On
Saturday, I worked as an abortion clinic escort for the first time.
Escorts offer moral support and a friendly face for the women whose
path to the clinic door is lined by protestors whose intimidation
tactics are a shameless smorgasbord of shouting about murder,
thrusting leaflets into passing hands, and brandishing disgusting and
mendacious placards.
On
my way to the clinic, I prayed the rosary, a practice at which I am
still very new. Saturday's apportioned subject matter for
contemplation is the
Joyful Mysteries.
The first Joyful
Mystery is the Annunciation, when the angel tells Mary of her
impending parthenogenetic motherhood. Mary's “yes” (“Here
am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your
word”) is often embraced by liberal Christianity as a moment of
empowerment and consent; but this “yes” troubles me,
circumscribed as it is by power and coercion from all sides. I think
of women and girls in the US and around the world whose reproductive
options are narrowly circumscribed by social forces, women and girls
whose bodily autonomy is consistently violated by poverty and
patriarchy and legal structures and social institutions. I think of
the “nos,” “nos” unspoken or sublimated or overridden. I
think about how every “yes” is a compromised yes, a coerced yes,
and I think of the very real improvements we could make to the
material and discursive circumstances of these yeses, and the space
we could make for these hidden nos, if only we tried.
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| Don't worry, I know a clinic staffed by very nice people who can help |
I
first read about the work of clinic escorts at least 18 months ago,
and I have finally succumbed to the call that has been quiet yet
persistent at the back of my mind ever since then. The call said:
These protestors – the ones who are violent, the ones who make
death threats, and the ones whose presence is a barrier to justice
for those most in need of it – these are your co-religionists.
Aren't you going to do anything?
The second Joyful Mystery is the Visitation of Mary to her cousin
Elizabeth. I think of the intergenerational solidarity of these two
improbably pregnant women, one old, one young, in the face of
pregnancies so unplanned that it took divine intervention to make
them happen. I think of all the ways in which solidarity between
oppressed people manifests. I think especially of women who seek ways
to live and to live with dignity in a world that is hostile to their
bodies; of black women whose bodies are targeted by white supremacy;
of trans women whose bodies are rendered disposable by transmisogyny.
A fellow escort was deeply troubled by a flyer she had seen in her
local Methodist church. It advertised a fundraising walk for a crisis
pregnancy center – those creepy
fake clinics that spread misinformation about reproductive
options. My escort friend was concerned to see the anti-abortion
agenda pushed so brazenly within the walls of a mainline church.
She isn't wrong to be concerned. Mainline churches have failed hard
when it comes to reproductive justice. By silence, by noncommittal
waffling, by avoiding the issue for fear of controversy, mainline
denominations have allowed the voices of injustice to set the terms
of the national conversation. Our reticence has helped cause a
political climate in which serious presidential candidates earn
applause and acclaim for stating their opposition to abortion under
all circumstances.
(Increasingly, when I watch this
old Simpsons
clip,
I expect to hear cheers instead of boos in response to the
proposition, “No abortions for anyone!”)
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| Still a very compelling platform imo |
The third Joyful Mystery is the Nativity, childbirth in poverty and
peril, one precarious life bringing forth another. I think of the 69%
of abortion-seekers in the US who are “economically
disadvantaged.” I think of how structural racism and ableism
lead to the high rates of poverty among people of color and people
with disabilities. I think of all the parents and guardians whose
economic disadvantages force them to make heartbreaking decisions
about exactly which goods they should deprive their children of
today. I think of the shockwaves of devastation caused by an
unplanned pregnancy when abortion is not easily or affordably
available.
Progressives, and perhaps especially progressive people of faith,
need to stop being on the defensive on this issue. We need to stop
apologizing for abortion and start treating it as a good and
necessary aspect of reproductive justice.
I don't concede the “pro-life” appellation, I don't accept the
oversimplified “choice” framework, I'm not interested in the
third term in the safe-legal-rare buzzphrase. I care about
reproductive
justice, the intersectional movement founded by women of color
and centering their perspectives. Reproductive justice is about race
and economics and ability and sexuality, birth control and abortion
and parental leave and childcare, comprehensive healthcare and living
wages and affordable housing, education and access and culture.
Facilitating coparenting among polyamorous partners, overhauling the
foster care system, marriage
equality for people with disabilities – all are aspects of
reproductive justice.
The fourth Joyful Mystery is the Presentation of the newborn Jesus at
the Temple, when the old prophets Anna and Simeon express their joy
at seeing him. I think of every friend's baby I have cuddled, every
tiny human I have smiled at in passing, every infant I have smothered
in kisses. I think of the material and psychological wellbeing I wish
on my godchildren. I think of the incalculable value of a supportive
community, including those who are older and those who are childless,
in the care and upbringing of a child. I think of how forced
childbirth and lack of reproductive options reduce this community.
Abortion isn't something we should tiptoe around, apologize for, or
treat as a necessary evil. In the political climate of the US, caring
about reproductive justice means arguing for abortion as a moral
good. “Life,” in the phrase “pro-life,” means only “fetuses
carried to term, all other factors be damned.” It's a reduction of
the richness of life to pure numbers, where the only number
that matters is the birthrate. Quite aside from the fact that
indefinite population expansion will eventually outstrip the planet's
resources and result in death on an enormous scale, this is a cruelly
narrow definition of life, one that prioritizes the dogma of fetal
preservation over every actual living human's needs.
The fifth Joyful Mystery is the Finding of prepubescent Jesus in the
Temple at Jerusalem, after he goes AWOL from his parents. This is the
only story of Jesus' childhood that made it into the canonical
gospels. I think of it as an instance of the child Jesus asserting
his personhood, refusing to be treated as an appendage to or property
of his parents. He breaks from the established hierarchy of his society in order to seek his God. I think of all who are oppressed by the established order of society. I think of their quests for truth and meaning and justice and life. I pray that I might be one to help facilitate that.
