As SallyStrange has pointed out in the comments here, quite a few MRAs seem to have a bad case of “womb envy” – or, more specifically, “abortion envy.” That is, they envy the ability of women to abort fetuses that they – the guys, as sperm providers — have had a part in creating. And since they don’t get final say in whether or not the woman in the equation gets an abortion, many of these guys claim they should have the right to a “paper abortion” – that is, to wash their hands financially of the baby once it is born.
But for every MRA demanding their own right to an abortion, there’s another MRA who thinks abortion is an unmitigated evil, which in essence means that they think pregnant women should be forced to give birth to babies they don’t want. The guy behind The Life Zone evidently thinks this way. And so does one New Mexican pro-lifer named Greg Fultz, who has launched a bizarre campaign designed to shame the woman who aborted what he thinks of as “his” baby – the highlight of which is a giant billboard depicting him holding what looks like the blackened carcass of a baby under the headline “This Would Have Been a Picture Of My 2-Month Old Baby If The Mother Had Decided To NOT KILL Our Child!”
I’ve been meaning to write about the Fultz thing for some time, but haven’t, because frankly the whole thing makes me depressed. Over the past day or so three separate Man Boobz readers have brought the subject up, so I figure it’s time to deal with the subject. My solution? I’m going to punt, and rather than post about it specifically I’m just going to point you to an excellent, and nicely sarcastic, post on the subject from Jill on Feministe.
Since Jill wrote that post, Fultz has been ordered by a judge to take the billboard down or face jail; he says he won’t. Details here.
NOTE: I originally ended this post with a 1200 word dissertation spelling out my take on abortion. But reading it back over again I realized that many of the points I made in it had already been made, in many cases more deftly, by various commenters in yesterday’s 800-plus comment thread (which actually stayed on the topic for the first several hundred comments, until more or less everything that needed to be said on the subject had been said). The tl;dr summary: her body, her choice. “Paper abortions” only work if the government is willing to step in to make up for the loss of child support, and that isn’t going to happen in the US any time soon. (And I don’t see many MRAs calling for increased support for single moms.)
So instead of abortion, let’s talk about Fultz. What a dick.
NWOslave
What is your grand plan for taking care of babies born who are unwanted and no one will pay for????
You don’t exist now Zombie. How could you if you didn’t exist at conception?
I get the point of your failed logic spearhafoc. You wouldn’t exist as part of the continuum if you weren’t concieved. Would you? Therefore “your” existence began at conception.
Good lord, NWO.. “How could you if you didn’t exist at conception?” If he didn’t exist before conception, how could he exist after, huh? How could anyone have not existed in the past if they exist now? We must all be immortal! (Well, Ami actually IS immortal, being an angel and all, but the exception proves the rule!”
It all makes me wonder–is NWO a vegan?
Because really, the only way that I’m tucking into a nice plate of beef and mushrooms now (mmm) is that I distinguish conscious human life from “it’s got a metabolism, yep” life.
Hell, if I prized metabolisms as precious, I couldn’t even eat the mushrooms.
Did you say “unwanted” Kave? Well gee whiz. Theres a lot of things I don’t want to do, but guess what? Tough cookies. Waaaaaaaa, I don’t want it. Make it go away.
I also wouldn’t exist if my parents hadn’t met and briefly got together, but I don’t think the law should demand the enforced coupling of mismatched people who don’t really get along very well.
NWOrganism, you never answered my question about cat abortion. Is cat abortion murder?
This is what I really dislike about anti-choice or pro-life people. To sit and judge someone for their choices while making the choice to spend your life only judging others instead of doing good for others is at best distasteful, would for most be considered to be wasteful, and in my opinion hypocritical.
What has NWOslave done for infants lately?
a petri dish full of fungi is freaking alive …
hey now. You’re talking about the Spearhead!
NWO – what, in your mind, makes someone “exist”? More specifically, what are the defining properties of existence?
NWOaf, even when people have clearly answered you, you claim no one is answering you. Why? Is it because they are not prefacing it with the comment “OH MY GOD!!! YOU HAVE OPENED MY MIND TO SOMETHING I NEVER THOUGHT!!! YOU ARE TEH SMARTEST!” Because then I would suggest seeing someone about that ego problem of yours.
You don’t exist now Zombie. How could you if you didn’t exist at conception?
ARRG OOG EARGGGHHHHH I HAZ BEEN DISCOMBOBULATED BY THE NINJA-LIEK LOJIK PUZZELS OF THE SLAVER!! I DISAPPEAR IN A PUFF OF ILLOGOIK SMOKE!!
….hey, is it true you don’t actually READ anybody else’s comments? or do you just not understand them? Would it help if we typed slower?
I know the feeling.
a nice plate of beef and mushrooms now
well dammit Holly, now I am hungry.
My life ended in 2008, best as I can tell.
Exactly, Slavey, you’re arguing about life, death, and brains with a zombie. He has more experience with the topic than you do. Sit, listen, and learn.
Speahafhoc, I love love LOVE your vintage fashion plates! Keep posting them please! They are excellent mental antidote to Oaf’s idiocy.
Again I’m answering questions but recieving no answers.
Did your life begin at the instant of conception?
It’s a simple question. A couple things to consider might be. Do you exist now? Are you alive now? It really is a yes or no question. There’s no trick. No need to elaborate. Just yes or no.
As a personal note nwoslave.
You are much easier to dislike then mral. No one here has given you an once of positive feedback. Your picture is a person in leather cuffs.
I’m am much older then most of the posters here, but my wife does have a favorite uncle who was in our time called a leather daddy, so I’m not naive about such things such as the power play between individuals being emotional more then physical, games like humiliation play etc.
I understand all of that, what I don’t understand is why you’re on this blog looking for those needs to be fulfilled.
A blog mocking mra’s= a mra who gets sexually excited by being mocked.
It really does make sense.
Life begins when you become sentient. Which is sometime after birth. Newborns have less cognitive capacity than dogs. They can’t pass a mirror test, like elephants can. They’re not sentient. But fortunately they aren’t parasites, so if their parent(s) don’t want them, someone else can take care of them.
No.
Yes.
Yes.
“Again I’m answering questions but recieving no answers.
Did your life begin at the instant of conception?
It’s a simple question. A couple things to consider might be. Do you exist now? Are you alive now? It really is a yes or no question. There’s no trick. No need to elaborate. Just yes or no.”
Did you even read my posts?
NWO – All I want is for people to answer a simple question!
Many, many posters – *answers*
NWO – Look, you couldn’t even answer a simple question!
Posted three times ’cause of the purdiness.
“Again I’m answering questions” No you aren’t.
“but recieving no answers.” Yes you are.
“Did your life begin at the instant of conception?” No it doesn’t.
“It’s a simple question.” No it isn’t.
“A couple things to consider might be. Do you exist now? Are you alive now?” Read my last post.
“It really is a yes or no question. There’s no trick. No need to elaborate. Just yes or no.” Is this simple enough for you, slavey?