The stupidity of HHS.

[rabidsamfan]

Almost everything I want to say about this is said much better here.

But I'll add this much. If government regulations protect "conscience" to the degree that a person can't be "discriminated" against for failing to do their jobs, it will impose a hell of a burden on the rest of us, who'll have to pay to get more employees hired who'll take up the slack.

There is a real drive to make birth control -- not just abortion, but any kind of birth control -- illegal in this country. It's governed by an "all or nothing" logic which purports to be about children, but is really about denying the notion that a fully grown woman has a better right to exist than a zygote. It also purports to be about "God's Will" without allowing that the omniscient and omnipotent deity being called upon certainly must have the means and the power to assure that any child who should be born, will be born.

If you don't want to live in a place where a rapist's sperm is valued over your health and happiness, go and comment.

Comments

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I could not agree more.

Although I would add: as well as commenting, write one's legislators. I know the other side is.

[shadowyphantom.livejournal.com]

Hello! I saw you on a friend's flist, and I decided to view your journal; this is just in case you assume I'm a strange stalker (or something like that). I really like your icon of Sam (alert, alert: fellow Lord of the Rings fan ahead!).

Women *should* be able to use birth control - at least when one uses birth control, she isn't killing anyone off. Control on birth control is insane; it doesn't hurt anyone, and it prevents an unwanted pregnancy. Birth control doesn't harm or kill anyone; to assume the opposite is senseless.

However (and I may get my head bitten off for this, but here it goes) I don't believe abortion should be legal; when a pregnant woman gets an abortion, she is killing off her flesh and blood. She's killing a part of herself; that person inside of her (or those people, as there might be twins or triplets) will never get a chance to live. I believe everyone should be guaranteed the right to pursue life and happiness; abortion steals that right away from the child.

Sorry if I stepped on any toes, but that's just my view of the topic.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Okay, you have an opinion. Don't be surprised to get feedback on it. *grin*

I'm old enough to remember the coat hanger days. Legal or not, abortion happens. The advantage of legal abortion is that you're more likely to finish the process with at least one survivor.

The church has been arguing for centuries about what point a fetus is "ensouled". Is it at the quickening? (About the third month, when you can feel movement?) or is it at birth, when a baby takes its first breath? What seems to get lost in the debate is the recognition that the woman who is bearing that child/fetus/baby definitely does have a soul. And until very recently, her life was always valued over the potential baby's life for the very good reason that if she died her other children would be more likely to starve. Her ability to do labor, keep the house, make the clothes, etc., was too valuable to the family to lose.

The logic that says "abortion is always wrong" denies the worth of a woman, her health, her sanity, even her ability to see, over the sanctity of a fetus that might very well die in the womb anyway. (Ask my sister, whose "abortion" was really the removal of something dead before it could kill her.)

Another advantage of legal abortion is that the doctors who perform it are more likely to be skilled, and to be quick to recognize when things go wrong.

Is abortion a lousy choice? Yes. But for some women, in some circumstances, it's the choice which means preserving the families they already have. We always value one life over another, whether we decide that we're more important than that carrot we're eating or whether we decide to fight a war. Abortion is one of those choices, and I think it behooves us to make that choice as simple and untraumatic as possible.

[shadowyphantom.livejournal.com]

Abortion is anything but simple and untraumatic. I hear from most women who have gotten abortions that the choice has overshadowed their lives negatively; it's my personal belief that once the baby can be noticed (a month or so), the baby is, in fact, a child in the making.

Pro-Life doesn't deny a woman her rights; abortion denies the rights of the child. Believe me, if every child that was ever aborted could speak his or her mind, they would oppose it too. The woman has the right to give the child up or to raise the child; also, preventative measures can be taken to decrease the chance of pregnancy.

Abortion goes wrong in several cases with doctors; I've heard stories that would sicken anybody about the mother either dying or getting severly ill in the process.

And if you object to my opinion, it's like you said: "Okay, you have an opinion. Don't be surprised to get feedback on it. *grin*"

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Any medical procedure can go wrong. The less practiced the doctor is, the greater the likelihood of the procedure going wrong. And most of the stories about medical procedures that fail are pretty gross and sickening. Doesn't matter if it's abortion or appendectomy, blood is blood.

And carrying a child to term can be traumatic too -- there are a couple of books out now about the girls who were forced to give their babies up for adoption in the fifties and how very unhappy they have been with their decision their entire lives. And a victim or rape or incest shouldn't have to spend nine months of her life rewarding that rapist by continuing his DNA. (In countries where women have been forced to do that, the suicide rate among them is incredibly high.)

My notion of as simple and untraumatic as possible is as early in the pregnancy as possible. In that first trimester, when the body hasn't completely adapted (since so many miscarriages happen then anyway.) Which means, of course, readily available with as few barriers as possible. And yes, "pro-life" (read anti-abortion) does deny the rights of the woman. I don't think anyone should be pressured into an abortion any more than anyone should be pressured into carrying to term, but I do think that the circumstances which lead people to deciding that they can't afford a child right now are so very individual that legislating for this or that or the other thing is futile.

People get abortions for a lot of reasons. Birth control can (and does) occasionally fail. A woman is at a high risk for diabetic blindness. The family already is living on the edge financially. The father is a sadistic bastard.

I'll give you my idea of middle ground. Day after pills readily available, legal abortion easily available until the third month, minor barriers in the second trimester, such as a review, and the government takes on all the financial responsiblity for supporting mother and child in the third trimester if it won't allow an abortion. And for every woman walking in to the procedure a short reading session or film consisting of women telling their own stories of how they handled an unwanted pregnancy. One who aborted and isn't happy, one who aborted and is fine with it, one who put the child up for adoption and wishes she hadn't, one who is glad she made that choice, and one who kept the child and had trouble and one for whom keeping the child was pure joy. Then the only question to be asked is "which story seems right for you."

We do seem to agree on one point -- the need for good sex education and good birth control to minimize the need for abortions. Believe me, if BC was 100 % reliable (and men would always wear the flippin' condoms!) the need for abortions would be vastly reduced. You'd still have cases of rape, unfortunately, but safe, legal and rare is the best ground we're ever going to find on the whole question.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I'll note that if you're mostly talking to women in the Pro-Life movement who've had abortions, you're going to naturally get the ones who are unhappy with the choice they made. Chances are if you asked for stories from women in the "Keep it Legal" camp about their abortions you'd hear a different tune.

[shadowyphantom.livejournal.com]

Actually, quite a few of the women were liberal, so ...