To revisit an old entry

[azdesertrose]

A few days ago, I posted a wonderfully satirical short essay originally written by lawlesslawyer and yoinked from the lovely jadedmyrrhmaid. It concerned Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito and his stance on abortion.

There have been many times in my life that I've thought I was born in the wrong era. The older I get, the more of a hippie I become, 40 years too late. I love the clothing, shoes, and hairstyles of my grandmother's youth, the 1930s and 1940s, at least 35 years before I was ever thought of. I am fascinated by English history from about the Hundred Years' War through the end of the Tudor dynasty; we won't even count how many years before my time that was.

But tonight I was watching television and saw a syndicated episode of "Cold Case" on TNT. The episode was titled "Volunteers", and it opened with investigators finding a pair of bodies, skeletons and clothes, underneath a building that had just been demolished. The bodies were identified as a pair of hippies, one young man and one young lady, who'd disappeared in 1969.

As the episode panned out, it was discovered that these two had been volunteers for an organization called "Jane." Jane provided safe medical abortions for girls "in trouble" as it was called back then. It was very underground, since abortion was illegal in 1969, but Jane consisted of a volunteer phone bank who found ways to get women to actual doctors sympathetic to their situation, who would perform the abortion.

During the course of the investigation, the police spoke to another woman who had volunteered for Jane. She had met the female of the pair in the course of having an illegal abortion herself.

Performed by some creepy guy.

In his kitchen.

By inserting a bicycle spoke into the relevant area and requiring that the woman leave it there for 24 hours.

Using wine for anesthesia.

Charging $400 plus sexual favours.

I actually covered my mouth, because for a moment I was afraid I'd lose my supper.

Now, to be perfectly honest, in my younger years I was very pro-life. When I was faced with an unplanned pregnancy (and let's do the math, y'all, I just turned 30 last week; my daughter will be 14 in September) I chose to carry it, and to marry the child's father (the latter of which was a GIGANTIC, COLOSSAL mistake). But as I grew older, I came to see that legal abortion is the lesser of two evils.

Being pregnant when you don't want to be is not fun. It's scary; it can feel like a trap; it can feel like nothing you do will be the right thing.

But I had the choice. I got pregnant in 1992 (well, I actually conceived in late 1991); if I had chosen, I could have had a medical abortion. I could have walked into a nice clean clinic and walked out not pregnant (cramping and wearing a serious sanitary pad, probably, but not pregnant and not in any medical danger).

I hope to all that's holy that my own daughter never faces an unplanned pregnancy. I hope that when she becomes pregnant, it's when she's financially stable and as ready as anyone ever is to become a parent. I hope when she takes the home test and it changes color, the tears are tears of joy, and neither she nor the father react by saying "Oh shit" (as both my ex-husband and I did upon learning of my pregnancy).

But I also hope that if she ever does face an unplanned pregnancy, she has the same choices I had. Keep the baby, find an adoptive family, or terminate the pregnancy.

It isn't an easy choice. It isn't an easy situation. It isn't pretty.

But it beats the hell out of the alternative.

Comments

[gothicvampyr13.livejournal.com]

Not entirely on topic, but similar. I'm quite ready to get pregnant. However, despite the fact that I'm nearly 27, I'm still very afraid of what my Christian mother would have to say about it. She want's grandchildren, but she doesn't want any "bastard" children.

[azdesertrose.livejournal.com]

But it's not her life. It's not her decision as to whether you get married before you get pregnant (or ever, if you, like me, are disinclined to marry).

It's your life, and your choice.

[gothicvampyr13.livejournal.com]

That may be true, but it doesn't change the fact that she can still scare me.

[azdesertrose.livejournal.com]

True. *grin*

My parents still intimidate me sometimes too; I often have to remind myself that I'm 30 years old and they don't really get to make my decisions any more.

[wood-artist.livejournal.com]

I find myself in a very interesting position. I'm not in favor of abortion in general, but I'm very much in favor of choice. Happily, I never had to face the decision, even as the father. I don't know what the right choice would be. Of course, being a guy, I'm off the hook to some degree.

However, like many other things, I strongly believe that everyone should be free to make whatever choice they wish. Will they always make the right choice? Probably not. Will they decide years later they made the wrong choice? Possibly...don't we all (on any topic).

Regardless, I support the right to choose, acknowledging that includes the right to make a mistake, or chose incorrectly.

C

[azdesertrose.livejournal.com]

That was exactly my point.

It's not that I think abortion is the greatest medical procedure ever developed.

But some women do not want to carry an unplanned pregnancy. A man can walk away from an unplanned pregnancy, though that doesn't make him much of a man in my estimation; a woman cannot walk away from her own uterus. She ought to at least have the option of a safe, clean abortion performed by a qualified medical professional.

To put it another way, I don't need the Supreme Court to tell me what I can or can't do with my own body; that's my decision, and my doctor's, and maybe a decision to be shared with certain significant people in my life.

[kappamaki.livejournal.com]

Amen, I feel very similar. When I got pregnant at 20, I felt like as long as my boyfriend and I were capable of responsibly raising the child that it was a better choice than abortion. Some women are not capable of this for any number of reasons and should absolutely have a choice.

Many of the anti-choice arguments drive me up the wall, especially from Christians who are very pro-death penalty and then turn right around and declare abortion murder, since you know, "only God can decide who lives and dies." Right.

I also really dislike the idea that abortion should only be legal in the case of rape. If you hold abortion as amoral because it is "murder", then isn't it just as amoral in the case of rape as it is otherwise? If you maintain that an embryo is a person, than an embryo that's the result of a rape is just as much a person as an embryo that was the result of a broken condom.

There's also the classist issues-- wealthy people who want abortions would probably be able to find a way to safely get one, but those who really need them may be left with no recourse.

I could go on about this all day but I think I'll stop now. ^_^

[azdesertrose.livejournal.com]

There's also the classist issues-- wealthy people who want abortions would probably be able to find a way to safely get one, but those who really need them may be left with no recourse.

Back in the pre-Roe v. Wade days, that was exactly what happened. Well-off women could find a sympathetic doctor; poorer women have a harder time getting medical care at all, and would have a harder time taking care of a new kid.

It just pisses me off that all these white male Ivy-League types (like Alito, or the Shrub) want to tell the rest of us how to manage our lives. Bugger off, I say! Or, in the words of a bumper sticker, keep your laws off my body.