Powerful testimony about an abortion

Every once in awhile, we see this sort of article. But this one is outstanding in its pathos, anger, fear and then helps us understand why public policy requires us to keep abortion legal.

I always say, "Look, I've seen ultrasound. It's a baby pretty early. But I'll be damned if I'm going to pass a law that forces a woman to bear a child against her will."

And when the anti-abortion person says, "Well, she should have thought of that before she got pregnant. She already made her choice..."

I respond: "So are you pro-life or pro-punishment? You see pregnancy as a punishment. That's your position: You are pro-punishment, not pro-life."

And being pro-punishment is too often the basis as to why people are anti-abortion. When such folks rant against abortion, they are ultimately ranting against women's autonomy over their bodies. And the fact that some women are anti-abortion does not change that point one bit. There were plenty of women in the 19th Century who thought women were too dumb to vote. That does not change the argument. It only shows us ironies within public policy disputes.

Plus, let's remember this: Most women who undergo abortion procedures do so in the first three to four months of pregnancy (less than 1% of abortions are performed after the fifth month). Therefore, the discussion about late term abortions is the right wing equivalent to the left wing stuff about "...You mean that politician is against abortion even after rape or incest?" (Also, about 1%)

Even if an abortion procedure is performed in the sixth, seventh or even the rare eighth months after pregnancy begins, we still need to look carefully as a society at the health and life of the mother to be. Compassion for the mother is our first consideration.

The Guttmacher Institute has a list of factual information regarding abortion in the USA.

As I said, read the initial article in this post. It tells us why we don't want to return to the days before Roe v. Wade, even as we know today that abortion is already effectively illegal in many parts of our nation--due at least in part to terrorist attacks against doctors and hospitals that provided abortion procedures.

Final note: Good for Obama in recognizing that abortion is not as much a cultural wedge issue for his political prospects as some think--and for once making a decision that benefits regular people, in this case, women facing an unwanted pregnancy.

(Edited)