Most 1st world nations have some restrictions on abortion. Most do not allow late term abortion except for actual, real medical emergencies. Most are reasonable, it’s barely an issue in most 1st World nations. Here in the U.S., though, the Democratic Party has made abortion their Number One Belief, to the point where they will tell average Dem voters that they cannot be a Democrat if they aren’t sufficiently pious in push abortion with zero restrictions. If they aren’t celebrating abortion. And the will say, and do, anything to protect it, hence this nutty NY Times piece
How Roe Shaped the World of Work for Women
Many factors drove women into the work force in greater numbers in the 1970s. Scholars argue that abortion access was an important one.When Barbara Schwartz looks back at her younger days working as a Broadway stagehand, she remembers the electricity of it: the harried dancers slipping into their costumes backstage, the props people shoving past with flashlights between their teeth.
She was able to throw herself into that high-pressure career, she said, because of a choice she made in 1976. She got an abortion at a clinic she found in the Yellow Pages. It was three years after the Roe v. Wade ruling established the constitutional right to an abortion; to Ms. Schwartz, the world seemed full of new professional opportunities for women. She got a credit card in her own name, became one of the first women to make it into the local stagehand union and joined the throngs backstage at shows including “Cats” and “Miss Saigon.”
Perhaps she should have a little smarter and responsible with her sexual activities.
To women like Ms. Jelatis, who entered adulthood in the early 1970s, the world of work and opportunity was changing rapidly. Women’s labor force participation went from about 43 percent in 1970 to 57.4 percent in 2019. Many different factors drove women into the work force in greater numbers in those years, but scholars argue that abortion access was an important one.
“There’s no question that legal abortion makes it possible for women in all classes and races to have some control over their economic lives and ability to work outside the home,” said Rosalind Petchesky, a retired professor of political science at Hunter College, whose research was cited in the Supreme Court’s 1992 ruling in the case Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which reaffirmed Roe.
Yes, some unhinged supporters of killing babies do believe so much in abortion on demand that they think it made a difference. And will defend it along these line. And, while it might have played a small part, the important ones are different
(Brookings Institute) Between the 1930s and mid-1970s, women’s participation in the economy continued to rise, with the gains primarily owing to an increase in work among married women. By 1970, 50 percent of single women and 40 percent of married women were participating in the labor force. Several factors contributed to this rise. First, with the advent of mass high school education, graduation rates rose substantially. At the same time, new technologies contributed to an increased demand for clerical workers, and these jobs were increasingly taken on by women. Moreover, because these jobs tended to be cleaner and safer, the stigma attached to work for a married woman diminished. And while there were still marriage bars that forced women out of the labor force, these formal barriers were gradually removed over the period following World War II. (snip)
By the 1970s, a dramatic change in women’s work lives was under way. In the period after World War II, many women had not expected that they would spend as much of their adult lives working as turned out to be the case. By contrast, in the 1970s young women more commonly expected that they would spend a substantial portion of their lives in the labor force, and they prepared for it, increasing their educational attainment and taking courses and college majors that better equipped them for careers as opposed to just jobs.
These changes in attitudes and expectations were supported by other changes under way in society. Workplace protections were enhanced through the passage of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act in 1978 and the recognition of sexual harassment in the workplace. Access to birth control increased, which allowed married couples greater control over the size of their families and young women the ability to delay marriage and to plan children around their educational and work choices. And in 1974, women gained, for the first time, the right to apply for credit in their own name without a male co-signer.
The piece is written by Janet Yellen. Yes, that Janet Yellen. Contraception was certainly a factor in the 70’s
(HuffPost) A big part of this is our own culture, which hasn’t changed very dramatically, according to Norma Carr-Ruffino, an expert on women in management who has taught at San Francisco State University’s College of Business. She has also authored multiple books on women and diversity in the workplace. “The culture is important and it affects corporate culture,” she said. She noted that the change in terms of women’s participation in the workplace began in the 1970s when a single-income household could no longer support a comfortable, middle-class lifestyle.
Those aren’t exactly right wing sources. In fact, most articles I’ve found speak of the same exact things. Women becoming more educated, stretching beyond the typical menial, secretary, and educator type jobs, and needing to work to make ends meet.
Contraception and wise life choices are a good thing. Abortion is not contraception, and should be done simply because people were irresponsible. Taken properly, birth control pills are 99% effective. Show some self control. Yes, yes, I know other bad things happen, but, most cases are simply irresponsible sexual behavior.
I’m pretty sure a budding female stage hand in NYC would have had no trouble getting an abortion in NYC in 1976 regardless of Roe vs Wade…assuming she could make it to the abortion clinic without getting mugged and killed on the way.
So using this particular anecdote to demonstrate the dramatic impact of finding the right to murder one’s own baby amongst the penumbras and emanations of the Constitution was probably not the most compelling argument.
And what about the murdered child’s hopes, dreams and future professional life?
Oh, right…those don’t matter because they were inconvenient to their birthing person.