SC Democratic chair: Palin’s “qualification” is that she hasn’t had an abortion; Update: Sorry if you were offended, says Fowler

Exit question: Any women in the audience think diminishing Palin’s achievements this way is a trifle sexist?

Hmm. I don’t know if this one is sexist so much as just generally insulting and asinine. I thought what she was saying was something along the lines of, McCain picked Palin, even though she’s utterly unqualified, because she’s credibly pro-life, as opposed to because she’s a woman and therefore women will want to vote for her just because she’s a woman. The latter is sexist, the former could just as easily be applied to a man, I think…notwithstanding the fact that men can’t have abortions.

Addressing the argument (which I think underlies some of Fowler’s statements) that women won’t vote for a woman who is “anti-woman” (aka pro-life), am I the only one who gets just infuriated by this? Since when is believing that women don’t get to kill their babies just because they’re women a misogynistic opinion? I’ve seen this argument over and over again, and it’s predicated on the assumption that to oppose legal abortion is equatable with wanting to oppress women. Is the only thing keeping women from being considered property their right to have an abortion? Abortion’s not a huge deal for me, if you think that it’s just not the government’s business and it’s not clear enough that it’s murder, therefore it should not be illegal, then fine. What gets me is this whole, “it’s my body my choice” bs, because it just makes no sense. It is intellectually dishonest–the right to an abortion is not the same as the right to, e.g. contraception. If you’re pregnant, your body happens to be being shared by a separate living entity, whether or not you want to call it a person. Therefore your rights to bodily autonomy can and should be weighed against that other entity’s right to life. That’s not oppression or misogyny, it’s common sense.

And the argument that “enlightened” women won’t vote for Palin, and that those who do are “colluders” who don’t know what’s good for them and just want to appease men IS sexist, and is unbelievably insulting both to Palin and to intelligent conservative women who happen not to agree with the far-left radical feminists and want to support a woman whom they agree with on some important issues, irrespective of Palin’s personal views on abortion. It’s like these people don’t think that women who think for themselves are capable of having any opinion other than theirs. So incredibly arrogant and insulting.

MissEm on September 10, 2008 at 5:17 PM