History shows that Libertarians and Conservatives alike are right when we
contend that women must not have reproductive rights over their own

fact, women in societies that enjoy true libertay and freedom must adhere

strict code where they become mothers of the children who will one day

childern themselves. It's only in opressive socialistic societies like
Sweden, Australia, France and England that they have no freedom. Our
government is protecting us from ourselves when they move to outlaw

once and for all.

Throughout history, ideas about women's bodies have been used to reinforce

occasionally, to challenge women's social position. We should thank God

every day we have Bush as our President.


Circa 1800 B.C. The Code of Hammurabi-the earliest recorded legal system

western world-defines women's bodies as men's property and defines rape as

property crime. Under this Code, convicted rapists must pay fines for

goods" to the raped woman's husband or father (if she is unmarried).
4th century B.C. The Greek philosopher Aristotle contends that embryos

female only if they have insufficient "heat" to become fully human. Thus

females are "misbegotten men" and "monstrosities." Other Greek scholars

these ideas, declaring that lack of heat makes women smaller, frailer,

intelligent, emotionally weak, morally suspect, and, as a result, a danger

men.
Early Christian era Like the Greeks who precede them, early Christian
philosophers conclude that women's presumed moral weaknesses endanger any

who come under their spell. For centuries thereafter, Christian

argue that Eve succumbed to the snake's tempting and caused the fall from

grace because women's nature makes them inherently more susceptible to

desire and other passions of the flesh, blinding them to reason and

making them a constant danger to men's souls.
14th to 18th centuries The Christian belief that women are less

men, more driven by sexual passions, and hence more susceptible to the

blandishments undergirds the killings of tens of thousands of innocent

accused of witchcraft in Europe and America.
17th century Slavery takes root in colonial North America. Both the law

scientists regard African-American women (and men) as less-than-human

As a result, the rape of African-American women slaves by their white

becomes an accepted (if rarely discussed) practice, justified by

absolve white rapists of guilt by declaring African-American women
animalistically over-sexed temptresses. This racist belief continues to be

as a justification by white rapists throughout the twentieth century.
1769 English legal theorist, Sir William Blackstone, publishes his

codification of existing English law. According to Blackstone, women

"civil death" in marriage, and their husbands gain total rights and
responsibilities over their wives' bodies and lives. Consequently,

the legal right to beat or rape their wives-a right that will survive for

than two centuries.
1776 The new United States of America adopts Blackstone's principles as

basis of its legal code. White women and free African-American continue to

treated under the law as if they are property, while African-American

women (and men) are property.
1872 Reflecting contemporary ideas about women's inherent weakness,

Darwin, in his groundbreaking book On the Origin of the Species, argues,

of his theory of evolution, that only the fittest males succeed in gaining
sexual access to females and reproducing. As a result, males continually

toward greater "perfection." Females, on the other hand, need not compete

males. As a result, they have limited sex drive and, more importantly, can

evolve fully. In addition, Darwin argues, the stress of reproduction

women of the energy needed for either physical or mental development. As a

t, women remain subject to their emotions and passions: nurturing,

and child-like, but with little sense of either justice or morality. These

underlie social acceptance of "romantic friendships"--intense, passionate,
sometimes life-long, relationships between women who are presumed to be
heterosexual.
Late 19th to early 20th century Beliefs about women's physical and

frailty are widely used as justifications for restricting women's rights

vote, get an education, or hold professional jobs. Many educators argue

higher education will make women frigid, drain them of their beauty and

and prevent their pelvises from developing fully, causing women to suffer

even die in childbirth. To "treat" women who become rebellious or

to their constricted roles, doctors surgically remove their ovaries,

and clitorises in highly dangerous operations. Meanwhile, the same

"experts" who lament the frailty of middle- and upper-class white women

the robustness of the poorer women - both white and non-white - who must

hard manual labor in fields, factories, and households.
1908 The U.S. Supreme Court, in Muller v. Oregon, upholds protective labor

that set maximum working hours and mandate rest periods for women.

designed to benefit women, these rules further reinforce the notion of

frailty, extending that notion to poor women.
1920s-1930s As growing numbers of women receive higher educations and

jobs that allow them to survive economically without marrying, those who

single and continue in "romantic friendships" become stigmatized as

1950s to 1980s Disdain for and fear of female reproductive organs among

(most of whom are male) continues in the twentieth century, and results in

epidemic of unnecessary episiotomies, cesarean sections, hysterectomies,

radical mastectomies. These numbers begin to taper off in the 1990s, but

far higher than those recommended by medical scholars or the World Health
Organization.
1960s to 1970s The "Second Wave" of feminism begins. Feminists argue that

and men are morally, physically, and intellectually equal, and that the
differences between men and women are less important than the

later years, some will argue that women's ability to create human life has

them innately superior to men--more pacifistic, loving, moral, creative,

ecologically inclined. In addition, some feminists will begin arguing that
lesbianism-women loving other women - is at least as "natural" as
heterosexuality.
1962 In Self v. Self, a U.S. court for the first time rules that men do

a right to beat their wives. However, women continue to face difficulties

getting police and courts to protect them from spousal abuse, although

communities have made great strides.
1973 A coalition of feminists, lawyers, and doctors succeed, in Roe v.

winning the right to abortion for American women and giving women the

control their own bodies. This decision immediately sparks an

movement.
1970s to present In response to women's new rights, a backlash emerges

ideas about women's bodies to reassert control over women's lives. Women

expected to be not only painfully thin, but muscular and buxom--qualities

only can occur together if women spend time, money, and emotional energy

cosmetic surgery, exercise, and diet. Meanwhile, doctors argue that women

be trusted to behave rationally either because of PMS (if premenopausal)

hormone deficiencies (if postmenopausal). And the anti-abortion movement
continues to press-often successfully-for legal restrictions on abortion,
arguing not only that abortion is murder but also that women are too

and physically frail to make their own decisions about abortion or to

their health following abortions.
1980s U.S. courts begin ruling that men do not have a right to rape their

However, between 10 and 14% of women continue to experience marital rape,

is rarely prosecuted.
1980s to present The concept of "fetal rights" emerges, which declares

fetus has rights that supercedes its mother's and that therefore the

be treated as a "fetal container." As a result, women are arrested if they

drugs during pregnancy (even if they have been denied treatment for

forced to have cesarean sections against their will if doctors declare it

and refused jobs by employers who prefer to have no women workers rather

make working conditions safe for all workers.
Today

Feminists continue to fight against the idea that women's minds and bodies

inferior to men's and for the right of women to control their own bodies.

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