There is a coalition joining feminists who defend the rights
of women to -- to what? -- to a very different entity or force or mindset. In the past, when I
have gone to pro-choice events and talked to people about China, I found a
split, about 50-50, on the matter of forced abortion. That is, I found many
people who defended the rights of women to bodily autonomy, but also found many
people who identified themselves as “pro-choice” but who did not defend a woman’s
right to give birth if she so chose. This second group: (1) is still there; and
(2) is very large, perhaps a third or a half of the people who identify
themselves as “pro-choice”; and (3) is often overlooked, and often un-named.
To put it another way: regarding abortion, there are people
who identify themselves as pro-lifers who emphasize and defend the rights of
the child (and try to assert the rights of women as well, but do not consider
abortion a right), and there are people who identify themselves as pro-choicers,
who emphasize and defend the right of a woman to decide what to do about an
unplanned or unforeseen or unwanted pregnancy (and defend the rights of a child
as well, but only after the child achieves some degree of size or
independence). These two groups are familiar. But there’s a third group,
comparable in size to the previous two groups.
The roots of the third group are clearly in eugenics; no
serious historian today denies that Sanger built a coalition of feminists and
eugenicists. Further, this third group supports population control, subjecting
the rights of the unborn and of women, both, to some theory of the good of
society.
I’m open to explanations if someone wants to give this third
force in the abortion debate a name other than eugenics. When someone insists
that I not use that I not use this horrible word with its dreadful history, I’m
ready to listen – until it becomes clear that my critic is unaware that this
third force or entity or mindset or perspective exists. If you don’t see it,
and/or don’t have a name for it, then I will use its name from history.
There are three perspectives on abortion. If you can’t or
won’t count to three, your contributions to the debate have sharply limited
value.
This third force is not found only in the
pro-abortion-rights coalition. It has emerged with dramatic force within the
pro-life movement. Today, people who identify themselves as “pro-life” can be
divided into two very different groups, depending on whether they defend a
child’s right to life as a God-given (and therefore international) right, or as
an American right, a proud detail of American history. The pro-life movement is
splintered, but the deepest split is about immigrants and refugees. Some
pro-lifers – including the entire Catholic hierarchy – defend the rights of
migrants. But a large portion of the pro-life movement, including the leaders
of the most visible national groups, are neutral or even opposed to the rights
of migrants, up to and including a flat refusal to provide asylum to Latino or
Muslim refugees – including pregnant women.
I am not sure how much power this third force has. I wonder
whether this third force – which I call eugenics, although I am open to another
label if someone wants to offer and explain a different label – I wonder
whether it is more powerful than feminism or the pro-life movement, either one,
taken alone. I do not think that it is more powerful than both together.
