Who has abortions? According to Marie Stopes Australia, it’s men... and “people”

[AngeloMysterioso]

A Marie Stopes Australia post on Facebook is attracting a bit of attention... 5 pictures, the first one just a graphic that says “Who has abortions?”. The next four slides are-

-Men with uteruses
-People who already have children
-People with a wanted pregnancy
-People who use contraception

Just shy of 800 comments... apparently GC comments were being deleted left right and centre but MSA have updated to say they are no longer “moderating” the discussion.

www.facebook.com/810047862456121/posts/3095104533950431/?extid=sleFTcNldQcFBsya&d=n

This is how they’ve captioned the post...

EDIT: TRIGGER WARNING

Unfortunately this post has attracted discriminatory and hateful comments that are simply unacceptable. As we are a very small team managing this page, we don’t feel we’re able to moderate the comment section any longer.

Our intention was never to erase women and their experiences, instead, we are aiming to highlight the stories that aren’t often told. There are many, many stories and tonight’s post was just a small sample.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this post 💙

Abortion is a sexual and reproductive health service that many people may access, and it’s important that we destigmatise those who may decide to seek an abortion.

From men with uteruses, to people who already have children - the list of people who may have abortions is endless.

Abortion is healthcare, and we will continue to help those who seek abortions access them safely.

Image description: Illustrations - A series of 5 tiles with pink backgrounds and navy blue and white text. At the bottom of each tile there is a white open door with the words “Marie Stopes Australia” next to it.
Slide 1: Who has abortions?
Slide 2: Men with uteruses. An illustration of a man with short black hair wearing a yellow t-shirt carrying a blue satchel bag.
Slide 3: People who already have children. An illustration of 2 people looking to their left. The 1st person has brown hair styled into a plait, gold hoop earrings and a yellow t-shirt. The 2nd person has short brown hair and is wearing a light green collared shirt under a dark green jumper.
Slide 4: People with a wanted pregnancy. An illustration of 2 people looking at each other. The first person has blonde hair styled into a pony tail, is wearing glasses and a light blue collared shirt under a maroon jumper. The 2nd person has black hair in a bun, wearing a green necklace with a blue pendant and a white shirt.
Slide 5: People who use contraception. An illustration of a person with short black hair wearing gold hoop earrings and a maroon turtleneck shirt. They are looking at their cup of tea. There is steam coming out of the yellow cup.

No man has a uterus.

Most women do.

No man will ever need an abortion.

Many women may, and many still have limited or no access to one if they do need one.

These are the facts. Obscuring them harms women.

The 'people with a wanted pregnancy' picture. I can't work out if it's supposed to be a lesbian couple who had assistance to get pregnant (because even Marie Stopes must know that lesbians cannot get pregnant without sperm

If they think men have uteruses then I wouldn’t be so sure they know the first thing about how babies are made

Interestingly, Marie Stopes was interested in eugenics and her service was to stop poor/disabled/mixed race people from reproducing. She was a Nazi supporter too.

Not really related to this but interesting facts about a woman hailed as a woman’s rights hero.

@WildAboutMyPlanet

Interestingly, Marie Stopes was interested in eugenics and her service was to stop poor/disabled/mixed race people from reproducing. She was a Nazi supporter too.

Not really related to this but interesting facts about a woman hailed as a woman’s rights hero.

I did not know that! Fascinating.

Thing with the other pictures is that

If they say people with children for example, and show a picture of a couple, and given that most couples statistically are male female. And they say people with children need abortion. Then they are in implying that the man in the couple is also having an abortion. And that he therefore gets a say in the decision etc. This is a pretty dangerous message isn't it?

Like 'we're pregnant', the female only activity is seen by being shared with the male. So she loses her autonomy to make decisions about it all when it's her body.

Abortion is healthcare, and we will continue to help those who seek abortions access them safely.

But we will encourage the idea that 'woman' is a word that refers to gender stereotypes, not a neutral word that simply refers to sex, thus rendering it completely useless in legislation and policy.

How can abortions be a feminist issue when anyone can have an abortion?

So they can say men but not women. Are men not people?

@Suffrajester

Only women and girls. Girls can get pregnant long before they're women, and it's usually dirty old men impregnating them. There's too much focus on "teen pregnancy" and not nearly enough on adult male impregnation of girl children. Or on helping these poor girls to access abortion, especially since they're more likely to suffer complications in childbirth because while they are physically developed enough to conceive (though not mentally enough to consent to it), they're not developed enough to safely carry the pregnancy to term and deliver.

This!! Instead of worrying about various identities of females of seek abortion (and c'mon, we can't keep up with all the categories), let's please focus on these types of horrifying circumstances - criminalizing men who rape girls and supporting girls who need abortion services to protect their underage bodies from harm, and social services to protect them from future abuse. Sadly, the most vulnerable are voiceless.

I just don’t even understand the logic.
Surely inclusivity would have had “people” for all points eg “people with uteruses” etc.

Yes, do let's make sure that men's point of view is heard in abortion care. Can't possibly see how that would hurt women either. Men always focus on the needs and autonomy of women.

If they wanted to be inclusive, why didn’t they just say “people with uteruses”?

The fact that they think the word “men” is acceptable but the word “women” is not speaks volumes.

So they can say man when it is validation for a FtM. And in that instance they declare that men have uteruses. 1st picture. Yet they cannot bring themselves to say man or woman when it applies to a man or woman by definition. Women who are the only sex to have a uterus.

I think it is a denial of reality and they are playing a game where everything means the opposite of what they say.

Is it uteri?

Ridiculous, only those with XX chromosomes aka genetically women have uteruses. End of.

I have no issues with adults who wish to live as the opposite gender or something in between but men cannot have children

Theres used to be a word for treating all these people who have abortions less favourably than other people - saxism? soxism?

@Emmmie

Marie Stopes - 50 years of helping men access safe abortions. So far zero cases and counting.

Abortion is a sexual and reproductive health service that many people may access, and it’s important that we destigmatise those who may decide to seek an abortion.

They are creating stigma by implying that its impossible to say that only women can have abortons.

The are creating stigma by putting simple words that refer to an unavoidable medical condition (being male or female) can't be used.

Gay pride (used to be) and women's liberation was about accepting people as the humans that they are. This is just about hiding.

I can't adequately express how angry I am about this. I've been in the pro life movement, and there are many men in that movement who would love a 'seat at the table' to discuss abortion. There is a deliberate prolife tactic to push the narrative of how men are affected by abortion. The effective counter is that abortion is a women's issue. This completely undercuts that.

@FloralBunting

I can't adequately express how angry I am about this. I've been in the pro life movement, and there are many men in that movement who would love a 'seat at the table' to discuss abortion. There is a deliberate prolife tactic to push the narrative of how men are affected by abortion. The effective counter is that abortion is a women's issue. This completely undercuts that.

Yes exactly. It's so short sighted I really have to question the intelligence going on here.

I think you can see from the comments on that post that people have had enough.

It's just bollocks. Nobody is being 'discriminatory' or 'hateful', they're just exasperated with the absolute fucking sheer nonsense of it.

Women exist. We're not going anywhere, much as we might seem terribly inconvenient with our real, living, bleeding biological presence. We're not just a backdrop or a fantasy or a vague shimmery mirage of hair/tits/frock.

They can bugger about with language as much as they wish, it changes nothing, really. It'll still be women getting pregnant, women dealing with the responsibilities, the difficult decisions, the physical consequences, the ramifications of bearing, birthing and (for the largest part) raising a child.

We can't be erased.

1600 fabulous comments from women who are rightly fucked off.

One interesting comment that their website says 'vasectomies are a safe and permanent form of contraception for men'
No outrage though for them being exclusionary of all those women with a penis.

I’ve typed out several replies that included the words “fuck” and “you”. I’m going to leave it at that. Be clear though I am absolutely incandescent about this disgraceful, shameful betrayal of women in pain and desperate need. Eff you Marie Stopes.

@Apollo440

Alll they need to say is 'women and transmen' or 'girls, women and transmen

Transwomen would object. And you mustn't hurt their feelings.

It has fuck all to do with transwomen, and it's about time people started saying so.

It’s their response around CIS-Gender Women that gets me

Shall we start referring to men as CIS Gender Men in all correspondence?