During the 2004 Presidential Debates, the giggling murderer replied to a question about abortion by saying that it was a simple issue, and that it was always wrong. In 2008, John McCain made a joke out of people who consider the health of the mother to be a serious consideration during pregnancy. The murder of Dr. Tiller and the right-wing cabal of crazy that instigated it seem to cling to this childish worldview, and it's impossible for anyone with a brain to see the world in that simplistic a way.
I'd imagine there are a lot of stories out there from real people who've dealt with this real issue. Last summer, when my wife was pregnant with our son, we were apprehensive. We'd already been through a miscarriage, and I'm a worrier by nature. More than 6 weeks before the due date, she became concerned about a very high blood pressure reading, and we ended up in the hospital at midnight one evening. That night, she was diagnosed as being preeclampsic, and the only cure for preeclampsia is delivering the fetus. The situation was pretty clear to me - the pregnancy had to end or my wife would likely die. I can't imagine a world in which I would be forced to write off my wife's health as an irrelevant part of that discussion. We were fortunate in that our son was developing well within his womb, and that the hospital we were at had a fantastic NICU. He's doing great (you wouldn't know he was premature), and it all worked out in the end, but the fear remains for possible future pregnancies.
I bring this up because of a NY Times article where patients recall their experiences with Dr. Tiller. These are oft-times heart-wrenching stories of women and families making extremely hard decisions regarding pregnancies that had gone wrong for any number of reasons. This isn't cold-blooded murder, or casual disposal of complications from unprotected sex. This is hard stuff, people, and anyone who's gone through anything remotely like what these women went through couldn't pretend that abortion is simple or trivial. There are stories here that will hit home for lots of people, whether they happened to you, happened to someone you know, or just live in your fears. There are entirely too many people on both sides of the "debate" who have made caricatures of themselves and of humanity, and this time it lead to murder. Congratulations, idiots.
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3 comments:
It's sad that for the mouth breathing, cool-aid drinkers when their viewpoint of life is reduced to "Jesus" and "America" there is no room for compassion.
There once was a day that both those words inspired compassion.
Why would you want compassion when you can have absolutism and hatred?
Like the Taliban? The final remnants of the lines are fading.
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