It may seem hypocritical to claim that women continue to be oppressed in the United States and globally as I write this article in a studio apartment from which I am free to come and go at will, and which I am able to afford on my own due to a successful career. Yet, when a 25-year-old Polish woman is denied medical treatment because it might risk her pregnancy and never told why, thus denying her the choice to seek other treatment, I am reminded that government and society are too willing to sacrifice my life simply because I am a woman [1]. This is not an anomaly. Ms. Magazine’s website reported on a similar case (also in Poland) in May 2007. A woman was denied an abortion despite the fact that her pregnancy could exacerbate an existing eye disease, possibly resulting in blindness [2]. It did. Though the European Court on Human Rights awarded her $52,000 in damages, I doubt this woman feels victorious as she struggles to support her four children on a disability pension.

Moreover, women around the world, not just Poland, will not find much comfort in this victory. Though the European Court on Human Rights sided with this woman, harsh abortion laws still exist around the world, including the United States. The Hyde Amendment, introduced in 1976 and continually modified and attached to bills, forbids federal funding for abortions. Though it technically has exceptions for incidents of rape, incest, or life endangerment, they are not always enforced. In fact, 32 states ban abortion for Medicaid recipients [3]. Regulations allow medical providers in the United States to practice medicine based not on what is medically or scientifically needed for the patient, but on their moral conscience. As society continues to posit these medical procedures and choices as moral issues, this regulation jeopardizes the health and equality of women. I have yet to read a story of a known abuser being denied medical care for life-endangering conditions because the treatment would allow him or her to live and, therefore, endanger the life of a child. It should not go unnoticed that a man will never be in the position of having to choose between his health and the health of his unborn child.

The belief that women are expendable and made to sacrifice (or be sacrificed) keeps women from true equality, as evidenced by lower salaries for women and lack of representation in government and corporations. Just this morning U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for a larger presence of women in peace talks and international relations. I wonder how seriously Clinton’s wisdom will be taken as she works in an administration that campaigned on reason and equality but hasn’t repealed the deceptively named Regulation to Protect Health Care Providers from Discrimination. Rather than preventing discrimination this regulation allows it, often with fatal consequences for women. Contrary to what supporters would have you think, it is not discrimination to ask someone to do their job without discriminating against others. If someone finds a job morally objectionable the person should have a right to find another job but not to impose their morals on those they serve. As a public school teacher, I cannot and should not refuse to teach a student who is pregnant or who impregnated another student because I might think it is immoral or unwise.

As Stanley Fish noted in a New York Times editorial, “Since conscience, correctly understood, refers to those occasions when two or more men know of one and the same fact… which is as much to know it together: it is a violation of conscience … to prefer their ‘secret thoughts’ to what has been publicly established [4].” We must uphold our publicly established ideas of human rights and equality. We must not allow our emotions or fears to supersede what has been publicly established as medically right. When a woman’s life is in danger, whether it be from a treatable colon condition or the possibility of trauma, the humane option is to protect the life of the woman. Society is too eager to demonize women, to call them witches and whores without evidence, though we’ve grown more subtle than the citizens of Salem. Like the woman who was raising four children when she was blinded by denial of treatment, these women provide care, love, and friendship for others. Where is the conscience in denying both a woman’s life and the significance of her life to all the other lives she touches?

References:

  1. Shoot, B. (2010, October 08). Polish woman dies when doctors refuse treatment, fearing for fetal life women’s rights. Retrieved from http://womensrights.change.org/blog/view/polish_woman_dies_when_doc-tors_refuse_treatment_fearing_fjor_fetal_life
  2. Feminist wire daily newsbriefs: u.s. and global news coverage. (2007, March 21). Retrieved from http://www.msmagazine.com/newsluswirestory.asp?id= 1 0212
  3. Hyde-30 years is enough! campaign: state-by-state information:. (2008, July 03). Retrieved from http://www.hyde30years.nnaf.org/state_by_state.html
  4. Fish. S. (2009. April 19). Op-extra - excerpts from opinion online - editorial- nytimes.com:. Retrieved from http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9903E7D7173BF93AA25757COA96F9C8B63&sec=&spon=