Re: abortion and indigenous peoples
Chris Kromm (sjpalmer@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu)
Wed, 22 Apr 1992 16:01:00 CST
A lot of people -- too many people -- are confusing the essential element
behind the argument against population control. Those who scream that
"abortion should be available!!!" are merely voicing an obvious, and
horrifyingly simplistic argument. YES, birth control and even abortion
are, generally, positive: they allow women to be more than breeding machines.
But by and large, this ISN'T the fight Native women are waging. They are
in a desparate battle to be freed FROM unnecessary birth control, often in
the form of sterilizations. For feminists to ACTIVELY PROMOTE birth control
at a time when it is offered as a SUBSTITUTE for economic change, when by
the very social context of cultural imperialism it innevitably becomes
oppressive and outright genocidal--ie, to righteously defend it in a social
vacuum--THIS is worst form of narrow-minded thinking, and is an apologia for
racial domination and class exploitation.
Chris