The Rights of Women by Erika Bachiochi;

Author:Erika Bachiochi;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lightning Source Inc. (Tier 3)
Published: 2021-06-17T00:00:00+00:00

Voluntary Motherhood Turned on Its Head

Decades later, the woman who was almost solely responsible for brokering the newfound alliance between the abortion advocates and the women’s rights movement reflected upon this time. In her memoir published in 2000, Friedan writes, “Ideologically, I was never for abortion. Motherhood is a value to me, and even today abortion is not. . . . But the issue had to be confronted. You couldn’t have women’s equality without her own control of the reproductive process.” Then, echoing the basic principle of the nineteenth century “voluntary motherhood” advocates, she continues: “The time when biology was destiny and women’s lives were defined mainly by their reproductive function was over as far as the women’s movement was concerned. The personhood of woman required the emergence from passivity and biology and men’s laws. . . . I believed passionately in 1967, as I do today, that women should have the right of chosen motherhood.” And, finally: “For me the matter of choice has never been primarily the choice of abortion, but that you can choose to be a mother. That is as important as any right written into the Constitution.”55

FIGURE 8.2. Advertisement for Women’s Strike for Equality, August 26, 1970. Credit: Library of Congress (public domain).

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.