The Taunts of Men Will Not Stop Abortions or Female Clergy

There are women who oppose abortion. But, men carry the flag. It is male clergy and male legislators who are the leaders in trying to stop abortions. 

A great story, perhaps a metaphor, for the anti abortion futility of men was women entering medical schools during the last half of the 1800's. Just as clergy and legislators today are going to great lengths to stop women from having abortions, doctors, professors and male medical students physically tried to bar women from attending medical school lectures. In the link, the Dean of a medical school resigned when required to give lectures where students included women.

An eyewitness account of a medical lecture in 1867 told of male medical students making cat calls, throwing wadded paper, hissing, spitting tobacco and badgering women as they arrived and left the building. News about the ruckus went all over the country. They goal of the protestors, of course, was to make it so unpleasant women would be discouraged from the field of medicine. Just the opposite happened. Applications of women went up. Today there are more women in medical schools than there are men.

I once read a true story of a dispute on a ship where the crew started fighting among themselves over something or other.  The dispute seemed unresolvable and, as it continued on, appeared it would end in violence and endanger everyone. From the milieu emerged a young man who took charge and kept a dialogue going between the warring factions. He held back from punishing the group most guilty of bad conduct. The article noted "A most honorable trait is when one has the power over others but does not exercise it."  (I know there will be commenters who try to make a false equivelance with women and abortion.)

Having power over women but not exercising it was not men in the medical school of 1867.  It is absent today from male clergy who determine policies in the Catholic and some protestant denominations. It is absent from the protestors at abortion clinics, the majority of which are men. And, it is absent among the majority of legislators who are men and who pass laws against abortion. Their inability to exercise noble character traits is on display for all to see. 

Men who are so proud of holding back women by preventing them from having abortions and being clergy might learn what to expect from efforts to prevent women from being doctors.