{"id":3890,"date":"2022-04-04T18:47:57","date_gmt":"2022-04-04T22:47:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/?p=3890"},"modified":"2024-03-26T10:32:40","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T14:32:40","slug":"shout-for-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/2022\/04\/04\/shout-for-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind and Beyond the Shout for Abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>We need works of art that convey <\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>the radical horror of abortion<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/mercatornet.com\/author\/richard-stith\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Richard Stith<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3891\" style=\"width: 634px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1-blog-scream-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3891\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3891\" src=\"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1-blog-scream-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"624\" height=\"419\" srcset=\"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1-blog-scream-1.jpg 624w, https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1-blog-scream-1-300x201.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 624px) 100vw, 624px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3891\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rosemarie Tischer Stith, &#8220;Triumph&#8221; (1973)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The US Supreme Court in\u00a0<em>Planned Parenthood v. Casey<\/em> (1992) stated in support of abortion that the \u201cability of women to participate equally in the economic and social life of the Nation has been facilitated by their ability to control their reproductive lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But laws are not the only impediment to a woman\u2019s choice to abort.<\/p>\n<p>The negation of social as well as legal constraints on abortion is necessary for abortion freedom. Moral qualms (and consequent mental health worries) could stop the choice of abortion. These, too, must be negated in order for women to feel free to abort. Abortion must become a normal part of a decent life.<\/p>\n<p>Women must be made ready and willing to choose abortion if they are to \u201cparticipate equally in . . . economic and social life\u201d with their male colleagues. Abortion must become ordinary.<\/p>\n<p>To this end, women are being encouraged to speak loudly about their abortions.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/shoutyourabortion.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Shout Your Abortion<\/a>\u00a0is a movement working \u201cto normalize abortion through art, media, and community events all over the country,\u201d according to its mission statement. It\u2019s a kind of shame-shaming in which women are exhorted to normalize \u201cterminations,\u201d to see them as an everyday part of life.<\/p>\n<p>Its Twitter feed is full of messages like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cAbortion is normal. Our stories are ours to tell. This is not a debate.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cI aid and abet abortion and will do so proudly and constantly for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cHappy #CelebrateAbortionProviders Appreciation Day!\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cIt seems incredibly damaging to label folks who choose abortion as na\u00efve or uneducated or selfish. Or victims.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>From the beginning, as in the basic training of soldiers, shouting was going to be needed to make\u00a0humans feel good about killing other humans.<\/p>\n<p>Words can go only so far in combating this purposeful hardening of hearts. Closely reasoned arguments and statistics may fail to pierce the defiance of its \u201ciron dome.\u201d There is a thick layer of pain, abuse, fear, loneliness, and anger shielding abortion supporters from the truth.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the best way to dissolve this coating is with art. Recall Picasso\u2019s great painting of the carpet bombing of a town in northern Spain,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Guernica_(Picasso)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gu\u00e9rnica<\/a> (now Gernika).\u00a0 It is a more radical revelation of the horror of war than any textbook.<\/p>\n<p>Where is the art radically uncovering the horror of abortion?<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d like to nominate the sculpture below: \u201cTriumph,\u201d by Rosemarie Tischer Stith (1973)<\/p>\n<p>Artist Stith, herself a child refugee from the WWII firebombing obliterating Dessau, Germany, foresaw the great shout for abortion way back in 1973, the year a right to abortion was first proclaimed by the US Supreme Court.<\/p>\n<p>Her 36-inch ceramic sculpture, \u201cTriumph,\u201d depicts a woman \u2014 standing tall in victory \u2014 her left hand on her hip and her right fist thrust into the air. Her head and hair are back. Her eyes are closed. Her mouth is open in a cry of triumph. Her chest swells in exultation, while her peculiarly elongated legs raise her pridefully high.<\/p>\n<p>Under her feet lies her vanquished baby.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1-blog-scream-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3892\" src=\"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1-blog-scream-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"573\" height=\"864\" srcset=\"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1-blog-scream-2.jpg 573w, https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1-blog-scream-2-199x300.jpg 199w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 573px) 100vw, 573px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here we see a mother\u2019s contemporary assertion of dominion over her unborn child, but with her triumphal shout she dehumanizes herself rather than her child.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, the child is still intact, not yet aborted but only made available for abortion. The point of the sculpture is to depict not abortion itself but the new idea of motherhood that came with the US Supreme Court\u2019s abortion proclamation.<\/p>\n<p>This brief video reflects further upon old and new ideas of motherhood:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/n9lPGQgc2XE\" width=\"649\" height=\"365\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3893\" style=\"width: 423px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/people-Stiths.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3893\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3893\" src=\"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/people-Stiths.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"413\" height=\"498\" srcset=\"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/people-Stiths.jpg 413w, https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/people-Stiths-249x300.jpg 249w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 413px) 100vw, 413px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3893\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">artist Rosemarie Stith and author Richard Stith, wife and husband<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">======================================<\/p>\n<p><em>Richard Stith is a professor emeritus of law at Valparaiso University in Indiana. He is on the board of the Consistent Life Network. See <a href=\"http:\/\/works.bepress.com\/richard_stith\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">selected works<\/a>.<\/em><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This is a slightly revised version of <a href=\"https:\/\/mercatornet.com\/is-shouting-your-abortion-really-a-desperate-cry-for-help\/78203\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an article appearing in MercatorNet<\/a>, 3\/28\/22\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em> ======================================<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>For more on art and the consistent life ethic, see:<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Art Exhibit<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/2018\/11\/13\/gendercide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gendercide: Millions of \u201cMissing\u201d (Dead) Women<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Poetry<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/2016\/06\/22\/berrigan-poem\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cSeamless Garment\u201d \u2013 Poem by Daniel Berrigan<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/2021\/03\/02\/not-ok-to-kill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Let us all agree on this one simple thing: It is not OK to kill people.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/2021\/06\/15\/the-cure-for-headache\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u00a0The Cure for Headache<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>For more of our posts from Richard Stith, see:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/2019\/07\/16\/oppressors-of-women-scapegoat-fetuses\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Oppressors of Women Scapegoat Fetuses to Preserve Patriarchy<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/2017\/09\/19\/equal-concern\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Equal Concern for Each Human Being, Not for Each Human Issue<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/2016\/09\/07\/choice-hurts-quality-life\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">When \u201cChoice\u201d Itself Hurts the Quality of Life\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/2020\/04\/28\/trust-landlords\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cTrust Landlords\u201d: Pro-Choice Candidate Supports Eviction Rights<\/a> (satire)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/2015\/08\/03\/fellow-human-rights-activists\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Open Letter to Fellow Human Rights Activists<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<form action=\"https:\/\/oi.vresp.com?fid=1c608dcc6e\" method=\"post\" target=\"vr_optin_popup\">\n<div style=\"font-family: verdana; font-size: 11px; width: 160px; padding: 10px; border: 1px solid #405095; background: #dddddd;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #405095;\">Get our SHORT Biweekly e-Newsletter<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><label style=\"color: #405095;\">Email Address:<\/label><br \/>\n<input style=\"margin-top: 5px; border: 1px solid #999; padding: 3px;\" name=\"email_address\" size=\"15\" type=\"text\" \/><br \/>\n<input style=\"margin-top: 5px; border: 1px solid #999; padding: 3px;\" type=\"submit\" value=\"Get Newsletter\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #405095;\">Email &amp; Social Media Marketing by <a title=\"Email &amp; Social Media Marketing by VerticalResponse\" href=\"http:\/\/www.verticalresponse.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">VerticalResponse<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/form>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We need works of art that convey the radical horror of abortion by\u00a0Richard Stith &nbsp; The US Supreme Court in\u00a0Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) stated in support of abortion that the \u201cability of women to participate equally in the economic and social life of the Nation has been facilitated by their ability to control their&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/2022\/04\/04\/shout-for-abortion\/\"><\/p>\n<p><button class=\"btn btn-smaller btn-outline in_cat\">Read More<\/button><\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,247],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abortion","category-art"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3890"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5295,"href":"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3890\/revisions\/5295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}