truepenny: artist's rendering of Sidneyia inexpectans (Default)
Sarah/Katherine ([personal profile] truepenny) wrote2009-06-02 04:45 pm

a couple more links

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 [livejournal.com profile] 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.

[identity profile] rarelylynne.livejournal.com 2009-06-03 03:09 am (UTC)(link)
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.
Edited 2009-06-03 03:22 (UTC)

[identity profile] truepenny.livejournal.com 2009-06-03 03:40 am (UTC)(link)
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.