General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I am pro-abortion, not just pro-choice: 10 reasons why we must support the procedure and the choice [View all]eppur_se_muova
(36,257 posts)In the past, I had often been baffled by the inability of some people to realize that abortion is, in almost every case, a last resort, and never anything but. Anti-choicers often talk about choice as if a woman might get an abortion thoughtlessly, casually, even whimsically, and this has led some of us on the left to ridicule the anti-choice position in the same language, only plus snark, as if they're just too stupid to realize what sort of desperation "last resort" really means. I just couldn't understand why some people didn't "get it". No more.
It's not a lack of understanding. They're not stupid. They know it's the last resort in most cases. They don't want women to have any resort except delivery, and that is really all it comes down to. To anti-choicers, or forced-birthers, or whatever you want to call them, having a baby isn't something a woman does. It is something that is done to her, by God's will. Her role is essentially passive -- as if growing a new life within her body had nothing to do with her, really. That's not a lack of understanding that can be educated away, that's a monumental lack of comprehension -- well, actually, a miscomprehension -- which not even the proverbial clue-by-four is likely to dispel.