“We have to eliminate abortion on demand!”

I’ve been hearing that chant for years and I’m still not sure what it means.  But apparently pro-choice House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi knows what it means because she recently said that she “doesn’t believe in abortion on demand.”  Hardly skipping a beat, the National Abortion & Reproductive Rights League objected to Pelosi using the phrase.   In a statement they said:

“The Leader should stop using twisted GOP talking points about abortion…we don’t know women who demand abortion.”

When I think about that, I guess it’s true.  I’ve never seen a woman who was able to walk into an abortion clinic and demand that the doctor to perform an abortion.  What happens in the real world is that a woman with an unwanted pregnancy calls a clinic, gets an appointment usually within a few days, then goes to the facility.  Once there, she fills out paperwork, takes a few medical tests and gets some form of counseling where the counselor determines if she is ready for an abortion.  If she gets the green light, she then goes into the surgery room.  Oh, I forgot to add that in many states, after the woman has gone to the clinic, she then has to go back home and wait for a day or two before going back to the clinic for the abortion.

So, is that what the anti-abortion folks mean by “abortion on demand?”  If it is, it seems like a stretch as the phrase “on demand” implies that she walked into a clinic unannounced and DEMANDED that they perform the abortion!

How silly.

Having said all of that, however, I have to be totally honest once again and relate some things that I have seen in the past that might relate to this discussion.

In my years with NCAP, I visited lots of clinics and I observed some interesting.  I have seen women get rather incensed when they were told they had to come back in 24 hours because the state thought they needed more time to think about their decision.  I’ve seen some women get extremely upset when the counselor told her she did not think she was ready for an abortion.  It could have been a minor who was being forced by her parents or a woman who wanted the baby but her boyfriend was pressuring her to abort.    These women were on the verge of DEMANDING their abortion, although it would have been to no avail.

So I need some help from my anti-abortion friends who continue to say they’re going to put a halt to “abortion on demand.”