An interesting article in the Washington Post discusses a speech that Sarah Palin gave at a right-to-life fundraising dinner. Palin talked about how twice in her life she considered getting an abortion, but decided against it. But she did gain sympathy for women who have abortions; “I do understand what these women, what these girls go through in that thought process.”
While the major point seems to be that she is happy about her decision, she ignores the fact that if abortion were illegal, she would not have had a decision to make. Ironically, Palin eloquently, if unintentionally, makes a strong case for choice.
Or consider Palin’s statement about the pregnancy of her daughter: “We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby.” If the right-to-life crowd had their way, there would be no decision to be proud of, or even made.
Maybe Palin can understand that you can be against abortion while being in favor of choice. Some things are just none of the government’s damn business. And that might just be something worth having a tea party about.
8 Comments
Amem! I wrote a comment basically saying the same thing (although not as cleverly) as this article. She states the obvious – that she (and her daughter) had a CHOICE.
Not to mention the fact that if abortion were totally outlawed as murder, wouldn’t women who have miscarriages be subject to police investigation for the death of their child, with the assumption that certain activities can increase the likelihood of miscarriage?
Just a thought.
Sammy,
It has already happened. I attended a talk about a year ago where several real cases were discussed in which “fetal protection”/ anti-abortion laws were used against women who had miscarriages, gave birth to stillborn children, and one who refused an unnecessary C-section. There were about 6 or 7 such cases in a variety of states, including California. Most of them were still in the system so I don’t know what happened in the end. It is a very scary world in some places around the U.S.
I just found the a Youtube video from the organization who presented at the talk I went to. They discuss some of the cases I heard about in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuC4gGSZ-yU
@ Starluna
Just being reminded of that… there are times I really wish I could afford law school.
@Starluna: I stand corrected on the tense of my statement. Wow! I did not really know that it was a reality in some places.
Years ago my wife had a miscarriage, and I can’t imagine our lives being scrutinized during an investigation of a “death”. And by the way, when was the last time you heard of anyone having a funeral or baptism of a fetus?
@ thought dancer: no, you really don’t want to make wishes like that, they might come true.
Palin’s a republican, that means she wants a small government [without taxes] that will stay out of her life — meaning, the government should just ban everything her church doesn’t agree with.
@ k!m
Actually, I’ve nearly gone to law school twice now, and each time it was the money that stopped me. Every time I hear about abuses I get tempted, again.