But why do mothers have so many abortions in the first place? Jones co-authored a qualitative study titled “I Would Want To Give My Child, Like, Everything in the World: How Issues of Motherhood Influence Women Who Have Abortions,” which found that most mothers who abort say they are doing so to protect the kids they already have. As Jones points out, that rationale is tough to demonize politically, especially when you consider that most women making this choice are contending with some combination of low income, unemployment, and a lack of health insurance, or are struggling to raise kids on their own.
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That’s why people tend to focus on the “dirty slut who couldn’t keep her legs shut” angle or they simply accuse the mothers of being irresponsible, making poor choices, and therefore deserving of any economic punishment they (and also their children) receive for carrying a pregnancy to term. The key to so many pro-life arguments is shame and punishment. Shame them for being dumb or loose enough to get pregnant in the first place, then argue if society punishes them with a baby, it’s no less than they deserve. Warped, but that’s how it works.
(via robot-heart-politics)
