| When I heard about the tragic murder of Dr. George Tiller, the Wichita doctor fatally shot in his church by an opponent of reproductive choice, I thought immediately about a group of brave women I met in Florida a couple of weeks ago. On a tour to promote my book, There Shall be No Needy: Pursuing Social Justice through Jewish Law and Tradition (Jewish Lights 2009), I stopped off in West Palm Beach to speak at the Presidential Women's Center, a clinic that provides abortions to women of all income levels. I was proud that sales of my book there raised several hundred dollars to provide abortions for women who cannot afford the procedure. So what does my book, which deals with poverty, economic justice, and related issues have to do with the provision of abortion? |
When we speak about women's issues, we usually mean reproductive health, equal pay, protection against discrimination and harrassment, and other issues specifically identified with the feminist movement. But poverty might be the most important women's issue of all. In 2007, 13.8% of women in the United States were officially considered poor, compared to 11.1% of men. More than 31% of families headed by a single mother are considered poor, compared to just over 13% of families headed by a single father. And the real numbers of families and women struggling to get by is even higher, as official measures of poverty in America are notoriously low. Why are women so much more likely to find themselves in poverty than men are? The continuing wage gap certainly plays a role, as well as the difference in pay between service jobs (more likely to be held by women) and manufacturing or construction jobs (more likely to be held by men.) Additionally, unplanned pregnancy forces many women to drop out of school or out of the work force, especially given the difficulty of finding affordable child care. Men, who bear 50% of the responsibility for these unplanned pregnancies, may find themselves shouldering child support obligations (not always met), but do not generally have to upend their lives to care for a child. All of which brings us to abortion. The same day that I spoke at the Women's Center, the copy of USA Today dropped off outside the door of my hotel room reported that more American women and families are giving their newborns up for adoption as the economic crisis makes the prospect of feeding another mouth seem impossible. In accordance with its cheery demeanor, USA Today avoided the abortion question, but one of the staff members at the Women's Center told me that requests for abortions in 2009 have already exceeded the normal rate for an entire year. Women who are already struggling, and whose partners or ex-partners are similarly struggling, can't even think about taking responsibility for another person. This is not to say that poor women (or anyone else) should have abortions, or should give up their children for adoption. The point of pro-choice legislation is to ensure that every woman has the right to make this choice for herself. For some women, the right choice might be keeping the child and finding a way to survive economically; for other women, abortion or adoption is the right choice. But keeping all of these options open and easily available is essential to fighting women's poverty (as are guaranteeing a living wage for all jobs, creating affordable child care options, and eliminating wage discrimination). The staff members of the Presidential Women's Center, like staff at abortion clinics around the country, often are forced to walk through protests on their way to and from work each day. More problematically, their already-nervous clients must endure taunts and accusitions on their way into the clinic. In the most tragic cases--these battles end in death, as happened in the case of Dr. Tiller. But in the ordinary, day-to-day abortion battles, more women simply find themselves denied the choice--or feel pressured out of making a free choice--to do what is right for them, for their families, and for their economic health. |
