Hey y’all, let me guess y’all didn’t think you’d get two posts in one day? WELL HERE YA GO BABES. Please understand my writing in this one is going to be completely different than all my other blogs. I decided to focus on actual facts then allowing my own personal stance on this to take over my blog. I’m sticking to the proposed ideas of Ronnie Hawkins.
After reading Ronnie Hawkins’ Reproductive Choices: Ecological Dimension, I feel like we might be closer to figuring out why this theory of ecofeminism is such an issue. Diving deeper into the idea of feminism we are introduced to ecofeminism, a movement that combines ecological concers with feminist, concluding both resulting from the domination of man in society. In this article, Hawkins’ argues the ecological side of this feminist idea concerning abortion. Hawkins’ believes that while the talks on abortions are maily based on moral beliefs and humane opinion, we need to consider the even bigger picture, the world we live in.
Hawkins uses overpopulation as evidence for consideration of abortion because as ecofeminists, we take responsibility for not just human life but life given to us through nature. According to the article, over the past two centuries the human population has increased to about 5 and 6 billion people worldwide and is said to be expanding logarithmically. As we continue to read we see that the maximum number of people the planet’s resources will support is between 10 and 12 billion people. In a matter of two centuries we are almost more than double the maximum number.
When we do not consider abortion we are turning a blind eye on how this decision affects the earth. With resources already 50 percent reserved, not considering abortion as a means of population control would be neglecting the balance of nature and how it provides for all life forms. The more births, the more resources being used which creates a domino effect that not only deconstructs nature and its purposes for us but also deconstructs the power the feminist theory give women over nature.
What I believe Hawkins’ is arguing is that if you consider yourself to be a feminist/ecofeminist, then abortion should be considered in support of their responsibility of nature. In an ecofeminist approach, all life is considered. Throughout the article, Hawkins’ explain the bigger picture of how this topic at hand affects life as we know it.
Ecofeminism supports the idea that we must deconstruct the domination of humans over nature in order to introduce change. In the module labeled “Ecofeminism background” there were 3 points that the argument was compressed to, one of which caught my attention in writing this supportive argument. “(3) thus feminism is also a movement to end naturalism: the liberation of women requires the liberation of nature (and vice versa)…(page 2/7)” With overpopulation as a factor of evidence to consider abortion Hawkins explains that this also affects nature. So with a feminist job to end naturalism, being that the liberation of women requires the liberation of nature, we cannot neglect abortion out right without understanding how this may affect the world. As i talked about before, the more people on the earth, the less resources we have access to which starts to accelerate the destruction of nature due to lack of resources.
Hawkins’ article ends with important evidence that supports why abortion should be considered in circumstance.
“Abortion has recently received attention as a problematic issure for ecofeminists: it has been viewed as a ‘masculine’ response to unwanted pregnany that ‘fails to respect the interconnection of all life,’ and as a choice that is difficult to reconcile with ‘an abstract pr-nature stance’ that would allow ‘natural’ events suchas pregnancy to run their course. However, if as [Val] Plumwood maintains, there is a need to reconceptualize both the concept of the human and the concept of nature, part of meeting this challenge will lie in reconceiving ourselves as beings essentially of the natural world and yet beings whose nature it is to be active choosers of our own actions, responsible for their efforts on eachother and on other lifeforms, including the effects of out own reproductive activities. At the present time, recognition of our connectedness with all other life on the planet reinforces the need for abortion. When the interests of life in this larger sense are taken into consideration, the pro choice position is the one most deserving of the adjective pro life’.(693)”
Ecofeminist argument against abortion would be, in a way, neglecting the self inflicted responsibility of nature. Which would go against the theory of feminist. Their argument only supports a fraction of the bigger picture that Hawkins is trying to explain. Hawkin’s is arguing that we cannot try to save human life without considering the domain in which it provides us humans, the means of sustaining our lives on earth.
I personally believe everyone should have their choice on abortion regardless of what happened whether they got pregnant by choice or rape whatever they choose is their personal business. They should also see how it would affect them and how it would effect the environment. Before I used to be a strong believer that abortion should be illegal but as I got older I realized I can’t force someone to hold something in their body. They deserve to be in control of their own bodies and choices for their future. Yes abortions are sad, and all women who have them feel hurt when they do so. So please lets not shame them. That’s all I will say, thanks for reading..
xoxo Gossip Girl.