a couple more links

[truepenny]

Slacktivist explains how the evangelical Right got to the current point of either condoning murder or disowning their own rhetoric.

And something Ursula linked to yesterday, but which--well, if you have an opinion about late-term abortion, one way or the other, you may want to read this article from 2005, a first-person account of undergoing a late-term abortion which also talks very clearly about exactly what a late-term abortion is, and isn't (hint: it isn't what President Bush told us it was), and why women desperately need access to providers of this service. I have always been pro-choice, but this article made it EVEN MORE CLEAR to me what a cruel and self-serving piece of legislation the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act was.

ETA: This article at Salon.com (which I found via maryrobinette) describes more particularly Dr. Tiller's practice and points out what a terrible chasm has been created by his murder:

Susan Hill, President of the National Women's Health Foundation, who knew Dr. Tiller for over two decades and referred girls and women to his clinic, said in a phone interview, "We always sent the really tragic cases to Tiller." Those included women diagnosed with cancer who needed abortions to qualify for chemotherapy, women who learned late in their pregnancies that their wanted babies had fatal illnesses, and rape victims so young they didn't realize they were pregnant for months. "We sent him 11-year-olds, 12-year-olds who were way too far along for anybody [else] to see," said Hill. "Eleven-year-olds don't tell anybody. Sometimes they don't even know they've had a period."
[...]
I asked Hill where women who need late-term abortions can go now, and her response was bleak. "There's Warren Hern, out in Boulder, Colorado, but he doesn't go as far as Dr. Tiller went." When it comes to those "really tragic cases," Hill said the harsh truth is, "We don't know where we're going to send them."

Rest in peace, Dr. Tiller.

Comments

[hagsrus.livejournal.com]

A fellow Slacktivist fan?

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Actually, someone commented on my first post about Dr. Tiller's murder with the link. I recognize the blog name, but haven't previously read any of his posts.

[tournevis.livejournal.com]

Word.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Thank you for that story.

[rarelylynne.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this.

ETA: I'm not going into extensive detail here (that would be all hijacky), but I can state that my pregnancy experiences at the 20 week ultrasound were identical to the person in the article.

I, too, had to make a similar choice. And I'm eternally grateful that regardless of the decision I made, I had access to doctors, hospitals, and a reasonable assurance that I would live through the consequences of my choice either way.

So, yeah, I'm still pro-choice.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Yes. It's an awful choice, and one nobody should ever be forced to make--but at the same time, taking the choice away is not the answer.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

I sort of feel like if anyone ever tried to prevent me or someone I loved from having an abortion in order to qualify for chemo, that I would be doing my arguing with a sledgehammer. Possibly literally.

The idea that there might be no one who *could* do that operation is horrifying.

[scottakennedy.livejournal.com]

Thanks for those details from Salon. I'd been wondering what sort of late-term operations he did, and the specifics, as usual, paint such a far different picture than the blow-hard rhetoric I've been seeing re-run from O'Reilly and his ilk.

article

[themadblonde]

Heartwringin & yet extremely well written. Thanks for posting.

Wait, you mean President Bush *LIED* to us?!

[gadow.livejournal.com]

Imagine that. (Insert eye-roll here.)

It continues to astonish me, the energy and resources that the Talibangelicals of this country pour into both outlawing abortion and outlawing the education and means for avoiding unwanted pregnancies in the first place.