I’m at a loss for words with this

  • Dirt_Possum [any, undecided]@hexbear.net
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    5 months ago

    Liberals and even well meaning progressives will sometimes fall into the trap of pitching abortion and birth control as a part of the solution to poverty.

    But access to abortion and BC does help alleviate poverty. When women are unable to choose to not have unwanted pregnancies and children, it does create a serious strain on them and their community, exacerbating poverty and everything associated with it. That isn’t some idealist liberal delusion, it’s very well documented reality.

    Edit, adding:

    I honestly think if birth control was only available for colored people then conservatives wouldn’t have a problem with it. Abortion too

    It’s just the opposite. One of the main reasons reactionaries tend to be so anti-abortion is because forcing women to have unwanted children helps to perpetuate poverty, locking communities into a cycle of impoverishment they can’t escape. Meanwhile, those who are rich and white have access to abortions whether they’re illegal or not, which is by design. If a rich old gammon-chud’s daughter gets pregnant and she doesn’t want to keep it, he’s likely to help her quietly get an abortion even as he ensures people of color never have that kind of opportunity. Wealthy white people want (and generally have) the freedom to do whatever they want while they simultaneously limiting the freedoms of poor BIPOC people, all to maintain or strengthen the white supremacist system.

      • Dirt_Possum [any, undecided]@hexbear.net
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        5 months ago

        To imply that abortion is the cure for poverty or that not having access to it is the cause is indeed false and a typical liberal refusal to look at the broader systems. But to deny how much unwanted pregnancy, along with the health risks and increased mortality rate that come with it, the burden on poor communities to provide adequate care for children when they are already overworked, etc, all contribute to and worsen poverty is absurd, and just as much a failure to recognize material reality.

        • SwitchyWitchyandBitchy [she/her]@hexbear.net
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          5 months ago

          I think I chose the wrong wording in my original post, I’ll update for clarity but I just wanted to say I agree. I’m by no means against universal access to abortion and birth control. I just see it being talked about in a way that isn’t priotizing the well-being and actual desires of minorities and low income households. And sometimes in the name of outright unashamed eugenics by advocating for abortion if the child would end up being neurodivergent or physically disabled.