Is your abortion government-approved?

It was painfully obvious during the primaries and election that Obama either did not really understand the issues behind the reproductive justice movement, didn't care, or didn't think that authentically pro-woman framing of the issues would get him elected. Like too many people, Obama overlooked the obstacles women face in truly controlling our reproductive lives. He continued to present the debate as centered around judging women's choices. His framing often suggested that we have already won our rights, that we simply need to defend where we are, and move on to a next stage.

Today, Cara has pointed out the continuing efforts in South Dakota to make abortion inaccessible, while technically legal.

This is going on around the country. Millions of women already have no access to safe, legal abortion even in the first trimester.

And of course, reproductive justice isn't just about abortion. It's about the right to fully control our lives, including whether to have children, when to have them, and how we have them. Women are still fighting tooth and nail for control over our own bodies, from access to contraception, to education, to being treated with respect and not coersion by medical professionals.

"Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings." This sounds like such a simple statement. Many quote it as such, sometimes as proof of their feminism because they think they believe women are human beings. But the corellary is what makes feminist awareness so powerful and painful; feminists recognize that most of the world does not treat women as human beings. When it comes to reproductive justice in the United States, women as human beings is still a radical notion.

And in the midst of a strong backlash against women's right to abortion, the Obama Administration has taken a stand on the wrong side:

We already know that Obama plans to officially announce Joshua DuBois' appointment to be director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships tomorrow, as well as the unveiling of his newly-formed Presidential Advisory Council of the same name. But I'm told by a religious leader who will be part of the Council that the president also plans to lay out four priorities for the Council. They will include focusing on global poverty (not surprising), the impact of economic recovery plans on low-income Americans (ditto), the faith-based initiative (OF COURSE), and...abortion reduction.

This comes from Amy Sullivan, who is not exactly the best source, but she's quoted by Emily Douglas at RH Reality Check.

This is no surprise. It's exactly the way he talked about the issue during the election. But it's still chilling to see reducing abortion as a top priority of a faith-based governmental council.

It's dangerous and irresponsible, in my not so humble opinion.

ETA An excellent comment on the TIMES site:

plukasiak Says:
Thursday, February 5, 2009 at 5:44 am
This post illustrates the kind of unproductive politicization of the abortion issue that Obama is talking about.
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uh, its not the media who is politicizing abortion here, its Obama. He's the one calling a reproductive planning initiative "abortion reduction". (and lets not call it "family planning"; we're not talking about whether to take the kids to the beach or to Disneyworld for vacation, we're talking about sex and reducing unintended pregancies.)
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And there is a danger in this, because the focus of reproductive planning cannot and should not be abortion reduction; reducing the number of abortions is just one of the inevitable by-product of a successful reproductive planning initiative.
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"abortion reduction" isn't about healthy babies and prepared parents, "abortion reduction" is a phrase that comes right out of the "life begins at conception, and ends at birth" handbook. And whether we like it or not, abortion remains an important aspect of family planning -- while we can reduce the incidence of unintended pregnancies with a reproductive planning initiative, we can't eliminate the need for abortion services, or the need for reproductive planning services to include abortion as an option for women who do not feel ready to be bear children.