When a woman claims that the man is keeping her down, I’m the man.

Smallholder’s the man.

Seriously, Ally warns me that I’m about to lose something very precious.

The feminist mantra that men ought not to opine about abortion is (insert profane, dismissive phrase here).

If one believe that the fetus is a human life, abortion is murder. The fact that the murder is taking place within the body of another person is irrelevent. One is obligated to protect human life against those who would take it.

So the intnt of abortion foes is not to subjugate women. Period.

That said, it is clear that a high proportion of pro-life crusaders are men. This is probably because the religious groups most likely to (erroneously) believe that their literally interpreted Bible says that life begins at conception are also the same groups most likely to belive that their literally interpreted Bible says that women should not hold leadership positions in the church. Their relegation of women to second class status has a great deal more biblical support than their anti-abortion stand. If you don’t believe me, peruse the fiercely sexist Pauline epistles.

For fundamentalists,
Abortion = murder.
Leadership = men.
Therefore, anti-abortion leadership = men.

I’ll confess that many fundamentalist leaders like Pat Robertson would like to re-relegate women to the domestic sphere. But the opposition to abortion is not, repeat not, a function of their patriarchal viewpoint. Their patriarchal viewpoint and their opposition to abortion are both the result of their particular way of inerpreting the Bible.

So it is:

Literal interpretation = anti-abortion + female submission
NOT
Female submission = anti-abortion.

As I grapple with the abortion issue in the coming updates, please don’t send any Steinemesque invective my way. I am not a literalist and, being the rationalist Episcopalian that I am, believe that God’s equal distribution of intellect to men and women is indicative of his desire that men and women be equal partners in every sphere*. I think Paul’s admonitions to women to be silent are more reflective of Paul’s cultural sexism than the WILL O’ GOD. For me, the entire issue is whether or not the fetus is human (and yes, Brian, I acknowledge that the term is problematic) and possesses a soul. Everything revolves around that issue. If the fetus isn’t human, women ought to do whatever they want to the tumors in their wombs. If the fetus is human, feminist ideology is no defense for murder.