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Women’s Rights Are Human
Rights
Chapter 6
Objectives
After reading this chapter, you w ill be able to:6.1 Discuss the systematic unequal treatment of women through history.6.2 Critically analyze the Utilitarian arguments for women’s rights.6.3 Discuss the struggle for women’s rights in the United States and its relation to reproductive rights. 6.4 Explain Simone de Beauvoir’s existentialist defense of equality for women.
Unequal Treatment for Women
Women are not a minority. According to the most recent U .S. Census Bureau statistics, American w omen w orking full time in 2012 earned on average 77 cents for every dollar men earned. The figures are still grimmer for minority w omen: African -American w omen made 64 cents and Hispanic w omen made 54 cents for every dollar earned by a w hite male. 2/23/2017
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Equal rights and pay… Phyllis Schlafly
“Women typically choose a mate (husband or boyfriend) w ho earns more than she does. Men don’t have the same preference for a higher -earning mate. While w omen prefer to HAVE a higher -earning partner, men generally prefer to BE the higher -earning partner in a relationship. This simple but profound difference betw een the sexes has pow erful consequences for the so -called pay gap. Suppose the pay gap betw een men and w omen w ere magically eliminated. I f that happened, simple arithmetic suggests that half of w omen w ould be unable to find w hat they regard as a suitable mate. The best w ay to improve economic prospects for w omen is to improve job prospects for the men in their lives, even if that means increasing the so -called pay gap.”
Utilitarianism and Marriage
What marriage may be in the case of tw o persons of cultivated faculties, identical in opinions and purposes, betw een w hom there exists that best kind of equality, similarity of pow ers and reciprocal superiority in them —so that each can enjoy the luxury of looking up to the other, and can have alternately the pleasure of leading and of being led in the path of development —I w ill not attempt to describe. To those w ho can conceive it, there is no need; to those w ho cannot, it w ould appear the dream of an enthusiast. But I maintain, w ith the profoundest conviction, that this, and this only, is the ideal of marriage; and that all opinions, customs, and institutions w hich favor any other notion of it, or turn the conceptions and aspirations connected w ith it into any other direction, by w hatever pretenses they may be colored, are relics of primitive barbarism.” --John Stuart Mill
Taylor and Mill
According to both Taylor Mill and Mill, giving w omen the same rights and protections under the law as men w ould have the consequence of increasing the happiness of society as a w hole. Banishing w hat Mill called “the despotic relationship of husband to w ife” and promoting an equal partnership in marriage also w ould benefit both men and w omen . The U tilitarian arguments here w ere as simple as they w ere ahead of their time: Giving w omen equal education and equal opportunities, including the right to vote, w ould not take aw ay any of those rights and opportunities from men; it w ould only mean that more people had the same opportunities and the same rights. 2/23/2017
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Feminism in America
The promise of equality for w omen, as for many minorities, often remains a dream deferred. The far -reaching promise 1964 Civil Rights Act took and is taking still some time to reach the rights of w omen.The National Organization for Women (NOW) , founded in 1964, advocated the enforcement of Title I V of the Civil Rights Act as applied to w omen, arguing, among other things, for maternity leave rights in employment and in Social Security benefits, equal job training, and the right of w omen to control their ow n productive lives.
Simone de Beauvoir
I n the 20th century, a second w ave of feminism is most closely identified w ith Simone de Beauvoir ’s 1949 explosive manifesto The Second Sex , w hich had a defining influence not only on other European philosophers but also on the burgeoning American feminist movement. Betty Friedan, one of the founders of the NOW, as w ell as Germaine Greer, Gloria Steinem, and many others w ere inspired by Beauvoir’s deceptively simple claim that “No one is born a w oman, one must learn to become one.”
Fetal Development
I. Pre-embryonic –2 w eeks II. Embryonic –2 –8 w eeks III. Fetal Period –9thw eek -birth 2/23/2017
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3 trimesters, 40 weeks
1stTrimester 1 -13 weeks
2ndTrimester 14 -26 weeks
3rdTrimester 27 -40+ weeks
Photo by Dr. Schuh
1stTrimester 1 -13 weeks
Heart Beat 6 -8 w eeks Brain w ave Activity by 10 w eeksI mplantation by 12 w eeks
Viability
Point at w hich a baby can survive out side of mother’s w omb. About 24 w eeks. 2/23/2017
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Under Common Law
US common law, murder of a pregnant woman is a double homicide . 1820’s first laws prohibiting abortion.
20thCentury
By 1900 all states had laws regarding abortion after four months of pregnancy.By 1965 ALL 50 states ban abortion.
“Jane Roe”
Norma McCorvey w as pregnant w ith her third child w hen she w as recruited to be "Jane Roe," the lead plaintiff in the Roe vs. Wade class -action law suit. I ronically, she never had an abortion, but instead delivered a girl, w hom she gave up for adoption. 2/23/2017
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Sarah Weddington
Sarah Weddington and attorney Linda Coffee filed the Roe vs. Wade class -action lawsuit on behalf of U .S. w omen. Weddington convinced Norma McCorvey to become the lead plaintiff as "Jane Roe."
Henry Wade
Henry Wade w as the Dallas County district attorney w ho w as enforcing the Texas abortion law s.He represented the state of Texas in the case.
Harry A. Blackmun
Harry A. Blackmun authored the Supreme Court's majority opinion in the Roe vs. Wade."This right of privacy, w hether it be founded in the 14thAmendment's concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action… or in the 9thAmendment's reservation of rights to the people, is broad enough to encompass a w oman's decision w hether or not to terminate her pregnancy. 2/23/2017
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William H. Rehnquist
William H. Rehnquist w as one of the tw o dissenters in Roe vs. Wade. Rehnquist joined the court in 1972 President Ronald Reagan appointed Rehnquist as chief justice in 1986.In his dissenting opinion, he wrote, "the Court's opinion will accomplish the seemingly impossible feat of leaving this area of the law more confused than it found it."
What the Supreme Court Ruled
All abortions are legal in 1 sttrimester. Abortions could only be prohibited in 2 ndtrimester to save w oman’s life.Abortions could be limited in 3 rdtrimester.
Since 1973
From 1973 to 2003 there have averaged just under 1 Million abortions per year . The numbers have declined in the last decade to about 650,000 abortions in the U S annually.54% 1 stabortion. 46% of all abortions are performed on w omen that previously had an abortion. 19% are performed on w omen that have had 3 or more abortions.About 98% of all abortions are performed by 21 w eeks. 2/23/2017
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Medically Necessary
These abortions are justified on the basis that they are medically necessary. 95% of the time the medical diagnosis is depression.
According to the WHO
75 million unw anted pregnancies annually. Approximately 50 million abortions 20 million unsafe abortions.
Planned Parenthood vs. Casey
I n 1992 the Supreme Court revisited abortion law in a case from Pennsylvania.A stringent law there required:Informed Consent (24 hour waiting period)Spousal ConsentMinor ConsentLimited Government funding of Abortion 2/23/2017
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“Undue Burden”
The court ruled that informed consent w as Constitutional as w ell limitation on public funding.The court claimed that spousal consent put an “undue burden” upon a w oman.
Partial Birth Abortion Law
On September 8, 2004 U .S . District Court Judge Richard Kopf in Carhart v. Ashcroft announced that the so -called 'Partial Birth Abortion Ban,' passed by Congress and signed into law by George W. Bush in 2003, w as unconstitutional and cannot be enforced. I n his 476 -page ruling, Judge Kopf w rote that the Act "does not allow, and instead prohibits, the use of the procedure w hen necessary to preserve the health of a w oman."
Medical Emergency?
I f a w oman’s life is at risk, an Emergency Caesarian birth can be performed in less than 15 minutes, w hereas a partial birth abortion can take many hours. As the name implies, the w oman gives birth before the fetus is killed in the w omb.
