Volume 20, Issue 7 Since the Texan legislature passed their ‘Fetal Heartbeat’ abortion legislation last week, I’ve had to endure a bunch of cringy takes from classmates cosplaying as Americans. As much as Texas is beginning to resemble a ‘shithole state’, the sky remains safely above our heads in Melbourne. The dry, uninteresting observation that almost none of us have any connection to Texas whatsoever didn’t prevent ‘my body my choice’ from swamping my Instagram feed. I found this tiresome, precisely because I agree with it; precisely because we all agree with it. Pretending that you are part of the thin red line holding the breach against the Victorian Taliban is annoying. It minimises the real courage of women in the American South, and a hundred other places besides, who face the very real prospect of their bodies being taken from them. Here, bodily autonomy is sacrosanct. Bodily autonomy, of course, is the fundamental right which abortion recognises. It is a foundational premise of our law. Ironic then, that many of the people who vocally support this principle when it pertains to overseas abortion rights, are also those in favour of vaccine mandates right here at home. The two are weird co-travellers in the left-wing political space I inhabit. Obviously, ‘vaccine mandate’ doesn’t mean that a policeman is going to shoot you with a dart gun. However, the policy as outlined in Victoria does mean that people who have not received a vaccine will be excluded from large parts of public life. Here is where the comparison with abortions is useful. Proponents of the exclusion policy smilingly say they are not forcing anybody to take a vaccine. However, imagine the justified outrage if the Victorian Government were to announce they were not banning abortions…but you’re not allowed in the pub if you’ve had one. The natural disgust you feel imagining such a world springs from its utter disregard for a person’s right to their own body. Why, then, is this response absent when it comes to vaccine mandates? One obvious reason is that, unlike an abortion, declining a vaccine can make you a disease vector. However, as fewer and fewer people who want vaccines are unable to get them, this justification is wearing thin. In light of the Delta variant, we can no longer even bet on vaccines preventing us from contracting COVID, meaning the vaccinated are also vectors. Nevertheless, the vaccinated are incredibly safe from serious harm. Despite this, the hatred of the unvaccinated persists. It is socially permissible to hold them in contempt, and entirely appropriate to exclude them from society, merely because they made a certain decision regarding their health. We, as the majority, are blithely giving ourselves the authority to tell them what they can and cannot do with their bodies. The obvious lack of substance in many of my classmates’ political positions is disappointing. Despite loudly proclaiming their purported values on social media, for many of them, the commitment to bodily autonomy is only skin deep. Publius is a third year JD student If you would like to submit a response to this, or any of De Minimis’ articles, email [email protected] The views in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of De Minimis or its Editors.
Angry female
7/9/2021 09:04:37 pm
You are making a complete false equivalence by likening abortions and vaccinations.... you clearly misunderstand both issues. Vaccinations carry public health implications. Abortions don't. End of story.
Publius
7/9/2021 09:08:15 pm
I addressed this point in paragraph 8. Even so, do 'public health implications' justify any restriction, no matter how draconian?
Abort me but don’t give me covid
7/9/2021 09:24:12 pm
This debate isn’t normative. Put the context back.
Publius
7/9/2021 09:30:58 pm
Once the rest of us are vaccinated, probably not.
Abort me but don’t give me covid
7/9/2021 09:16:50 pm
I see op’s point, but this is only not a false equivalency when the comparison is approached at this very high level of generality.
Uninformed but not this uninformed
8/9/2021 12:07:07 am
I think this article is vile because it entirely glosses over the cruel social implications of removing a person's reproductive freedom and treats those as equivalent to the currently very minor inconveniences associated witch opting out of a vaccine. But I think it was written in good faith, so props for holding what you know to be an unpopular conviction with bravery.
ANTI-VAX RAGE?
8/9/2021 07:47:21 am
Good comment.
hear hear
8/9/2021 09:16:35 am
i agree with your comments and take on the article but commenting on the actual writing style (the skin deep metaphor thing) is a bit tf. it's definitely not the most alarm-raising issue in the article for me at least :P
Disgusted
8/9/2021 09:21:45 am
Does the author have a uterus?
like_clockwork
8/9/2021 09:27:20 am
huh.... seemed about time for de min to drum up something incredibly inflammatory and harmful just to try and make themselves relevant and edgy again. nice to see that we've made the step from racism to sexism this time !!!
Desperately Seeking Relevance
8/9/2021 09:39:06 am
Genuinely not convinced the author believes a word of what they’re saying, just another desperate attempt to get people talking about their shit publication
oh no
8/9/2021 09:36:37 am
re: 'Victorian Taliban'
HARD AGREE
8/9/2021 10:32:37 am
Publius seemed so concerned about their racial soap box in their article a month ago, yet continued to contribute to the harmful anti-muslim narrative that provides a scapegoat for these awful practices which white-supremacist texas is solely responsible for.
Vile
8/9/2021 10:19:19 am
Let me guess a man wrote this
Incredible Stuff
8/9/2021 10:21:03 am
I'd love to say this was a new low for De Min but sadly this is, at worst, a horizontal move. This kind of dross suggests a man who will deservedly never succeed in politics despite his best efforts
Ambivalent
9/9/2021 11:27:55 am
I don't think 'never succeeding in politics despite one's best efforts' is the sick burn that you think it is
A person with a uterus
8/9/2021 10:38:03 am
This is a disgusting dismissal of reproductive rights. I cannot believe that this was published. This is harmful and should be taken down. Access to abortion is something that is of concern to Australian uterus owners.
Harmful?
8/9/2021 03:55:39 pm
It's certainly a subpar article, but I don't think it's even remotely harmful lol. Apart from MLS nerds, no one else reads De Min. And even if they did, I doubt this article would convince a reasonable mind to side with it.
Nathan Kan
8/9/2021 11:22:13 am
Save for the obviously inflammatory style of the piece - I think OP brings up a fair point - albeit I do not necessarily agree with the headline and attempting to substantiate it would require a far more in-depth philosophical discussion and public health analysis. A serious defence of this stance is possible, but this piece is clearly politically orientated and so much of the feedback is of kind. OP is also pro abortion and not advocating anything to the contrary to be fair.
SOLID
8/9/2021 12:22:43 pm
H1 review
Solid response
8/9/2021 07:13:40 pm
Top response Nathan Kan.
yeah nah, this ain't it
8/9/2021 11:49:32 am
Oh no, how terrible that people demonstrated their support for the plight of women overseas. Just because someone doesn't have a direct connection to a place doesn't obliterate their right to care (the author also probably isn't aware of the number of people with uteruses at the law school who have used abortions/considered them - the line is more direct than they suggest).
Wtf
8/9/2021 12:16:46 pm
“Despite this, the hatred of the unvaccinated persists. It is socially permissible to hold them in contempt, and entirely appropriate to exclude them from society, merely because they made a certain decision regarding their health. We, as the majority, are blithely giving ourselves the authority to tell them what they can and cannot do with their bodies.”
Stunning and Brave
8/9/2021 12:30:48 pm
While I don’t endorse the points raised, I do endorse the courage Publius has shown in publishing this article.
praise
8/9/2021 01:57:52 pm
Are you sure you haven't internalised your misogyny? (sarcasm).
Courageously anonymous?
8/9/2021 04:05:17 pm
If this is not satire - may I ask where the courage is in publishing this anonymously? If Publius wanted to really stun anyone he would put this under his own name..
Anti-social-lynch
8/9/2021 04:35:57 pm
I think it's a pretty smart decision to avoid the social justice mobs from committing a social lynching of the author.
irrelevant
8/9/2021 04:39:35 pm
That's fair. But the point made was that it's courageous - being too afraid to put your name to your views (even if it is a "smart decision") does not quite ring with bravery, does it?
3rd party
9/9/2021 11:33:24 am
Sounds like bravery to me. And smartness.
keep going
8/9/2021 04:31:34 pm
Also share your sentiment - courageous of both Publius and De Minimis. Hope De Minimis remains committed to publishing a diverse range of views, no matter how unpopular they may be.
HERE HERE
8/9/2021 05:09:23 pm
Here here! As a second-year female JD student, I agree with this. Too often a handful of women claiming to speak for the mythical sisterhood have the loudest voice and silence even slightly out of the box views through shaming and ad hominems.
R u ok
8/9/2021 05:24:09 pm
If getting the jab ended up with you having a kid, I'd be pro choice as well. But it doesn't. Instead you get immunity from a life threatening disease, and prevention at spreading it to others.
Science - google it
9/9/2021 01:09:03 am
This article is wrong on a lot of levels, but let's unpack the science a bit.
A grad with too much time on their hands
15/9/2021 12:02:07 pm
After reading this article I immediately scrolled down hoping to find this (or some variant of this) comment. I'm glad I did.
My body, my choice unless it means spreading COVID
9/9/2021 04:03:40 pm
Deciding what happens to my body (re pregnancy) does not affect the health of ANYONE else. Having a safe, well-research and reviewed vaccine does SO MUCH for public health (and everyone's human right to health). This is why vaccines are the golden ticket out of lockdown and why the world HASN'T fallen into moral corruption and chaos since permitting abortions.
MY BODY, MY CHOICE UNLESS IT MEANS SPREADING COVID
9/9/2021 04:07:02 pm
And to follow up on this comment I am extremely disappointed in the De Minimis team for publishing this. Yes, you may not agree with the sentiments but by publishing controversial pieces like this is how the whole news media is pushed further to the right as more air time is given to the more 'controversial' topics. If this was a pro-vax, pro-choice abortion article I doubt I would have been sent it by multiple people.
De Minimis was right to publish this
9/9/2021 08:17:39 pm
I agree with your first comment, but am quite disturbed by your second. De Minimis, as a student publication should post all views, sentiments and opinions of students no matter what political, social or economic stance they take. I can see that this post has created a negative reaction by some, which is great because it provides students an opportunity to voice their disagreement and create discourse on this topic. Comments are closed.
|
Archives
October 2022
|