NonSociety Nincompoop Mary Rambin: Abortion Is Just Like Botox

By Dodai Stewart | January 27, 2009 | 10:00pm

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I have read some dumb, privileged, idiotic, asinine dribble on the internet, but nothing as bad as what NonSociety blogger Mary Rambin posted recently, which was picked up by The Frisky.

In a post titled “My Body, My Botox,” Rambin, as Frisky editor Amelia McDonell-Parry puts it, “compares a woman’s ‘right’ to have cosmetic enhancements to the right to have an abortion.” Writes Rambin:

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I site [sic] Roe v. Wade because it serves as a marker of people accepting (maybe not respecting) a woman’s right to choose. Although abortion is still an issue at the forefront, it’s notable the Supreme Court recognized women should be able to do what they feel is right for themselves. Cosmetic procedures should be viewed in the same light.

That’s right. She thinks that the difficult, emotional, life-threatening, life-altering decision to terminate a pregnancy should be thought of like getting breast implants. Does she realize that you don’t have to feed, clothe and shelter breast implants? Educate them for 18 years, send them to college and buy them Christmas presents? Actually, Rambin admits that cosmetic surgeries are possibly slightly less consequential:

Not to mention the procedures are in no way effecting [sic] another human being, so the severity of the issue is considerably less.

Right. No shit. In any case, Rambin tries her best to rationalize her beauty regimen:

In my opinion, and very close friends concurred, the wrinkles in my forehead and between my eyebrows were continuing to deepen as the years passed….Friends and family agreed that [Botox] was a luxury, but I should seriously think about it. So I took a good look in the mirror. My face below my eyebrows looked 24 (in my opinion), but my forehead was at least 35.

Amelia counters:

Friends don’t encourage a 26-year-old woman to get cosmetic surgery. They just don’t. They tell you you’re gorgeous and wonderful, even if you look like a shar pei.

As for the “what I do with my body is my choice” argument, here’s the problem: While a woman most definitely has the right to do what she pleases do her body, she probably ought to be cognizant of the fact that just because you can doesn’t mean you should. It’s interesting that while this country is in the midst of exploring subjects like mind-body connection, yoga, meditation and holistic healing, Americans spend $13.2 billion (more than the GDP of Bolivia) on plastic surgery. On cutting ourselves, or paying someone to cut us. What message do you send to your body when you slice it because you don’t like what you see? Aren’t we living in a time where we’re more enlightened than ever about the psychological impact of images in advertising, magazines and other media? Do we still really believe that self-esteem comes from a scalpel? Rambin writes of cosmetic procedures: “In my opinion, this is a ‘To each her own’ and social tolerance issue.” But why should we “tolerate” a society that makes women feel like they have to be wrinkle-free slaves to the billion-dollar “anti-aging” industry?

But the real tragedy — and travesty — of this entire post, is, of course, Rambin’s equating abortion to a cosmetic procedure. As Amelia says:

Before the passing of Roe Vs. Wade, women were having back alley abortions—unsanitary, dangerous procedures that could result in severe illness . the ability to conceive again, and even death. The passing of Roe Vs. Wade also was a step in the direction of women attaining control of what the government dictates one can and cannot do with one’s own body—access to birth control and quality sex education, to name just two. Women fought for the right to decide whether to continue a pregnancy.

Rambin doesn’t seem to realize what a luxurious, privileged, worry-free life she is living, since she has “only one major regret” in her life, and it has nothing to do with this topic. She’s free “look to the future with confidence and a less wrinkled forehead.”

Fail: Mary Rambin Compares Cosmetic Surgery To Abortion [The Frisky]
My Body, My Botox [Non Society]
Earlier: Paying Someone To Cut You Is Growing In Popularity
Related: Should Teens Get Plastic Surgery To Boost Their Self-Esteem?