The article, “And So I Chose” by Allison Crews discusses her choice to become a teenage mother. She also discusses how she felt growing up around her pro-life mother. One particular part of the article was especially interesting-Allison’s last protest she attended with her mother. I find this interesting because she says she remembers wishing that she could help the girl who was leaving the clinic. I found this different since she had grown up with a pro-life mother and was attending a pro-life rally, yet she felt for the girl having an abortion. I liked the fact that in the end she was pro-choice, not because she thought everyone should have an abortion-but because every woman should have a choice. Even though she decided to keep her baby, she is still pro-choice because she chose her future instead of letting society, her mother, or her friends sway her.
I found it hard however, the part where everyone was trying to make the decision for her. It was upsetting hearing how she spent so much of her time crying and upset, and how a couple had already been picked out to adopt her baby. “I was told, over and over again, that teenage girls are immature, they are selfish, they can’t possibly decide what is best, and so other must step in and make these choices for them”. I was bothered by this quote because I believe that girls are not always immature and that women should be able to choose for themselves whether to raise their children or not. I was disturbed at the fact that other people felt the need to take away that choice.
The other article, “Beyond Pro-Choice versus Pro-Life: Women of Color and Reproductive Justice”, by Andrea Smith discusses the dichotomy of the pro-choice and pro-life debate. I found it interesting how Smith found flaws in both sides of the debate, and proposed moving away from that dichotomy to something more encompassing. I was surprised by the argument against pro-life being the prison system. On my own, I have never heard the two compared, but when reading her argument, it made a lot of sense. I liked the connection between how pro-life supporters view abortion as a crime, and how punishment is incarceration. Therefore, one could say that pro-life supporters actually endorse the prison system. I also liked how she pointed out that, “Prisons simply are not only ineffective institutions for addressing social concerns, they drain resources from institutions that could be more effective”. I agree with this point in the sense that so much of our nation’s money goes to supporting and enlarging the prison system, yet that money could be spent on much more useful and helpful institutions.
The argument against pro-choice links to the title of the article, that pro-choice supporters aren’t necessarily providing the choice for poor women or women of color. Pro-choice really means that women who have enough economic resources or the availability have a choice in whether to abort their child or not. While I understand that many government policies make this situation worse, without them, abortion might be outlawed. I find these government policies almost a compromise; that abortion will be legal in this country, but the government will not assist people in having abortions. Therefore, without this legislation, abortion might not be allowed. I found this article very interesting and useful as it highlighted the issues with both sides of the dichotomy.
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