Roe vs. Wade
Jan. 25th, 2008 07:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blueeowynThis week was the 35th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision by the Supreme Court. This was a landmark decision and the anti-abortionists have been doing everything they can to erode it and eventually overturn it. Why oh why would they do that? Because so many of the anti-abortionists believe that abortion is such a horrible thing that it should never ever ever be allowed (to be frank, they sometimes sound like slightly saner versions of the no gay marriage contingent). I get it that they see it as a sin. However, it isn't a sin for everyone based on that person's belief structure (if you want to start legislating against things that are a sin for any religious group; we can say good-bye to BBQ ribs, cheeseburgers, shrimp cocktail, and plan to fast during Ramadan, keep strict kosher, etc.. I don't see that happening in this country too soon.
Now, I would love to see abortions be a rare thing. It is a horrible choice to have to make and it will haunt you for the rest of your life if you are put in a situation where considering it is a viable option. I would love to see safe effective birth control become common enough that nearly every pregnancy is a wanted one. If for some reason you can't sustain a pregnancy; you should be taking precautions. However, unfortunately, nothing is infallible. There are where a woman gets pregnant in spite of using birth control correctly. In some of those cases there are good reasons for the woman to NOT carry the pregnancy. If a woman is undergoing chemotherapy for example and has a failure and chemo is NOT something you want to expose an embryo or fetus to. She may not even realize that there has been a failure until she is several weeks pregnant (I don't know if they do a pregnancy test every time someone goes in for chemo or not). This will likely cause a miscarriage. However, sometimes it doesn't and the baby is NOT going to be healthy and is fairly likely to NOT be viable.
Or what about a woman who has other major health issues (heart problems, blood pressure problems, kidney problems, etc.) that make carrying the pregnancy to term HIGHLY unlikely and/or HIGHLY dangerous. Why should she be forced to put her life on the line for an unwanted (and attempted to avoid) child? Some of these conditions (like kidney problems) can cause late term miscarriages and end up killing both the mother and the baby.
Then you have the truly tragic cases; where a family wants a child. The woman gets pregnant and they are thrilled. Then something happens and the baby is not viable. There are many, many, things that can go wrong in a pregnancy to leave the child un-viable. There are genetic issues. There are massive birth defects that do occur for no obvious reason (in addition to the ones that you can figure out the why in hindsight but may not be able to prevent it short of living in a bubble for a couple of years while you are trying to become pregnant and being pregnant ... and sometimes not even then). The family goes in for an ultrasound and a major defect is found. It is possible the defect will not affect the ability of the child to make it to term but definitely affect the ability to survive after delivery (e.g. if the lungs didn't form at all) ... or it may be one that 3/4 of the babies die in-utero during the 3rd trimester and the rest die during birth or immediately after the birth. These conditions do exist and they do happen in a measurable percentage of pregnancies.
And courtesy of people like the current president, it is becoming more and more difficult for the women who are living these nightmares EVERY DAY to perhaps make the choice that will keep them sane. Can you imagine the horror of feeling your baby move, having the hormones surging through your body making you want to nest for the baby, bonding with the baby, etc. and at the same time knowing that you are carrying a grossly deformed child who will die as soon as it is born. Or maybe it would be worse knowing that the baby will likely die before birth and every time the baby falls asleep you end up wondering if the lack of movement is that the baby is asleep or has it died and you are now carrying around the dead baby. Is it worse to carry the dead baby or know that by giving birth to your baby you are killing it? Imagine living either dilemma for several weeks or even months.
Some women may want to keep the pregnancy as long as possible. Others may want to get it over with so that they can begin their grieving. There are others who are likely to go a bit mad dealing with it and the extra hormones that naturally occur near the end of pregnancy will likely make the post-partum depression worse (and that doesn't even address the extra pain from a full term birth and the milk hormones).
Abortions should be RARE but when they are performed they need to be SAFE, legal, and respectful. Any woman who feels that she must have an abortion has enough issues that she is dealing with. Having random people spit on her is NOT a good thing (and that doesn't even talk about the women who are going to clinics to get pre-natal care and WANT their child but have to be preached to and reviled by the masses.
Now, I would love to see abortions be a rare thing. It is a horrible choice to have to make and it will haunt you for the rest of your life if you are put in a situation where considering it is a viable option. I would love to see safe effective birth control become common enough that nearly every pregnancy is a wanted one. If for some reason you can't sustain a pregnancy; you should be taking precautions. However, unfortunately, nothing is infallible. There are where a woman gets pregnant in spite of using birth control correctly. In some of those cases there are good reasons for the woman to NOT carry the pregnancy. If a woman is undergoing chemotherapy for example and has a failure and chemo is NOT something you want to expose an embryo or fetus to. She may not even realize that there has been a failure until she is several weeks pregnant (I don't know if they do a pregnancy test every time someone goes in for chemo or not). This will likely cause a miscarriage. However, sometimes it doesn't and the baby is NOT going to be healthy and is fairly likely to NOT be viable.
Or what about a woman who has other major health issues (heart problems, blood pressure problems, kidney problems, etc.) that make carrying the pregnancy to term HIGHLY unlikely and/or HIGHLY dangerous. Why should she be forced to put her life on the line for an unwanted (and attempted to avoid) child? Some of these conditions (like kidney problems) can cause late term miscarriages and end up killing both the mother and the baby.
Then you have the truly tragic cases; where a family wants a child. The woman gets pregnant and they are thrilled. Then something happens and the baby is not viable. There are many, many, things that can go wrong in a pregnancy to leave the child un-viable. There are genetic issues. There are massive birth defects that do occur for no obvious reason (in addition to the ones that you can figure out the why in hindsight but may not be able to prevent it short of living in a bubble for a couple of years while you are trying to become pregnant and being pregnant ... and sometimes not even then). The family goes in for an ultrasound and a major defect is found. It is possible the defect will not affect the ability of the child to make it to term but definitely affect the ability to survive after delivery (e.g. if the lungs didn't form at all) ... or it may be one that 3/4 of the babies die in-utero during the 3rd trimester and the rest die during birth or immediately after the birth. These conditions do exist and they do happen in a measurable percentage of pregnancies.
And courtesy of people like the current president, it is becoming more and more difficult for the women who are living these nightmares EVERY DAY to perhaps make the choice that will keep them sane. Can you imagine the horror of feeling your baby move, having the hormones surging through your body making you want to nest for the baby, bonding with the baby, etc. and at the same time knowing that you are carrying a grossly deformed child who will die as soon as it is born. Or maybe it would be worse knowing that the baby will likely die before birth and every time the baby falls asleep you end up wondering if the lack of movement is that the baby is asleep or has it died and you are now carrying around the dead baby. Is it worse to carry the dead baby or know that by giving birth to your baby you are killing it? Imagine living either dilemma for several weeks or even months.
Some women may want to keep the pregnancy as long as possible. Others may want to get it over with so that they can begin their grieving. There are others who are likely to go a bit mad dealing with it and the extra hormones that naturally occur near the end of pregnancy will likely make the post-partum depression worse (and that doesn't even address the extra pain from a full term birth and the milk hormones).
Abortions should be RARE but when they are performed they need to be SAFE, legal, and respectful. Any woman who feels that she must have an abortion has enough issues that she is dealing with. Having random people spit on her is NOT a good thing (and that doesn't even talk about the women who are going to clinics to get pre-natal care and WANT their child but have to be preached to and reviled by the masses.