Your response to my reaction to the Texas abortion bill was valid, and I understand your points. However, I do not understand why temporarily (that’s a key word) closing all but 5 abortion clinics would be such a horrible thing. According to USA Today, “The bill would ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy and force many clinics that perform the procedure to upgrade their facilities and be classified as ambulatory surgical centers. Also, doctors would be required to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles (50 kilometers) — a tall order in rural communities.“
Sure, the people who are against it may HATE the 20 weeks, but do you even know what a baby looks like and can do at 20 weeks?
At week 7, the baby has eyelids. At week 9, it has earlobes. At week 11, you can see hands. By week 15, the baby has noticeable legs and its face is already noticeably developed. At week 19, the child has a brain. At week 20, the child’s skeleton and other vital parts of the skin are forming. I want to focus on week 19, though.
What makes you who you are? What gives you the capacity to learn? How do you know right from wrong? How do you move your arms, legs, eyes, etc? What stores your memories? What allows you the capacity to make reasonable, logical deductions? Your brain. From week 19 and on, the baby has a brain and the tissue which protects that vital portion of the human body is formed. If you think that aborting a child after its brain has formed is ok, then I question your morality.Further, your main concern was that women in Texas would have to drive hundreds of miles to get an abortion because all except 5 clinics would be closed. You are exaggerating. The majority of women in Texas would not need to drive that far, your citing those women who live on the Texas/Mexico border. While I can see that being an issue, the clinics would not be closed forever. They would be TEMPORARILY CLOSED in order to preform vital upgrades in order to keep the woman’s health when getting an abortion in good standing, so that the likelihood of anything bad happening would be lesser than now.
And your absurd notion of “deadly” back alley abortions is all myth that you refuse to do research on. “The number of women dying from legal abortions is probably several times what it was when abortion was illegal. For many compelling reasons, deaths resulting from illegal abortion were accurately reported on death certificates. Independent studies have confirmed this. But ever since 1973, whenever a legal abortion results in a maternal death the underlying cause is often, and perhaps usually, ignored or disguised on death certificates.“
I urge you to read this article, http://afterabortion.org/2011/the-truth-about-back-alley-abortions/ and the hundreds of others just like it. Basically, everyone including Planned Parenthood knew that the statistics were skewed but didn’t care. Only 39 women died of illegal abortions in 1972, not the “thousands” proclaimed. Also, there were not, and still wouldn’t be “millions of women getting back alley abortions per year". “Scientific estimates based on known deaths and complications related to illegal abortion show that the actual rate of illegal abortions was in the range of 60,000 to 200,000 per year.“ Furthermore, “women will seek out illegal abortions. Surveys of women undergoing legal abortions confirm that only 6 to 20 percent would have considered seeking an illegal abortion if it was not legally available.” Lastly, “There are also many deaths which are indirectly caused by abortion. Women with a history of abortion are 3.5 times more likely to die following abortion and six times more likely to commit suicide than are women who give birth. They are also more prone to substance abuse and other forms of risky behavior that may lead to death. Indeed, more than 30 studies published in the last five years alone have linked abortion to higher rates of mental health problems, including depression, substance abuse, suicidal behavior, and anxiety disorders — including symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.“So before you go ranting and raging, do your research, because you’re obviously being misinformed.
ohhhhhh my goooood ok
Sure, the people who are against it may HATE the 20 weeks, but do you even know what a baby looks like and can do at 20 weeks?
And then you go into some fucking bullshit about how “Oh, they look so human, it’s a BABY,” guilt nonsense.
I’m sorry, I need you to think critically for two seconds. What the fuck are you proposing as an alternative for abortion for a woman who wants—or needs— one?
Are you seriously suggesting that we drug a woman, strap her down and force her into giving birth? Are you suggesting that we keep women who want abortions after 20 weeks under close supervision, because if they want an abortion they will find a way to get one (legal or not, and I’ll tear into that part in a few minutes)? You question my morality? I question what type of person demands thousands of women either be strapped down and forced into labor, or being cut open like a fucking animal without their permission in C-Sections and then tossed their fucking baby and turned out onto the goddamned street.
Because what the fuck are you suggesting as a goddamn alternative, here? The people who wait 20 weeks before wanting an abortion are usually people who just don’t know that they’re pregnant— usually young people who just don’t know what’s going on.
And forcing a young woman to give birth against their will (one of the most painful things a human being can experience) is absolutely draconian. It’s not about the life of the fucking fetus, and you and I both know it. If it was, social programs designed to help children born into poverty would be a lot higher. Healthcare for children would be universal and great. Public schools would be like goddamned castles.
The legislators making laws like these demand that a fucking fetus has all the rights of a full citizen, but still deny many of those rights to women and LGBT groups.
Because the hypothetical idea of a boy being born is absolutely more important and overshadows the rights of the mother herself.
But the truth is, pro-lifers do not give a single fuck about children after they’re out of the womb.
You cite the baby’s development at 20 weeks as a reason to stop, but you know full goddamned well that these people would abolish Roe v Wade alltogether if they could. They say 20 weeks because, maybe, it might be enough of a grey area in order to win people—like you— over to their side. But you fucking know that thy would go down to 19. 18. 15. 10. North Dakota’s abortion ban is 6 weeks.
>your baby at 6 weeks
They would push for less. 0 weeks, abortion only available in cases of Rape and Incest.
Which segways into my next point nicely: Why do you think that there are often exemptions for rape and incest in these laws being introduced?
I mean, it isn’t the baby’s fault of how it was conceived, right? It’s still a “human life,“ right? Why do politicians care?
Spoiler alert: Because the pro-life movement isn’t about babies at all. Literally, it has nothing to do with it. It’s about punishing women for having pleasurable sex.
I want you to go back up and read that last line.
Do it again.
And again.
That’s why there’s rape and incest exemptions— if it wasn’t her choice to open her legs, then she doesn’t need to be “punished” with “taking responsibility" for her actions, and forced to raise a baby. Because a baby that is seen as a “punishment" is in good hands, totally equipped and mentally prepared to raise a child, right? Shit. Fucking think for two seconds.
If they were really worried about the number of abortions happening in this country, then contraceptives would be free— birth control, not just condoms but the pill, and IUD inserts like Merina, which can be very expensive and inaccessible to people with lower incomes.
And your absurd notion of “deadly" back alley abortions is all myth that you refuse to do research on. …..
Only 39 women died of illegal abortions in 1972, not the “thousands" proclaimed. Also, there were not, and still wouldn’t be “millions of women getting back alley abortions per year". “Scientific estimates based on known deaths and complications related to illegal abortion show that the actual rate of illegal abortions was in the range of 60,000 to 200,000 per year.“ Furthermore, “women will seek out illegal abortions. Surveys of women undergoing legal abortions confirm that only 6 to 20 percent would have considered seeking an illegal abortion if it was not legally available.”
CITING PRO-LIFE WEBSITES AS A SOURCE
THEIR ENTIRE FUCKING PURPOSE IS TO STOP YOU FROM GETTING AN ABORTION, YOU NITWIT. THEY CONTINUOUSLY LIE AND FUDGE THE NUMBERS— here’s a reality check:
Abortion rates were lowest in Western Europe – 12 per 1,000 – and highest in Eastern Europe – 43 per 1,000. The rate in North America was 19 per 1,000. Sedgh said she and colleagues found a link between higher abortion rates and regions with more restrictive legislation, such as in Latin America and Africa. They also found that 95 to 97 percent of abortions in those regions were unsafe. (x)
Oh, this little statistic is also good;
About 47,000 women died from unsafe abortions in 2008, and another 8.5 million women had serious medical complications. Almost all unsafe abortions were in developing countries, where family planning and contraceptive programs have mostly leveled off. (x)
Please. Give me a scientific study, give me a reliable source, give me ANYTHING. A news website, anything other than “afterabortion.org" or other similar sites. Shit, I’d even accept Fox News as a source over that bullshit, so please. The “hundreds" of other sites like it are a blight on the face of human rights and the statistics used are absolutely and intentionally incorrect. Find a site that even makes a vague attempt at being unbiased then come back to me.
Women with a history of abortion are 3.5 times more likely to die following abortion and six times more likely to commit suicide than are women who give birth.
hahahah WRONG
The risk of death associated with a full-term pregnancy and delivery is 8.8 deaths per 100,000, while the risk of death linked to legal abortion is 0.6 deaths per 100,000 women, according to the study. That means a woman carrying a baby to term is 14 times more likely to die than a woman who chooses to have a legal abortion, the study finds.
“Regardless of one’s sentiments about abortion, legal abortion is very safe, and dramatically safer than continuing the pregnancy,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. David Grimes, a clinical professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine at Chapel Hill. (x)
That “suicide/substance abuse" bullshit has been chanted for a long fucking time by a lot of stupid fucking people, and the fact is, it’s simply not true. Abortion is not for everyone, yes. And no one should be pressured into getting one. Similarly, no one should be pressured OUT of getting one. Women are not a collective uniform singular person who react in the same way to every event in our lives— we’re people. And as such, while some women might regret their abortion, just as many (if not 10 times more) will shrug it off and move on with their lives as if nothing happened.
1 in 3 women will get an abortion in their lifetime in this country. And although you or me might have a set plan if you ever found yourself with an unwanted pregnancy, neither of us can say for certain what we would do until we get to that point.
That being said, 1 in 3 women do not fucking kill themselves or have substance abuse issues, and even if they did, it probably isn’t connected to an abortion they had 10 years ago.
The majority of women in Texas would not need to drive that far, your (sic) citing those women who live on the Texas/Mexico border.
I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware that 0 women lived on the Mexico border.
The thing you fail to realize is that, yes, in theory, they would “temporarily close.“ But show me to the section in the law that calls for the government to pay for those upgrades and I’ll be satisfied— I’ll save you the trouble. It isn’t there. The clinics would only “have” to close until they upgraded their facilities, but most, if not all of them, can’t afford that shit. It’s an attempt to close clinics, period. The legislators in Texas know it— why else make those upgrades mandatory in the first place, if each clinic already has a set standard of what needs to be there/minimum safety standards, etc (they do)? It’s because they want to close clinics, because:
a. the overwhelming majority of them are religious upper class white men
b. they will never be confronted with finding themselves in a situation where they would make a choice relating to having an abortion
c. they are soulless husks devoid of any and all empathy, who I guarantee would pay for and urge their mistresses to get an abortion if she found herself pregnant.
I’m not asking you to get an abortion after 20 weeks. I’m asking you not to fucking ban it for everyone else.
Shit.
