Picture this: There is a pregnant woman out to dinner with her husband at a nice Italian restaurant. She is nearly full term and is craving that glass of wine she has done without the past eight months. She hesitates to order a small glass of red wine but decides that one glass would not hurt. When the waiter comes to the table and the mother-to-be places her order for a small glass of red wine, the waiter seems to look confused. The woman is obviously pregnant and pregnant women are not allowed to drink, so how does the waiter go about this situation. The waiter denies the mother-to-be her wine order explaining that the staff is not allowed to serve a pregnant woman.
What amount of control does this woman have of her body and choices right now? When women get pregnant I feel like everyone around them feels like it is their obligation to tell the mother-to-be what she can and cannot do during her pregnancy. So now this woman and friends, family members, bosses, and doctors telling them how to treat their body for the next nine months (imagine nine months, that’s an entire YEAR here at Allegheny). Don not forget about the biggest contender of all, the law. Bordo lists some rules such as discontinuing the use of “alcohol, cigarettes, or other possibly harmful substances, forbidding them from continuing to work because of the presence of fetal toxins in the workplace, forcing them to take drugs…” (81). It seems like something that can be so great, such as pregnancy, has turned into an intrusive loss of freedom to make your own choices. Women can be put in jail for using substances while pregnant but then once they are in jail, they are not even offered a therapy program (83). If the mother cannot stop using while she is pregnant, what do you think is going to make her stop using when the baby is born, so she can successfully raise the child? On page 82 or Bordo’s work Cal Thomas asks “what’s the difference between wanting to protect a child that is newly born and one that is about to be born?” (this was said in regards to serving alcohol). The difference is the fetus cannot live without the mother when it is in the womb. It cannot make its own decisions, it cannot feed itself, and it certainly cannot breath on its own. The mother can live without the child, but the child cannot live without the mother therefore the fetus is “no more than tissue or an appendage to the mother” (88). We too often separate the mother from the fetus, subsequently placing more importance on the fetus, when in reality the mother and fetus are one system. They are not a part of separate entities where the mother is the “fleshy incubator” (84), without any feeling, emotion or choice for herself, but society often forgets that.
So what happens when a pregnant woman does not want to “follow the rules” our society and government have so compassionately made (sarcasm).? Or worse: What if a woman wants to have an abortion? Is that not her choice? I think choice is there for a reason. I find it respectable, if a person who is pregnant knows that she cannot provide for this baby, could not stay healthy during the pregnancy, or feels unable to have the child for any other reason, to have an abortion (I know adoption is there, but work with me). Unfortunately this case is controlled the most in our society. There is a plethora of research going into defining “when life begins”. If we can all agree on that, we get closer to all agreeing on when a woman can and cannot have an abortion. I respect the law that abortion cannot take place in the third trimester, mostly because if the woman has gone that far, I feel like 1. There was an extended period of time that she considered having the baby and 2. There is not much time left in the pregnancy and the baby can still be placed for adoption. Disregarding all “rules” and laws around abortion why is it not the mothers choice to carry or abort the child? Her life is on the line too and she can make her own decisions, feed herself, and breath on her own. We often ask: Why don’t woman have control of their body during pregnancy, but if you think about it, do women ever have control of their bodies?
The passage in Bordo's piece that focused on the denial of a pregnant woman's alcoholic drink order caught my attention. Now, here in your post I find myself confronted with the same conflicting imagery. A pregnant woman with alcohol. I must admit that when I came across the pregnant women attempting to order a rum daiquiri I experienced a sense of indignation. A thought along the lines of "You can't order that, you're pregnant!" ran through my mind. I thought this of course because I have long been socialized to believe that alcohol is harmful to fetuses and therefore completely off limits to pregnant women. But thinking through it: one starts to wonder: how harmful can it be? I mean, think of how many of our predecessors were in the wombs of women partaking in drink. It seems to me that fetal alcohol syndrome didn't affect entire generations.
ReplyDeleteSo one can question, are the rules surrounding pregnancy in place to protect fetuses or constrict mothers?
Alcohol laws against pregnant woman are a very American thing. America has very strict laws about who can drink and at what age, making it a alcohol obsessed culture without any real reasoning.
ReplyDeleteI bring this up because in Europe, drinking wine with a meal is not seen as drinking to get drunk. It's a different mindset completely, allowing people to make sensible decisions about alcohol. This said, European countries don't have an abundance of children born with fetal alcohol syndrome, and those women drink a glass of wine almost everyday.
Why aren't we told this? Because its too different from our society?
I think your question, "do women ever have control over their bodies" is a pointed one especially with the recent move by Health Secretary Kethleen Sebelius to require a doctor prescription for Plan B one-step method. Previously all women 17 and above have been able to purchase this contraceptive at any local drug store. This new move seems absurd to me and non logical because Plan B is a last step emergency contraceptive and not every one can get into their doctors right away if a condom were to break or etc. Not only are pregnant women's bodies under regulation but the pre-pregnant body as well. The pre-pregnant body is a body that has the potential and ability to have a child. In a sense the none existant child is given subjectivity over the woman's body once again. This new measure constricts the female body and will play out as an ability to gain access to a prescription before the point of conception.
ReplyDeleteThe waitress scenario just like Bordo’s piece made me think how much ownership does a female really have over her body. In fact I didn’t even realize how much regulation is placed on a pregnant woman until I began with the readings in our class and our discussions. I understand the precautions a responsible mother would/should take for her unborn child are essential but whose obligation or right is it to make her to oblige by these precautions?
ReplyDeleteYou brought up a very good point that we often separate the mother from the fetus when yes, they are one, not separate entities. A mother is NOT as you mentioned, a “fleshy incubator” that does not have emotions. Despite her pregnancy she is still of great importance and validity.
I agree that women should rightfully have the option on whether or not she wants to carry the child full term. I don’t think its fair for so much judgment to be placed on women who do decide to get an abortion for whatever reason. After all it is HER body therefore shouldn’t it be HER choice?