Best piece on abortion I have EVER READ – bravo @sarahditum. “women’s bodies exist for others to use”: http://t.co/hE6KKSsQx8
— Caitlin Moran (@caitlinmoran) November 6, 2014
If you want to know how flimsy we hold women’s humanity, start by looking at the laws governing pregnancy. The 1967 Abortion Act is often claimed to have legalised “abortion on demand”. It didn’t. In practice, the 1967 Act modifies the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act sufficiently to allow most women who seek a termination to obtain one within the law under most circumstances – but to do so, a woman must convince two doctors that continuing the pregnancy would cause “grave permanent injury to [her] physical or mental health”. It’s not enough for her to simply say, “No, I do not want to have this baby”. Ever so subtly, our law starts from the position that the default outcome for all pregnant women should be motherhood: it’s left to each individual to persuade the medical authorities she is an exceptional case who should be allowed to determine the use of her own body.
Perhaps this doesn’t sound so terrible to you. Maybe you consider abortion a grave matter, one of such moral consequence that no woman alone should be able to make it for herself. After all, it is the end of human life – a foetus that would become a baby, then a child and then an adult before dying in its turn – and surely any decision that ends a human life is to be taken seriously. Except, all of us make decisions every day about whether or not to support other human lives with our own flesh, and most of us choose not to. For example: 96 per cent of us choose not to give blood even though we’re eligible to, and 68 per cent of us choose not to join the organ donor register. People die on waiting lists. And this is sad, but it’s also acceptable: no one is entitled to your blood or your organs unless you are generous enough to share them.
Read in full: My body, my choice: from now on, abortion rights must be fought for from first principles (Sarah Ditum, New Statesman)
Pic: sarahditum.com
This should be a good repeat of every single previous post on abortion.
ah, don’t be so dismissive. wait and see what abm trots out this time – tis always good for a laff of a dreary friday afternoon.
Is he still around? Haven’t seen him for a bit. He’s not as good as old crazy with rage ABM
Probably got stuck in a threesome with Tom and Bad Helen
And NICE Anne..
He was doing his bit for the Web Summit here yesterday
Praying for WiFi didn’t work out obviously
Let’s use it for something else. Recipes. Film recommendations. Album of the year?
Quite enjoyed Nine Queens earlier this week. Argentinian con man flick.
That is good. John C. Reilly’s in the remake.
Aren’t you in Limerick? Playtime is on tonight.
http://www.lightmoves.ie/films.html#feature
Superb, cheers. Been meaning to watch that for a while. I like those prices too.
Oh they’re showing Russian Ark, I would love to see that in the cinema.
I recommend a Danish film called Klovn: The movie, released in 2010. One of the funniest films I’ve ever seen. Well, that and Clamper’s X-Factor audition tape.
It’s on in the Subtitle film festival in Kilkenny in a couple of weeks. Some other good stuff too.
http://www.subtitlefest.com/
Well I’ll be!
Looks weirdly funny. Will have to try catch it.
I recommend any Korean movie ever made
Pretty much. Film4 have a Hong Sang-Soo season at the moment.
Oh cool, will have to check that out
Is Hong Sang-Soo…Cheap?
Whey-hey!
+1 on Korean movies. War of Arrows is my favourite.
That Iceage record, ploughing into the field of love, was bloody great!
Pushed to think of a really recent record I liked. Slyvan Esso’s debut still the highlight of the year so far. Or St. Vincent’s.
I liked Lazaretto. But then I liked Indie Cindy.
I’m glad they did Indie Cindy, better than just touring the classics.
Also been enjoying Brill Bruisers from the New Pornographers, and Olde by Crying, decent gameboy punk there.
Still play Dave Byrne/st Vincent more regularly than her new one. Serious grooves.
A bit of judicious pruning would have helped with Lazeretto.
Dave Byrne is a pretentious prick and he has clearly rubbed off on her!
Good idea. Does anyone watch Peaky Blinders? So good!
Give me a sec. That iceage record hasn’t downloaded yet.
Not my buzz I’m afraid although I’m happy to see Cillian Murphy cast in a period that would explain his undernourished appearance.
Its very good – right mix of manly mumbling, toke violence, sexy times and slightly outrageous and tenuous plots around historical events. Series 2 is worth it for Tom Hardy alone. He plays a complete and utter nutcase.
Didn’t know it had Tom Hardy now. That puts it back up the top of the download queue.
@Gav – he is really good in it, well worth the watch
People used to say I looked like him.
Then I started eating American food.
They… they don’t really say that anymore… :'(
Don’t be blue, Kieran. Help is at hand!
https://www.broadsheet.ie/2014/11/07/this-just-thin/
A book recommendation if anyone’s interested…John Darnielle’s Wolf in White Van (Especially if you like his Mountain Goats output).
Never heard of him. Will give a look.
Best book of the year for me is Henry Marsh’s ‘Do No Harm’
Looks good. Have you read any of Mary Roach’s books? If you liked that, you might like her.
That looks fantastic, Mani. Thanks.
Have a quick goo at the cut of Darnielle’s jib before shelling out for his book, Mani. He can be polarising, so you could be in the “hate” camp. Great lyricist though (I think)…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w6IrmULLV0M
I’ll do the kindle free chapter thingy beforehand.
New season of Good Wife is brillo so far
Alan Cummins Eli Gold is stealing the show
Can’t wait for Nativity 3 to open tho
The Good Wife you say – stick on the kettle, I’m on my way.
Alfred, you are a genius sir.
I have nothing new to contribute but a book that I am sick to the back teeth of recommending to people is World War Z. Old obviously but people seem to ignore it because of the zombie element.
Agreed – can we do this once a month or something?
Word for word what I told my husband on our wedding night.
Caroline’s married?
:-(
Sure, once a month is all you need for making babies for the Lord
once a month caroline? explains the large amount of unused penis beakers for sale on adverts.
Don’t worry Mikey. I’m a selfish and unresponsive lover. Everyone knows that.
I love World War Z. In that genre, the Girl with all the gifts is good.
As for doing this regularly I agree but only if it hijacks a BS clickbait post.
Here Mandi
Did ya give Cockneys v Zombies a go?
That’ll have ya skittin
two minutes to midnight by iron maiden !
(and the circle is complete)
My cousin Donal’s first film is on in the IFI at the moment, I’ve not seen it yet, but it’s gotten amazing reviews
http://www.ifi.ie/film/out-of-here/
I’ve heard great things about this.
Hmmm. I don’t buy the “equating pregnancy to donating blood/organs” argument.
True, it’s only partly complete. Pregnancy is far harder, far more dangerous to women and has much further reaching consequnces, than giving blood or even donating organs, excellent as both of those are.
I do.
time to grab the popcorn with that analogy!
Abortion is a fundamental human right. End of.
Abortion is Rape, essentially.
Everything is rape, essentially. Even rape.
How can everything be rape and everything be awesome at the same time?
That would be awesome rape you’re thinking of
Masterbuilding is murder
downtowntrain just won the internet
(Assuming that was a masturbation reference)
You’ve really got that unassailable argument thing sewn up, Mani.
It’s one of the funniest dumbest things I’ve heard in a while.
No contractions, no consent!
+1000000000000000
Misogyny is a terrible thing. Just because you’ve paid for sex and enjoyed it, does not mean that the women did. Women in poverty or with drug or drink addiction have very few choices.
What about the “human rights” of the father of the child?
Where is it on?
I heard its up for an Oscar
Unfortunately the mother isn’t.
Well, Caroline, the man in the situation here is the most important after all
Surely the mother is up for something in a supporting role?
Chief grip
I like that you’ve put human rights in inverted commas there, because there is no human right to force a woman to remain pregnant against her will.
alas in ireland, you’ll find there is.
You can travel for an abotion (although you shouldn’t have to – nobody can prevent you from going or from ordering pills off the internet and taking them.
Assuming, of course you can afford to travel, and you can find a clinic/hospital that isn’t turning away Irish patients (as has been reported recently), or if you can only resort to ordering pills that they make it through customs.
i take it everyone is getting a goo for friday pints early?
“Ever so subtly, our law starts from the position that the default outcome for all pregnant women should be motherhood…”
Because there is no other starting point that doesn’t advocate the destruction of human life.