Abbie Hoffman wrote:
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No one wants a******n used as birth control, but that is a moot point anyway. I have never met any pregnant woman who didn't agonize over her options. She may have a lot of competing options, but sometimes none of those options are good.
Let me emphasize that *incompatible with life* is a diagnosis of a failure of gestation, the infant cannot live outside of the womb. Quality of life is a whole other thing.
Thirty three years ago, my sister went into labor when she was between 5 - 6 months pregnant. She was in her mid-30's, married, living on a farm in a rural area, and so excited to be having her first child... And then, far too early, she went into labor, her water broke, and my niece was delivered in a Flight For Life helicopter. She weighed little more than a pound. No one was certain that the Peanut would survive.
Peanut lived although she had the birth injury of Cerebral Palsy. She is profoundly disabled, and spent most of a year in NICU and PICU. My sister couldn't breastfeed her little girl. My sister didn't sit back waiting for her baby to come home. She learned how to do all the things she would have to do for the Peanut.
My niece, who has been in state programs since she was born has cost the State millions of dollars, and she is still in the custody of the State. My sister is in her 60's, and too broken to take care of her daughter, although she cared for her Peanut for most of her life. Peanut is a sweet 33 year old woman who cannot talk, eat, taste ice cream, change herself, comb or brush her own hair, or get married and have her own children. Instead, Peanut's life revolves around nurses, doctors, occupational therapy, group activities that she can't participate in... it's heartbreaking, but no one would have her any other way. She has these amazing blue eyes and black curly hair (like mine), and her smile lights up the night sky.
I will be waiting for someone who *knows* scripture and the right verse to pass judgment on my sister, and probably my family, too.
There are no easy answers, but no one has a right to judge anyone. No one but my sister has walked in her shoes. If there is one thing to take from all of this, is that an a******n is NEVER easy thing to consider. I don't understand why anti-choicers think they have a right to judge the intimate and personal decision about a woman's life. What my sister went through is no one's business but hers.
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I am an anti cnoicer but I do not judge those who are not. I have not walked in their shoes, and it is always a tragedy when a human life is lost, be it by intentional murder, a******n for wh**ever reason, accident, or suicide. Hard choices always, but sometimes the choice is made too soon-especially a life changing choice with many people living with the change, such as a******n. While it is a personal matter, it also effects others, no matter the reason for the a******n. It effects the father, it effects the child, and the mother, as well as friends and relatives of all those people. The effect is wide spread, considering that the aborted baby may have been the one to later find a cure for cancer-a far fetched idea to some, but possible, or discovered some amazing new planet or galaxy-we just do not know. It is pointless to speculate on what might be or have been, I realize that. But while it is basically the choice of the mother, there may be many more people effected by the decision. This does not take the responsibility for the decision from the mother, but this issue has more wide spread consequences than we first realize.
I am not sure that no one wants a******n as a birth control method. Sounds to me as though PP thinks it is OK to use it that way-or they would allow the woman to see an ultrasound, would counsel her about her options to make sure she really wanted this procedure or needed it for wh**ever reason. But it seems as though it is a kind of a ho-hum attitude of those that perform and those who assist in it. I may be completely wrong about that, since I have no personal experience with a******n, but I have never heard of any a******nist who encouraged the woman to think about it, review her options, or see what the procedure actually entails, nor warned of the possibility of psychological side effects or encouraged to get help should that occur. So I cannot call it a "woman's health" issue because of the sometimes callous way it is handled.