A woman’s right to choose: Or is it?

The Monitor Editor | Tuesday June 28, 2022 03:14

Here in Botswana, we have many single-parent households, mostly female-led, so what does that suggest? That some fathers choose to ditch the responsibility of caring for their children and leave them to the ones who carry them during pregnancy to do the heavy lifting.

Of course, in other dynamics, there are instances where the father wants to keep the baby and the would-be mother does not want to, hence the saying ‘whose body is it anyway’.

In a book titled, ‘Whose Body Is It Anyway’ Cécile Fabre challenges a common assumption amongst theorists of justice regarding rights over our bodies—that our bodies are not to be counted as resources amongst other resources in a theory of distributive justice.

The book is bold, systematic and rigorous in its discussion of recent work on such topics as the ethics of organ donation, prostitution, and reproductive surrogacy, as well as on justice, personal identity, and gender equity. Now that we are here, how do we balance the dynamics between women’s rights and the men’s right to decide whether they want the child or not?

The United States of America Supreme Court has come under fire from different corners following its ruling on abortion last Friday. The majority of voices have criticised the Supreme Court greatly, terming the decision as a ‘step backwards’.

The US Supreme Court has ruled there is no constitutional right to abortion in the United States, upending the landmark Roe vs Wade case. Other leaders have equally criticised the ruling.

Then again, some celebrated the ruling and welcomed it with open arms. According to BBC, Governor of Mississippi Tate Reeves quickly welcomed the ruling, saying his state had “led the nation to overcome one of the greatest injustices in the history of our country”.

“This decision will directly result in more hearts beating, more strollers pushed, more report cards given, more little league games played, and more lives well lived. It is a joyous day!” he wrote.

Arguments presented by the anti-abortion movement are also sound, but unfortunately, seem to make too many inferences.

The joyous statement by the Governor of Mississippi seems to simplify life to mean that every pregnant woman after giving birth will be able to afford a stroller, let alone have the time to push the stroller around.

We all know that women have many challenges, including that of sometimes having to raise children on their own without support from the children’s biological father! Women have, for the longest time, shelved their dreams and careers to raise their children, hence the need for every country to recognise a woman’s right to choose!