Here you go, Jill.
This op-ed by Ross Douthat basically concludes that if only the pro-choice crowd weren’t so gosh-darn uppity, Tiller would be alive today. Or something.
Peoples, if you’re wondering why some elective abortions are performed later than others, go ahead and thank those among us who make access to abortion harder and harder while simultaneously demonizing comprehensive sex education and contraception. Thank those who make women so terrified of being labeled monsters and whores that they agonize for weeks and weeks over something they want to do. Thank Ross Douthat, he of the “women who use birth control are fat bitches out to steal my precious bodily fluids” fame.
The Bible, which is specific on a great deal of issues (everything from the craziness of Leviticus to committing adultery in your mind), is oddly silent on the subject of elective abortion. But the misogynist religious institutions which inform Douthat’s opinions couldn’t possibly lay low on the subject, not now, not with abortion procedures being even safer than actual childbirth. They can’t let the ladies make up their own minds on the subject. Unsatisfied with their own personal right not to have an aboriton, they encourage the faithful to stand and scream outside clinics. When the faithful shoot people, writers like Douthat support them with rhetoric that basically amounts to “well, we don’t support that, but…”
I agree with Lisa that a holistic approach to women’s health will always and forever be necessary. I remember thinking I was pregnant last year, and reflecting on how unfortunate it would be if this was indeed the case – because I think I’d want to have children eventually and being introduced to pregnancy via an uhappy accident is certainly not what I had dreamed of. The holistic approach takes that into account, it also takes into account those of us who are forced to abort wanted pregnancies due to the lack of good prenatal care (odd, that many people who are against abortion are also not in favour of bettering healthcare, and scream “OMG OMG SOCIALISM!!!11!!” every time the subject is mentioned), those of us who abort wanted pregnancies because we can’t face the ugly stigma of single motherhood, those of us who are ambivalent toward pregnancy but can’t make an honest decision in light of the polarizing hoopla surrounding these issues, and so on.
The holistic approach views women as more than mere life support systems for wombs. Ross Douthat, on the other hand? Well, he justifies himself in all sorts of creative ways, even throwing “democracy” into the mix, but I honestly believe that this issue is just a personal squick for him, and it is these personal squicks that other people, apparently, need to contend with when making reproductive decisions.
No thank you.
Oh, and nice use of Kansans for Life to support your argument, Mr. Douthat. Personally, if I wanted to prove that little green men are using the shawerma stand down the road as their outpost to launch a battle for world domination, I’d look no further than the Collected Works of the Lone Gunmen, myself.
Natalia A. 