Abortion, Sterilisation and the Othering of non-mothering Women

That the United States is going into the wrong political direction, moving politics into an inhumane arena, is not a piece of news that will surprise anyone. For a many years now, conservative politicians have been fighting to close down sexual health clinics, alter legislation on rape and continue to make abortions impossible in the United States. Rape is not rape anymore - the American law distinguishes between different types of rapes, suggesting there are "worse" or more "comfortable" ways of rape. Women who need medical help that goes far beyond anticonception or abortion have less and less places to go. America is bluntly attacking the woman and taking away her essential freedom and self-sufficiency.


This issue was only what initially led me to write on the following. Why, oh why, are so many people, groups, faiths and political parties always involved in women's choices? No one will cry out at the sterilisation of a man - because this act is intrinsically considered his choice to make. But why does society not grant women this choice? Why is becoming pregnant - keeping or not keeping the baby - a choice that so many external parties feel justified to interfere with?

Because it is a baby, you might say. Because it is a living, human being. Even if I do not agree with the suggestion that a foetus is already immediately a human being, I will consider this argument.

But this goes way beyond abortion. Young women, in their mid- and late twenties, are not allowed to get their tubes tied - to get a sterilisation - and are confronted with many hurdles and critical comments. These are clever, educated women who have thought about their options, choices and desires in life, are not allowed to make up their own minds. It is expected of us to reproduce and to - most importantly - want to do so. Women who do not want to mother, or who simply do not want to give birth, are not taken seriously.

Why is it such an issue if I, with twentyfive, want to get a sterilisation? What if I do not want to give birth to children? If anything, this is my own personal choice and mine alone - why do people feel inclined to interfere with my own opinion?
No one asks a woman who is pregnant whether she wants to really, really keep the baby. Because keeping the baby is what society expects of us.

In the end, this discussion is not about children or motherhood, it is about the quintessential right of anyone, "even" a woman, to make up her own mind. Part of that choice is also the choice to say "no", to not want to have children, never ever. And for people, doctors and institutions to accept this.