Women s Health and the Issue of Abortion

Women’s Health

The Blue Zones

I would like my life in the U.S. to correspond more to what life is like in the Blue Zones. I feel like I am too spoiled here in the U.S. and have too many creature comforts. In other parts of the world, like Greece or Japan life is not as focused on all of these comforts that we take for granted here. There is more of a focus on an organic lifestyle and a simple life: you take what you need and you have a connection with the Earth that is healthy and positive. Eating well, as the diet tips from the Blue Zones teaches, is one way to help provide this healthy and positive culture (Barclay, 2015).

I am not surprised that I feel this way, as I am naturally drawn to a Mediterranean diet in the first place. I love Greek food and I also love Asian food. I prefer these types of food to the traditional American diet of steak and potatoes. Nothing is more unappealing to me than a big plate of steak. I like foods that have natural ingredients, like salads. I like cheeses, I like wine, and I like olives and fish, and breads. I like the simple diet, don’t like to stuff myself, and enjoy having a beer or two at night most days of the week. I feel, in many ways, that I would fit right in with a Blue Zone environment, though living here in the U.S. I am also used to my creature comforts and would probably panic if I did have to live elsewhere.

I think scientists should also research topics related to spirituality to see if there is a connection between this variable and longevity. In the U.S., I am not surprised to find a decline in life expectancy. When you consume fast food as a culture, life will go down, no doubt. To reverse this decline, I would highly recommend starting the Blue Zone diet as it will certainly make people feel healthier and want to live a simpler life.

Women’s Choices

A woman’s right to choose is so controversial because it is the issue underlying the choice that is polarizing. If it were a matter of a something else—such as a woman’s right to choose a husband or where to work, it might be different; but choosing whether to sustain the life growing in her womb or to kill it is different. Some people view abortion as murder and others do not because they have politicized the act and made it into an issue of “rights” (i.e., the woman’s right to control her own body--though the anti-abortion side argues that such a right says nothing of the body growing within her) as opposed to an issue of “morals” (as it is a case of whether the act of terminating a pregnancy is morally just or not—which the pro-abortion side argues is a completely subjective opinion as there is no such thing as universal morality or natural law). So there is a difference of opinion on this issue because of the two approaches to it and the two different perspectives. Those who oppose it view it from a moral perspective and typically that perspective is informed by a sense of universal morality, natural law, religious belief, or ethical principle in which all life is regarded as worth saving and supporting (similar to the ethical principle found in the Hippocratic Oath).

Those who support it view it from a socio-political perspective, typically informed by Feminist theory, which holds that a woman alone has the right to determine what she will do with her body and whether or not she should carry a pregnancy to term. As Clio History shows, the politics of the body have been formed by generations of social evolution from the Age of Enlightenment forward, when the notion of “rights” began to replace in society the notion of “morals” as handed down by previous generations that existed in mainly religious societies, such as the Christian societies of the West.

References
Barcaly, E. (2015). Eating tips. Retrieved from
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/04/11/398325030/eating-to-break-100-longevity-diet-tips-from-the-blue-zones
Clio History. (2018). Women’s bodies: A short introduction. Retrieved from
https://www.cliohistory.org/click/body-health/bodies/