I adore John Oliver, yet I don’t watch his show weekly, mostly because time, time, and time. This segment (linked below), on fetal personhood, however, was and is a must. To be clear: in my view and in the view of anyone who gives an actual fuck about women, children, reproductive science, reality, the law and women and girl’s lived experiences, a fetus is not a person. Can’t exist outside the pregnant person? Nope. Not a person.
The wing nuts on the other side of this issue, however, believe that life begins at conception, which is not just cray-cray, it means the Big White Guy Sky Friend and his inexplicably white, often blond and even often blue-eyed son are the biggest abortionists of them all. Oops!
I have a nephew who is a seriously conservative Catholic. We don’t have a relationship, which is fine by me, largely because of his ridiculous, regressive, misogynistic, racist, homophobic beliefs. A white male friend of his adopted – paid a lawyer, went through a process of legal adoption – an abandoned, leftover embryo from a mid-Atlantic IVF clinic. This was and is, to me, when there are on average 400K children in the U.S. in foster care daily, a cruel, weird, stupid and actually crazy choice but hey – he’s free to make it because of course he is. Yeesh.
He and my nephew are purer than pure, you see, and Sky Friend – who is also 100% for sure Catholic, don’tcha-know – is looking down on them beatifically because the stink of their purity floats all the way to heaven.
Ick.
If a fetus were a person, we would be able to claim them as dependents on our tax returns, right? But much more than that, if a fetus is a person, what – as Oliver points out – is a pregnant woman? Oh honey, she’s a second class citizen, and that, ladies and gents, is the real goal here. Watch and learn at the link below, but also, be informed of your rights before, Gawdess forbid, you travel to or choose to live in an abortion desert, many of which deserts and their state legislatures seek to further curtail the personhood of women. Women of color, poor women, and women with a history of drug use in particular.
And, for the record, Tommy Tuberville is an embarrassment, a dolt. He’s in the U.S. Senate?! Mediocre men rising to the top with ease enrages me. Argh!
FFR should you know a pregnant person in less than ideal circumstances, the following are resources for all of those in need:
If/When/How: Lawyers for Reproductive Justice #844-868-2812 https://ifwhenhow.org
Pregnancy Justice: 212-255-9252 https://www.pregnancyjusticeus.org
John Oliver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCSt45rev7w