Page 81 - Darko Štrajn, From Walter Benjamin to the End of Cinema: Identities, Illusion and Signification. Ljubljana: Educational Research Institute, 2017. Digital Library, Dissertationes, 29.
P. 81
the pleasure to forbid pleasure
dangerousness of abortion is minuscule, if an abortion is performed early
enough and in the aseptic setting, makes reasons for free choice much more
strong. The research in areas all over the world proves, that psychological
consequences are rather relieving than the other way around.3 A most pow-
erful proof based on hard data, that the suppression of abortion within le-
gal framework brings about illegal and truly dangerous practices, has been
put forward over and over again within a context of liberal view on special
women’s rights, which should be left untouched. Although at least for the
time being, the adversaries of free abortion on demand in Slovenia scored
a considerable political defeat, they continue to seek routes to at least hin-
der it. As in the United States, also in Slovenia an argument concerning the
spending of taxpayers’ money on “sexually unrestrained women” has been
brought forward.4 In the case of USA some decisions of the Supreme Court,
that took into account such arguments and made some concessions regard-
ing the Roe v Wade act (1973), already made open access to abortion diffi-
cult especially for socially underprivileged women.
Microscopic Human Being
One could go on and on excerpting arguments of the opposing sides in a
never-ending debate. However, I shall concentrate on defining the dividing
line between advocates and adversaries of free abortion. Across this line,
obviously no dialogue that would make sense is possible. The view, that
already a microscopic pellet of cells in the first few weeks after a concep-
tion represents a human being (and even a citizen) totally excludes another
view, concerning the female body, which assumes that no one but the wom-
en themselves should decide on their bodies. A view that in a small nation
any waste of “already conceived children” is a loss, excludes a view that only
desired children should be born.
The dividing line between the advocating of free abortion on demand
and the opposite attitude marks the difference regarding a relation to sexu-
al pleasure. However, there is no symmetry between the two opposed posi-
tions – considering the kind of argumentation, which each of them brings
3 Certainly, there are grave misuses of abortion in some culturally determined
environments, for example in a number of Asian countries, where modern medical
technology helps to establish the sex of foetuses, and then female ones are aborted in
mass.
4 The overviews in this section of the chapter are mainly derived from the collection of
articles in the book edited by Eva Bahovec-Dolar (1991) and published by a feminist
group that called itself “Women for Politics”.
79
dangerousness of abortion is minuscule, if an abortion is performed early
enough and in the aseptic setting, makes reasons for free choice much more
strong. The research in areas all over the world proves, that psychological
consequences are rather relieving than the other way around.3 A most pow-
erful proof based on hard data, that the suppression of abortion within le-
gal framework brings about illegal and truly dangerous practices, has been
put forward over and over again within a context of liberal view on special
women’s rights, which should be left untouched. Although at least for the
time being, the adversaries of free abortion on demand in Slovenia scored
a considerable political defeat, they continue to seek routes to at least hin-
der it. As in the United States, also in Slovenia an argument concerning the
spending of taxpayers’ money on “sexually unrestrained women” has been
brought forward.4 In the case of USA some decisions of the Supreme Court,
that took into account such arguments and made some concessions regard-
ing the Roe v Wade act (1973), already made open access to abortion diffi-
cult especially for socially underprivileged women.
Microscopic Human Being
One could go on and on excerpting arguments of the opposing sides in a
never-ending debate. However, I shall concentrate on defining the dividing
line between advocates and adversaries of free abortion. Across this line,
obviously no dialogue that would make sense is possible. The view, that
already a microscopic pellet of cells in the first few weeks after a concep-
tion represents a human being (and even a citizen) totally excludes another
view, concerning the female body, which assumes that no one but the wom-
en themselves should decide on their bodies. A view that in a small nation
any waste of “already conceived children” is a loss, excludes a view that only
desired children should be born.
The dividing line between the advocating of free abortion on demand
and the opposite attitude marks the difference regarding a relation to sexu-
al pleasure. However, there is no symmetry between the two opposed posi-
tions – considering the kind of argumentation, which each of them brings
3 Certainly, there are grave misuses of abortion in some culturally determined
environments, for example in a number of Asian countries, where modern medical
technology helps to establish the sex of foetuses, and then female ones are aborted in
mass.
4 The overviews in this section of the chapter are mainly derived from the collection of
articles in the book edited by Eva Bahovec-Dolar (1991) and published by a feminist
group that called itself “Women for Politics”.
79
