abortion

[mellowtigger]

Today's "Moody Monday" post puts me at risk of a US$10,000 fine in Texas, maybe even prison.  I think incarceration applies only to abortion providers, not information providers, but I'm not certain.  Either way, it's a good reason to never set foot there.  (Reminder: Get out.)  Indeed, Facebook and Instagram are already censoring abortion information online.  Google says it will delete location history for abortion centers, but that may still not help people who search the topic.  You could search on computers at your local library, but safety depends on if your library follows recommended practice.  Eventually a VPN may be necessary to protect yourself and to access region-restricted websites.

Texas has already enacted legislation, known as SB 8, that enables any individual to sue a person or institution for facilitating access to abortion care. That includes sharing information online about managing the abortion process, obtaining an abortion pill, or finding a clinic that offers abortions.
- https://www.wired.com/story/section-230-is-a-last-line-of-defense-for-abortion-speech-online/

People are sharing their experiences in abortion care, both receiving and providing it.  They offer a lot to consider.  From the woman with a detached placenta to the doctors delaying life-saving care like this woman who miscarried but couldn't get medical help, also the 10-year-old rape victim whose young body is required by her current Ohio state law to carry to term the fetus of that criminal, and even the coroner stories of botched abortions before legalization in Canada.

• Abortion.cafe is a website with useful links for anyone seeking an abortion.
• Tech Workers Coalition also has a good list of resources.
• TheNib.com provides an educational comic that explains (with citations at the end) the abortion pills misoprostol and mifepristone.
• If/When/How includes a legal helpline.
• SkepChick has some thoughts for how supportive third parties can help.
• U.S. Department Of Defense will still continue abortion care at their bases, even in states that prohibit it.
• As for the mood here in Minnesota, we seem to be setting up as a safe harbor, both allowing abortions and preventing cooperation in prosecution from regressive territories.  We're expecting an influx of visitors from other states, and one North Dakota clinic is already seeking funds to move across the state border to join us.  But avoid the anti-abortion "pregnancy crisis" centers.
• If pills aren't for you, then there is the possibility of IUDs or getting snipped to prevent pregnancy.

I advocate letting people control their own bodies as they wish, however complex those decisions are for them.  One justification sometimes presented is the idea (more complicated than just a single variable) that allowing abortions nationwide with the Roe v. Wade court decision led to fewer "unwanted children" in high poverty populations, leading to a reduction in crime many years later.  Personally, I don't really need that justification for legalization.  I'm firmly in the camp that believes, as the meme says about baby Molly, that an embryo is simply not a person.  Similarly, I can't believe a fetus is a person until it's at least developed enough biologically to no longer remain a parasite, then we can start discussing the difficult definitions.  Plenty of mainstream religious traditions share this idea and allow abortion.  Even without abortion, some 40% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage naturally, which certainly doesn't make these women slaughterers for failing to deliver, as the new laws insist.  The idea is insanity and can actually prevent babies from being born to families who need IVF to conceive.  It's also already endangering non-abortion medical care by its sheer stupidity.

Let's end this post, however, by noting the central hypocrisy (both Betty Bowers and George Carlin elaborate well on this topic) that got us here.

"The unborn" are a convenient group of people to advocate for. They never make demands of you; they are morally uncomplicated; unlike the incarcerated, addicted, or the chronically poor, they don't resent your condescension or complain that you are not politically correct; unlike widows, they don't ask you to question patriarchy; unlike orphans, they don't need money, education, or childcare; unlike aliens, they don't bring all that racial, cultural, and religious baggage that you dislike; they allow you to feel good about yourself without any work at creating or maintaining relationships; and when they are born, you can forget about them, because they cease to be unborn.  It's almost as if, by being born, they have died to you.  You can love the unborn and advocate for them without substantially challenging your own wealth, power, or privilege, without re-imagining social structures, apologizing, or making reparations to anyone.  They are, in short, the perfect people to love if you want to claim you love Jesus but actually dislike people who breathe.

Prisoners?  Immigrants?  The sick?  The poor?  Widows?  Orphans?  All the groups that are specifically mentioned in the Bible?  They all get thrown under the bus for the unborn.

- Pastor Dave Barnhart, from Alabama

 

Welcome to Amurrika.  The line forms here for your pelvic exam.

Comments

[mellowtigger]

The main post was already way too long, so I'm saving some further comments for this postscript.

* Today is our July 4th holiday in the USA, a celebration of freedom from religious persecution and taxation without representation, maybe? The hypocrisy. It burns.

* About that 10-year-old girl. We're told she's supposed to delivery the rapist's baby, but ironically 1) she is too young to learn about slavery or she might get ideas about bodily autonomy), 2) she's too young to see a drag queen because that would traumatize her, and 3) she's not mature enough to know if she's lesbian, bi, or trans. But, sure, she's required to become a baby factory for her rapist.

* Incest (I'm assuming) victims like her are intentionally targeted in these laws. It's about power/authority, not justice or respect for life.

I read The Handmaid's Tale back in 1985 or 1986 when I was in high school, but not as part of English class (although I recommended it to my teacher after I finished it). I sometimes used school lunch money to buy books instead of food. :/ Anyway, that's the inspiration for today's new thumbnail icon at the top of the post. It was tweeted by Amy Siskind yesterday, and someone offered another one featuring the Statue Of Liberty.

And for the anti-abortion law advocates, turnabout is fair play, right? Right?