Dr. Tiller’s murder has been causing untold frustration recently. The most obvious reason is, of course, the loss of one of the nfew clinics in the country that performs a necessary medical procedure. The other problem that I have is, as always, the way that people discuss abortion.
See, the thing is, late-term abortions strike me as being more acceptable than elective abortions, because I always had this thought in my head that if a mother’s life was threatened, or if she was carrying a dead fetus in her stomach, she could have it removed.
But apparently the natural reaction to the phrase “late term abortion” is phenomenon known as a “knee jerk reaction” in which ones brain flies out of ones skull and starts bashing itself on the nearest brick wall.
Here is a good example
So, here we have the beginnings of something sane:
“Tiller did abortions in third trimester, when almost no one else would do them – which meant, inevitably, that he handled the hardest of hard cases. He performed abortions on women facing life-threatening complications, on women whose children would be born dead or dying, on women who had been raped, on “women” who were really girls of 10. His Wichita, Kan., office, barricaded against protesters, was reportedly lined with thank-you notes.”
This quickly degrades into something insane:
“They help explain why Tiller thought he was doing the Lord’s work, even though that work involved destroying something that we wouldn’t hesitate to call a baby if we saw it struggling for life in a hospital bed.”
So, uhm, could someone please explain to me why abortions which are necessary for the health of the mother or because, you know, the baby is dead or almost dead are morally reprehensible? Have these people ever hear of, you know, anencephaly (Please don’t look at that if you’re squeamish)? Surely they realize that a baby without a brain cannot survive outside of the womb for more than a few hours. Surely they realize the emotional trauma for everyone involved. Surely they realize that a 10-year-old rape victim cannot possibly carry a pregnancy to term.
The hard thing about this is that the idea of having to terminate a wanted pregnancy breaks my heart. I know people in my family who have had to suffer the heartbreak of delivering a stillborn child. It’s so infuriating because on the one hand there is the suffering and the heartache and the guilt, and on the other hand, there are the people outside of the door writing down your name and cursing you to hell for doing something which is not only legal, but your only real solution. I don’t know what to say to anti-choicers at this point other than “shame on you”.
I wish I felt like I could blame this solely on misogyny which I am sure plays a part, but at the same time I know there are people who don’t just have it out for women who still think late-term abortions are horrible and wrong.
And of course, I have my o-chem flashcards staring me in the face. The MCAT is in a week and a half, wish me luck.
