Over here in Belgium the far right party Vlaams Belang and their (supposedly independent) militia Schild en Vrienden seem to be getting more and more involved with Christianity, with more and more young people acting incredibly religious. In The Netherlands I see more and more people on social media arguing against a right to abortion.
I was wondering if other countries in Europe are experiencing this as well, because it almost seems to coincidental to not suspect certain foreign meddling.
But people who oppose abortion usually like to talk about “freedom”. Isn’t it a freedom for women to decide whether to continue pregnancy?
We always need to ask, whose freedom is dominant? The capitalist class wants unlimited freedom to control social reproduction and population numbers. One of the best ways they can do that is by having state control over women’s bodies, and immigration policy.
So both capitalism and patriarchy trump the individual “freedom” of women to control their bodies. In the west christianity is the main force propping up patriarchy, so abortions and contraceptions ara seen as immoral.
Side point but the book, the Caliban and the Witch by Federici, is a wonderful account of how the capitalist class came to have full control over social reproduction.
Their argument is that it’s murder, so since murder is a crime abortions should be too. Of course they don’t bat an eye when it’s their friends or relatives that need an abortion, but you already know that.