The Forgotten Child - The Making of Women into Men

The history of abortion is described usually in terms of the need of a woman to deal with an unwanted pregnancy through its termination. Prior to the late 20th century in which procedures  for terminating an abortion were developed to significantly reduce the risk to the woman of serious medical complications or death, the risk was great and we hear of "back alley abortions" where the person performing the abortion had little experience in performing such a surgery.

In the early part of the 20th century advocates for birth control arose because of the fear of over population. Hospitals were developing policies of general cleanliness and sterilization of instruments used in surgery. New medications to control diseases and infections were produced. The death rates of women giving birth and their babies were declining as a result.

Birth control, using contraceptives like the condom, the IUD, and the "pill", was widely preached to counter the rise in birth rates.   Since the use of contraceptives  many times resulted in a pregnancy in spite of their use, abortion was suggested to terminate unwanted pregnancies that were the result of contraceptive failure.

However, many states had laws against contraception and all states had laws against abortion. Supreme Court decisions declared all such laws unconstitutional.  Abortion became legal "on demand"

Concurrently with the growth of the legalization of abortion was the feminist movement which promoted equal rights for women that matched men in wages, jobs, education and just about anything a man did or had; in other words men and women were equal in every respect.

In terms of abortion, the ultimate in the feminist movement was to look upon abortion as the equalizer with men.  No longer could men say they could have any amount of sex without  having to worry about having a baby; now women could have as much sex as men without having a baby since the pill and abortion would take care of any "problems".  There are some women who have multiple abortions in their quest to be as free as men.

Thus today ardent feminists see abortion as the ultimate gift to womanhood in making men and women truly equal.  Thus women have been made into Men.  This is a feminist perspective that, fortunately, is not held by most women.  But this feminist ideal has made too many women take risks they otherwise would not take were this attitude not linger in their minds should they take risks.  It is surprising that many women become single moms rather than abort their child.

But there is a darker side to the evolution of abortion in America and this will be the next topic on The Forgotten Child.