This latest issue regarding abortion is a joke. I don't have anything new to add to the conversation at hand, everything in my mind has been covered - ie. I'm male, so I don't think it is my right to be taking stance in the public arena but as far as my opinions go - Pro-Abortion.
And kind of off topic but completely related here's a pro-feminism essay by the boys from Propagandhi. Makes a good read...
UPPITY WIMMIN UNITE!
Most of us meet the concept of feminism in very personal places, which may be why so many of us initially act so strongly against it. Yeah. It requires us to examine those forces and change. Change can be hard. Hell, change can be fucking terrifying- especially when it means examining the foundation of our culture and finding that it's rotten, built on shifting sands of fear and hatred Every form of media is enlisted to keep us convinced that women should remain opressed and that "they like it that way". The ideas planted in the deepest parts of our person by television, advertising and pornography all tell us that hatred is acceptable. Entire lives and eras and systems of thought have been dedicated to convince us that it is. IT'S NOT. Duh.
Feminism is located at crossroads of all human prejudice. It is especially concerned with issues of class. We live in a society that requires poverty because desperate, exploitable labour-pools mean more profits for capitalism's asshole elites. Poverty's first target is women: women who make up the majority of sweat-shop labour around the world, women who must feed their children, women who have little or no control over their reproductive lives. So until there's economic justice, there won't be gender justice. Affirmative action in the workplace is important, but real justice will never be gained solely by women becoming a part of the corporate elite. As the great feminist poet, Audre Lorde, said, "the master's tools will not dismantle the master's house." FEMINISM IS IN EVERYONE'S BEST INTEREST. Go look at your record collection. Your television. Your bookshelf. If you're like me, chances are that between 75 and 100 percent of the artistic expression you consume is made by white, heterosexual, middle to upper-class males. Maybe we should be asking ourselves: AREN'T WE BEING CHEATED?? White heterosexual middle-class males make up a miniscule portion of the people on this planet! Think of all the emotions and thoughts we're missing! The incredible variety of voices that are lost due to our society's sexism!
Feminism's primary concern is social justice, and wrapped up in that concern is the potential of every individual to be more complete, more informed and, well... happy! Knowledge- cliched but true- is our greatest weapon (besides Jord's ass). Why do you think that we aren't encouraged to explore and experience dissenting perspectives in our schools? Knowledge is dangerous to the status quo, which is why the forces in power endeavour to control what we read and see, and therefore, what we think! Knowledge has got to include self-knowledge, because an understanding of the sexist shit that has been buried deep within us the crucial first step we've got to take towards justice between genders. We've gotta try to understand ourselves well enough to have the courage and self-confidence to confront the blatant and subtle forms of sexism that we experience everyday. We have to be able to look into the eyes of that asshead who just told a misogynist joke and say, "look, tough-guy, I know you're afraid, but what you're scared of is inside of you. You don't have to be afraid anymore.". You have the power to make that choice.