproductive Rights," where "academics and activists were talking about gay rights and abortion as law, and as tools for the culture-war recruiters." At the conference, Stanford Law School professor Pam Karlan commented that while "[g]ays have come out of the closet, ... women who've had abortions have gone back into the closet." Goodman writes, "Has the invisibility of these women made it easier to chip away their rights?"

According to Goodman, although much of the gay rights movement has had a focus on marriage and family-related issues, "an abstract set of abortion rights is framed as an individual choice." The abortion "narrative" is "followed by an assortment of emotions, but certainly not joy," she writes. "Because we rarely see real women" who have had abortions, "it's easy to forget that one out of every three American women has had an abortion by the time she's 45," Goodman says, adding, "Because we rarely hear from women, it's easy to forget that over half those women already have children and are making their decisions in their family context." She continues, "The more unlike us she is, the less public support there is for the right. Abortion rights slip away as the woman slips out of sight" (Goodman, Boston Globe, 10/17).

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