Physician-assisted suicide. Should it be a choice that individuals have a right to make?

[PeaceNikki]

37. So, you approve of the sweeping restrictions that have been placed on abortion and access to it over

the past 25 years? I guess you think women should just STFU, be glad that "soft support" like yours keeps it legal at all, and allow that to continue?

No? Ok, then stop and understand how bringing the frequency at which it occurs into the conversation contributes to this. Saying it should be rare legitimizes efforts to restrict access to abortion.

Prior to 1989, laws interfering with a woman’s right to abortion were ruled unconstitutional. The shift in the composition of the Court under the Reagan and Bush I administrations led to the 1989 and 1992 Webster and Casey Supreme Court decisions establishing a threshold of “undue burden” for the constitutionality of state-based restrictions. Under this new legal regime, states can demonstrate a preference against abortion through the implementation of waiting periods, parental involvement, mandatory information, and scripted provider speech requirements; since 1994, almost every state has done so. These laws vary in their construction and studying the effects of these laws is difficult but suggests that additional barriers to abortion disproportionately affect traditionally vulnerable populations. For example, the most severe waiting periods require two in-person visits to the clinic with a prescribed time between visits. In a world where many women lack paid sick leave and childcare, access to a provider in their community, and affordable transportation/lodging, a two-visit requirement may be insurmountable to some women.

Maybe you go around using the term "rare" in context of other medical issues, but society certainly doesn't. Not like this. And, if it were coupled with massive sweeping restrictions on other medical procedures and attacks from the religious right, I could buy into that theory.

I feel it's incredibly important to discuss how our language forms our societal beliefs and vice versa.