Fetus vs Woman - the battle is on

Well, first off, I apologize for the post title. But that is how I feel here in Alberta. Maybe it's because in my home province, people are busy debating whether MMA and UFC should be as welcome here as it seems to be. Apparently, some Albertans are thrilled with the fact that grown men will soon be beating the crap out of each other and others are concerned that it means the end of civilization. Endless hours of media time are spent on this issue.

Not too many people are talking about the battle between the fetus and the woman that MP Stephen Woodworth has initiated. That's not getting much media time. Maybe it's because we haven't framed it as a battle, put some UFC lingo to it like, "April 26, House of Commons, the Fetus vs. Women, watch it live on CPAC. We'll give you the whole seat, but you'll only need the edge." By the way, I don't know if it will be on CPAC, I'm just making stuff up. Anyway, without that kind of mainstream media appeal, we bloggers and reproductive rights advocates are making time and space to discuss it. Hopefully you readers of our work are spreading the word.

Here is a great report on the whole issue from the Centre for Reproductive Rights. It looks at attempts to give the fetus personhood rights through a human rights and comparative law lens. It answers every question Motion 312 poses and finds, "Across the board, these strategies [to assert fetal rights] attempt to deny women the ability to make autonomous decisions regarding their fertility with complete disregard for women's basic human rights." Of course this answer is not the one that the anti's and Mr. Woodworth want to hear. So they'll do it all again and again until someone tells them they're twisted version of the world is right and they can finally get us women-folk under control again.

Hey, by the way, my play, The Abortion Monologues is available now through Smashwords as an ebook. Find it here.