Battleground: What About Women’s Lives?

The abortion debate is personal. If you were around in 1973, as I was, a new hire in the English Department at Brooklyn College, you were privy to the harrowing stories of colleagues who had had unwanted pregnancies. This happened, not because they were reckless, but because of the prevailing notions that women could and would enjoy sex as much as men—a risky choice. Erica Jong’s catchphrase, “the zipless fuck,” was about to be coined. Our Bodies, Our Selves emboldened women to be adventurers. This was new, as women’s lives were expanding beyond their father’s/husband’s purview. Roe v. Wade enlarged those possibilities, eliminating the danger and stigma for sexually active women, “auctoritee,” as Chaucer’s Wife of Bath would have it—women would have self-rule. Agency. And maybe self-love. Implicit in the current reversal of Roe: women’s lives don’t matter.

Watching Battleground, Cynthia Lowen’s powerful, Zietgeist-hitting documentary featured at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, I was struck by how intelligent the leadership of anti-abortion groups are, articulate and persuasive in their ideas about killing babies, Gen Z zealots in preventing this murder—and how young and clueless regarding the hard-fought struggles of pre-Roe women.

Still, I was happy to learn their perspective. My advice to these women: never, ever have an abortion. Not one considered the larger view that reflects a concern for society as a whole. Roe v. Wade established a precedent for respecting women’s right to reproductive medical attention. Matters of health should be a concern for all. And now unborn rights prevail.

At one point, in Battleground, Marjorie Dannenfelser, a leader of Susan B. Anthony List, preached to a large crowd, supporting Trump: She exhorted, (paraphrasing), I am asking you, whether you are Republican, Democrat, or just don’t like this guy’s tweets, become a voter supporting this single issue. Trump is our best candidate for overturning a woman’s right to abortion. Really? How much are you willing to give up –how much life-threatening bad behavior are you willing to endure? I, for one, have had enough.