I haven’t had much energy to read about the latest disaster from the US supreme court. Back there I used the word ‘disaster’ which is about the extent of my analysis (although it does cover lots of issues quite well).*
But I was reading Phantom Scribbler’s excellent post What the Mommy Bloggers Know
If you’re mainstream media or one of the major political blogs, and you’ve just put together some sort of roundup of the blogs’ discussion of yesterday’s Supreme Court decision, we, the legions of irrelevant mommy bloggers, would like to let you know that we have found it lacking. What, you say? Surely everyone knows that mommy bloggers are only good for talking about naps, dirty diapers, and Linda Hirshman. Far be it from me to assert otherwise. But on the other hand, the mommy bloggers all know that the blogger whose voice is really essential to this discussion is Cecily.
Cecily writes at and I wasted all that birth control, and her post on the supreme court decision should be required reading:
Personally, I do not know which procedure I had. At 22.5 weeks gestation (when my pregnancy ended–and that is based on my last menstrual period, remember, not the date of implantation, so the fetuses were really 20.5 week along) I was right on the line between trimesters. Plus the fact that there where two fetus (one barely alive, and one dead) could have impacted which surgery I had.
Other than having a medical termination, the options open to someone in my position are usually either a) emergency c-section, and b) induced delivery.
My doctor believed–given my particular circumstances–that it would be better for both my short term and long term health to not cut open my body if at all possible. My health was in a precarious state, and the option of a medical termination was the fastest, safest, and least complicated procedure to use. It also preserved the health of my uterus for future pregnancies.
I’m not a parent, but I read some ‘Mommy blogs’ written by feminists, because they have some of the best feminist analysis on the web.
Me too. But I hadn’t discovered Cecily yet–thanks for this, Maia.
Cicely’s case is exactly why the “Ban” doesn’t make sense. I’m not comfortable at all with abortions, and especially later abortions after finally experiencing pregnancy for myself, but this ban doesn’t take into an account of each individuals medical situation.
Does it make sense to force a woman to carry around a dead or half dead babies for months or have major sugery that damages your uterus(c-section -which at that point is no different than getting an abortion. )
Or carry to term a child that has no brain, or that will know nothing but physical suffering because of a condition if its born alive?
I have a uterine defect in which my uterus is split into two halves and the child has only half of a uterus for growth depending on which side it is on. LUCKILY the two sides are equal and LUCKILY my right side stretched enough for Amina to grow full term. However many women with my type of defect have one side that is large and the other side is small. If a baby were to implant on the small side it would rupture(rip open) that portion and fall into the mother adominal cavity causing death to the baby and most likely the mother. If I would had had twins I would be at great risk for this. Everyone wondered why my husband and I would look horrified when people would say that they hope there are twins there and that one is just hiding.
So in that instance the supreme court would tell me, ” Look we know your uterus might explode and you and the baby will die, but for your mental health we want you to be either cut open and have your baby extracted (still an abortion) with the chance causing more damage to your uterus thats already kinda of messed up, or just ride it out and hope for the best.”
Thank you for the link. I only wish I’d made the effort to see that Cecily’s story (and others, like Julia at Uncommon Misconception) were more widely circulated earlier. They are such rock stars among parenting and infertility bloggers that it was hard for me to imagine that their voices were not widely known.
I read “mommy bloggers” for the same reason. Ceicily is a long-time favorite. Some of the best explicitly and implicitly feminist writing on the web. Reproductive rights, parenthood, family, adopption, work, disability, race, class, environmentalism on and on… its all in there.
I’ll also plug this one, one of my faves, though I cringe at calling her a “mommy blogger,” its an appropriate link becuase she does great with the lived intersectionality thing that I think Maia is getting at, and she has great links:
http://www.athenadreaming.org/Beanie/
I’m so glad someone acknowledged the importance and intellectual contribution of “mommy bloggers.” Thank you.