TOTW: Abortion

So, a big thing happened, and so far the usual actors seem to be responding in the usual ways. If you’re combing through your newsfeed or timeline for something interesting among all those sad screencaps of The Handmaid’s Tale and pictures of protests with people holding signs with coat hangers, you’re probably looking in vain.

What are we doing? We’ve got fundraising, consciousness raising, and attending disappointing protests covered, what else is there?

How do anarchists do abortion? Does it look like making our own mifepristone? Creating circles of trust and shared knowledge such as the Jane collective? This? What are the opportunities and challenges of illegality versus legality?

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The information security aspect of abortion is more important than ever. Organizing or brainstorming openly in public internet forums can end in people being investigated. For example, I can foresee false accusations towards people with a farm or ranch and veterinarians who order misoprostol, by right-wing wingnuts and conspiracy theorists a la pizza gate, saying they're supporting underground abortion rings. So thought must given into how to take that into account in the threat model. During covid quarantine, abortion pills were legal under federal law to order by mail. Here the risk comes from states trying to expand their jurisdiction through technicalities, applying to the internet, and therefore to people in other states, and newer forms of tracking like has been speculated could happen with period tracker apps.

I hadn't previously thought about that last point of yours; the new areas that have been opened for power to flow through and dominate as a result of COVID quarantine legislation. And, now that those areas have been opened, I don't see how they can be closed. I wonder if there are any ways that things like period trackers, misoprostol gate, etc. can be turned against those who seek to take advantage of them. Like using them to waste agency resources, or something.

not to beat a dead horse fetus, but there's only so many ways to abort, so many ways to conceive and so many forms of contraception. amatonormativity and heteronormativity is to blame in as much as it makes coitus the default and centered way of sexual intercourse, with primacy above other ways of sexual play and stimulation that are not reproductive. teach kids in school to frot and trib early on and that the coitus maneuver is an emergency maneuver much like the Heimlich to only be used in case human populations get below 10, 000 or whatever arbitrary invented number that you fancy

but what can you do? i wonder if the covid scaremongering and mask mandates were more effective in getting people to wear masks than other public health campaigns (much smaller) have been at getting people to use prophylactics and contraceptives, and those are more widely available and well known than abortives. while the prophylactic(covid)/contraceptive discourse is of personal responsibility, that of abortion is often around legality and state services. yes it's true that planned parenthood also provides education and contraceptives but you can also get those at any pharmacy, supermarket or gas station.

so what situations lead to unwanted pregnancies? there are many, but i'd say pregnancies are generally unwanted, even by default, involuntary for the most part, almost a vestigial biological process for a species as "advanced" and "civilized" as us. hell, even periods are unwanted, and they're comparatively less of a pain than having children, specially in the long run.

so a tentative modest proposal would be to promote homoerotic behavior and other sexual practices currently mocked (like abstinence, sucking dicks/balls, masturbation, pegging, etc) and other sexual practices currently belittled as "foreplay" (kissing, caressing, dry-humping, etc.), in conjunction with being very vocal about the sentiment that pregnancies are generally unwanted by default, and letting people know that though getting an abortion might be tougher in current circumstances, going through with pregnancy is tougher in all circumstances, even nowadays.

as for activism, instead of immolation in front of the congress and capitols like that environmentalist recently did, penis havers could self-castrate and fling their gonads at public officials. testicles could be used to feed people in food not bombs burritos. incentives for sterilization could be concocted as well, like invitation to an orgy among the sterilized

sex strikes are as valid as hunger strikes, it's a form of self-harm to express that you'd rather suffer that than some other indignity, but one would be remiss to equate erotic sensual intercourse with reproduction, and to devalue consensual mutual gratification by turning it into a bargaining chip, implicitly promised to be paid once accessible abortion services are guaranteed? sex should only be consensual, so refusing it should not be a grandstand but a basic thing since you don't owe it to anyone. the implicit message is that the people striking were previously constantly coerced to partake in it, which may as well be true, in which case people should come to terms and break those relationships permanently rather that hold out until other guarantees are made, instead of remaining in an abusive relationship with would-be impregnators and the State, both of which promote dependence, reduce freedom and autonomy and enslave, both captors that want to use bodies (re)productively for their own profit

We should attempt to utilize these laws to cause friction between states themselves. Commit crimes in one anti abortion state and when the cops catch on flee to a pro abortion state. Stress the state system that is clearly already fracturing.

spoiler alert: it won't split the states, they'll just throw people under the bus and hand 'em over. the system won't fracture, it will be strengthened in the direction of criminalizing abortion. plus people don't get abortions just to piss off the state they live in just to then move and relocate or whatever you're suggesting. unless you mean handing out zines about abortion in Texas and then go back home to California?

Yeah zines sure but also plan b, paying for people to have abortions, driving people across state lines etc. Of course there would be rare cases of people testing the law with actual abortion but I wasn't really speaking to that.

As for the states, I disagree. They are already under strain and growing far apart. Younger people are leaving in droves for places they would rather be. Trump declaring places anarchist states or whatever wasn't in a vacuum. Of course I'm not suggesting there are anarchist states just that the right wing opposition sees places like California as actual hell.

Anyhow, testing a place like Oregon or Washingtons resolve to send someone back to Oklahoma would be worth it. Either way this is all pushing states to fracture. Ya don't gotta believe it but...this is just another nail in the coffin.

Also one other thing, this goes both ways. If Oregon were to pass a law saying that you can't ferry people across the border than there will be hell to pay locally.

I think it was a missed opportunity not to celebrate Abortion Day this past Mother's Day. As Annwen says in that text:

"There was never any contradiction between the role of the midwife in childbirth and her role in dispensing herbs for abortion, it was seen as two different aspects of the same thing; part of the same cycle. I believe that regulation of your fertility must include being able to decide when to become a mother and when not to.

Although obviously an emotional time, abortion can be a positive experience, proving your fertility, clarifying relationships and exploring your feelings about motherhood. It’s not necessarily the opposite of motherhood, it can be part of it."

She also says:

"Although this may sound a little patronising, you must ensure that you start using contraceptives immediately after the abortion. You may find that you ovulate at an unexpected time as your cycle will take a while to settle back into any kind of pattern (it could be earlier or later). May women have found themselves pregnant again at the next ovulation after the abortion so be careful!"

So it could also be Contraception Day, since the "sanctity of MOTHERHOOD TM and WOMANHOOD TM should be knocked down a peg.

This Father's Day, Sunday, June 19th, carry out acts of revenge against all fathers and the patriarchy.

A great percentage of terminations of unwanted pregnancies are provided to people who already have children and are struggling to care after them and make ends meet. These children may have been unwanted pregnancies carried to term. Families of generations of generations of unwanted children, and to top that absent or uncaring fathers that did not care about the risk of impregnating and did not provide for an abortion or get sterilized after the first unwanted children.

Churches and all institutions that raise up the father figure are valid targets. Gift ideas for fathers: reading material about contraception, abortion and women's reproductive health, a box of condoms, an appointment with a urologist for a vasectomy, a kick in the balls, etc.

While we live under capitalism the best we can do is to fight for abortions to be legal, support alternative ways and helping women to get abortions in places where they can. In the long run, of course, the goal is to be free in every aspect of life which would include the right to have an abortion.

While we live under capitalism the best we can do is hurry comrade, shoot the policeman, the judge, the boss. Now, before a new police prevent you from carrying out abortions!

Hurry to say No, before the new repression convinces you that saying no is pointless, mad, and that you should accept the hospitality of the mental asylum.

Hurry to attack capital before a new ideology makes it sacred to you.

Hurry to refuse reformism before some new sophist tells you yet again that ‘voting is harm reduction’.

Hurry to abort. Hurry to arm yourself

Absolutely not. I'm against killing humans in all cases and against using violence in most cases. We am I an anarchist? Why do I oppose the state? Because they create violence and suffering! As I am against violence and creating suffering I will not create violence and suffering.

The way to stop violence and suffering is to stop the creators of violence and suffering by inflicting greater violence upon them, brow. What do you propose instead, cuppa tea or voting? Puh-leaze.

menstrual extraction. we should be doing for ourselves.

To get an idea how bad this could REALLY get, consider this: already one state has charged a woman with murder, then hurredly dropped it after a suspected abortion. When a state passes laws declaring abortion to be "murder" and also has the death penalty, we could be looking at EXECUTIONS of women for abortion. As usual, it will be Black and Brown women who will be faced with dying on the gurney, their arms shot full of poison by the cruelty of the state.

How far are we prepared to go if they start executing women for abortion? Do NOT answer here, but think on this, and think on it with those you trust the most.

in a way this is a similar dilemma to that raised by the covid pandemic which prompts some anarchists to adopt the role of public health officials

if the concern was limited to that of freedom and body autonomy, that of doing what you want regardless of legality, the state, church, patriarchy etc, then there would be no need to come up with ways to provide health services on a larger scale (humanist, rationalist, utilitarianist) than the know-how to provide one for yourself and yours

the model of the clinic itself should be put into question. the medicalization of childbirth and abortions, becoming the domain of medicine instead of midwives and doulas, folk knowledge, etc. do anarchists wish to become autonomous from the medical discourse or to partake in it?

Clearly, most vocal and public anarchists will (as is the case with The Rona) opt for being voluntary social workers, reinforcing the regime of capitalist interventions against actual self-organized autonomy. This is because most Americans who latch into the label "anarchist" are nothing more than liberal or social-democratic activists who support welfare state initiatives and the non-profit/industrial complex. To call into question the professional and patriarchal medicalization of healthcare along with the inherent injustices of the medical insurance racket would mean facing the ire of mainstream bourgeois--mostly white--feminists, the very people who push the lie that those systems represent a pivotal manifestation of the social safety net. Actual anarchists already know that this entire apparatus of biopower is a hideous charade, and should advocate--and start setting up--underground self-organized mobile reproductive health clinics where education and empowerment are the basic assumptions.

I think you're correct in identifying medicalized healthcare and medical insurance as apparatuses of biopower, but I think it's important to continue that critique into your suggestion regarding mobile reproductive health clinics. If we're talking about education, the power is always already present (I'm picking up on some Foucauldian vibes from your comment so I'm running with it cause I'm quite partial to Foucault). Is the goal to come up with some response that is not so embedded with power as our current institutions? Or instead, to find a "better" apparatus of power to implement in its place? Is it even possible to get outside of, or beyond, power?

It may not be possible to get outside of power, but we can aim for moving beyond it. While I've been influenced by Foucault, I still think he was wrong about all relationships expressing power and that's why I believe we can move beyond it.

My suggestion of self-organized reproductive health clinics could be a location of that transcendence, but as many of us already know (because we study history as well as bitter experiences having been involved in various self-organized projects), an organizational *form* cannot guarantee its *content*. There is such a thing as self-organized hierarchy (a non-mainstream religious cult for example) and self-organized exploitation (a worker-owned business for example). If there are to be self-organized reproductive health clinics organized and maintained with anarchist organizational principles, there might be a deliberate skill sharing that works against a division of labor (a definite marker of power). A deliberate deprofessionalization, a very DIY ethical framework, providing education about contraception and abortion do people can create their own strategies and paths. That's also why I suggest it be mobile, not tied to any particular institution or property owner(s).

Back to the question of power, it seems to me that most people who've read Foucault take his point about power existing in every relationship and interaction as an excuse not to examine their personal perpetuation of specialization and prestige. They just throw up their hands and say "well, power will always exist do I might as well wield it benevolently or maliciously depending on each situation." I've been a perpetrator of this as well as an observer of it in others, and a few times I've been on the shit end of the power stick. As long as we exist inside a culture based on hierarchy and domination people will be continually rewarded for exercising power. For me as an anarchist, the point is to make power diffuse, to spread it horizontally as widely as possible.

jane was what you're talking about, and existed for years and served widely... not explicitly anarchist, but was in form as well as content. (that overlap of feminist and anarchist practice)

i agree that it's easy (inevitable?) for organizations to lose any radical practice, but that's even a luxury right now, given that the far more imminent threat would be the state finding and breaking any organization that tried to be semi-public/known.

still worth trying, but complicated.

Yea, these are all good points! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Your note regarding organizational form not guaranteeing its content is really important I think, and something that can be easily overlooked/forgotten. I def needed reminding of that. And I like your suggestions for skills that would be beneficial to securing that content that you/we'd like to see. It makes the possibility much more immediate, and the steps for its achievement much more clear.

And then an aside, I think anyone who reads Foucault and his take on power and uses it as an excuse to act like a POS is, well, at a minimum a bit silly. Like, because (to Foucault) power is emergent within literally everything and everyone, always already and forever, that means we have that much capability to effectuate change in our lives and communities. Like, resistance and power are always linked (again, to Foucault), so to ignore that inherent resistant potential, or do any sort of "it isn't worth it" -ism, is to just fundamentally misunderstand (or take advantage of) the nature of power and resistance. Okay rant over; I've just been talking to a lot of smooth-brained baby-"foucauldians" lately and it's... annoying lol.

Miscarriage is also referred to as spontaneous abortion, which is exactly what it is.

Now do we also put any women who has a misccarriage on trial for murder? Or do we blame God, because nature emanates from God (or Buddha Nature if you prefer)?

legalising abortion is a technical solution to an ideological problem

rather than attacking the church, and its underlying ideologies which engendered states, a toothless plea for separation of church and state

with legal abortion, the commoner can now partake in (re)productivist discourse with a legal allowance of making an exception for when its consequences become too onerous

the good citizen can still (re)produce for the economy another day, and it can thank the current order for allowance to omit a birth

the good citizen can go to church, praise god, go to market, praise capital, go vote, praise the state, thank them for the allowance of omitting a birth discretely so they walk to church, the market, the ballot, with less swelling of the feet

“We aren’t against churches or Catholics. We are against people from the church going to harass patients trying to seek an abortion. We will continue to defend our clinics, and we will be ready for future right-wing extremism.”

no need for them to reject the ideology that compels them to engage in (re)productive behavior in the name god, be it called jehova, family, nation or progress. no need to attack the creators and enforcers of gender and other oppressive regimes

a commitment to no future would entail sterile, counter-productive and destructive sexual practices
immediate reckless hopeless attack against all that stands in the way of anarchy

pro-choice, pro-stitute, de-stitute, anti-birth, anti-civ
fire to all churches and all priests
death to all fathers
anarchy is the mother of all which devours its children/itself!

Indiscriminate castration!
We’d like to state to all those people who have male genitals that you too are in our sights. Just like the list of anti-choice facilities and people, the list of “penis bearers” who we will attack is quite long. Don’t be surprised if one day while you’re quietly urinating or simply walking to the cafe the “Devil” shows up and severs your phallus. This time it won’t be offered as a sacrifice, it’ll just be fertilizer for the trees.

was that it was not really the product of a momentous political power movement like what happened in Canada leading up to the 1988 supreme court decision. It seems obvious to me that from a legalistic approach you'll have to put in the work just like the Canadian pro-abortion movement did. As I understand the male dominated justices at the time were much more in tune with the liberal order intelligentsia of the day and they had just all read 'The Population Bomb' which was published in 1968.

There will have to be a perennial set of positions that are libertarian in nature that emphasize bodily autonomy and integrity. Make it individualist and don't do the identitarian women's interest nonsense(pro-life vs pro-choice is not predicted by gender). Make the strong point that an fetal human IS NOT A FUCKING CONSCIOUS PERSON and is there for not considered for questions of rights that override the autonomy of the host. Make good bioethical arguments and bring up the fact that the foundations of the pro-life position are based on anthropocentric deontological nonsense that does not work in the real world. Infanticide still goes on for fux sake in some parts(that's not to say that we should bring it back).

All in all, just have good bio-ethical positions and arguments. In the meantime, a new and improved Jane movement and other alternatives and propaganda deeds will be welcome and needed.

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