Abortion – Abortion Clinics, Abortion Pill, Abortion Information

A reader recently asked me how she could get involved in the pro-choice movement.

I first need to say that, if you are pro-choice, don’t sit back and think everything is okay in this country.   In 1973, abortion was legalized by the Supreme Court and those who oppose legal abortion remain energized to this day.  And, in many ways they have been successful. 

They have succeeded in restricting accedss to abortion in many states (parental consent, 24 hour waiting periods), federal funding for abortions has been generally prohibited for decades and the balance on the Supreme Court is precarious.   Indeed, rumors now persist that Justice Stevens, the most liberal member of the court, might resign soon.  Before you say “Obama to the rescue,” remember that the President no longer has 60 votes in the Senate so he will have a difficult time nominating an openly pro-choice justice.  Finally, the pro-life movement has successfully stigmatized the abortion procedure, an absolutely ludicrous development since over one million women a year obtain abortions.

So, there’s work to be done.  I also realize that you have a life, that pro-choice people do not wake up in the morning thinking of legal abortion.  Personally, I think about breakfast.  So, I will only suggest a few things lest you get spread too thin:

Make a donation to the Abortion Care Network (www.abortioncarenetwork.org).  The ACN is the only organization whose main goal is to de-stigmatize and normalize the abortion experience. Founded from the merging of two abortion provider based organizations, the National Coalition of Abortion Providers and the Abortion Conversation Project, ACN has created a network of independent abortion providers, supportive allied organizations, and socially conscious individuals who are deeply invested in creating a more positive environment where women who choose abortion, and those that provide care, are no longer harassed or shamed by the choices they make.  Send a check today!

Make a donation to the NARAL Pro-Choice America (www.prochoiceamerica.org) Political Action Committee.  While I have criticized the continual emphasis on the word “choice,” NARAL does serve an important purpose – they contribute money to candidates who are pro-choice.  As we are seeing in the Congress today, the legislative battle over abortion comes down to one simple fact – who has the votes?   That’s what the NARAL-PAC is all about.

If you live near an abortion facility that has protestors, become an escort for women seeking abortions.  Escorts are organized by various organizations in the area, so the best thing to do is to call the clinic and ask them if you can help. 

Speak up!   I’m not saying go into someone’s face and tell them you’re pro-choice but, if the issue comes up express your feelings.  For example, if you go to a town meeting for your local Member of Congress, during the Q&A, ask him or her how they feel about abortion or, if you know they are pro-choice, THANK THEM.   Those in the pro-life movement are quick to express their opinion and the fact that they are so loud gives the impression that they are greater in number.  Do not shy away from your beliefs, tell people you are pro-choice when the opportunity arises.  At times, our silence is deafening and it has hurt us over the years. 

I look forward to other suggestions!

A short while ago, a pro-life person on this blog asked me why women get abortions.  Of course, books have been written about the subject but I wanted to give her the courtesy of a public reply. 

A little over one million women a year get abortions.  Without trying to sound cavalier about it, that means that there are a little over one million reasons.  Every time a woman picks up the phone to call a clinic for an abortion, she has her own, personal reason for doing so.  Every woman has her own individual circumstances that led her to the decision to terminate her pregnancy. 

Sure, it’s possible to generalize.  The woman may have felt that she was too young to have a baby, that she did not have enough resources to raise the child, or that the father has disappeared.  Then there are the even tougher cases, where the pregnancy was the result of a rape or incest, the women’s health or life would be endangered if she brought a child to term, or she discovered a fetal abnormality.  

What is comes down to in every case, however, is that the woman decided that it was not the right time for her to bring a child into the world.  And that is a decision that probably took her a while to arrive at.    

Indeed, when someone asks me why women have abortions, I hear in their voice the assumption that the woman learned she was pregnant one day and an hour later she was on the phone making an appointment for an abortion.  The fact is that EVERY pregnant woman knows that if she did not have an abortion, she would ultimately give birth to a baby.  She considers the possibility of giving birth and having to raise a child.  Of course, many women decide to continue the pregnancy.  But there are others who decide – often in consultation with the father, her family, her spiritual counselors – to have an abortion.     

Last week, I posted a note asking women to tell us about their abortion experience, including why they felt they needed to exercise that option.  The stories are interesting and every story is unique.

A woman becomes pregnant, she knows she could have a baby but she decides to abort it.  That is not an easy decision for anyone. 

Who are we to challenge the reason?

If there is one thing the pro-choice and pro-life movements have in common, it is the desire to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies, some of which result in abortion.   In the ideal world, every child would be a wanted child. 

The website that sponsors this blog, www.abortion.com, is a directory of clinics that perform abortions and offer other reproductive health services.  And I would suggest that they do more to stop abortions than the average pro-life activist. 

What most people don’t realize is that at these clinics, before the abortion is performed, a counselor will sit with the woman and discuss the circumstances that led to her getting pregnant.  After discussing all the options available to the woman, they will talk about birth control.  

Once that discussion is complete, the counselor will normally offer the woman free birth control.  In most clinics, it is standard to offer her a three month supply of birth control pills (if that is the best form of birth control for that woman).  The idea, of course, is to put the woman on a regimen that will hopefully prevent any more unintended/unwanted pregnancies.  

Despite the accusations of the pro-life movement, most clinics are not anxious to see a woman several times for an abortion.  I suggest that to those that think they are preventing abortions by standing outside a clinic screaming and yelling, the real work of preventing abortions is actually taking place inside that very clinic.

I am going to take today off.  

As a child growing up on Long Island, I remember Sunday was always a “day of rest.”  After church (where I did indeed “rest” through Father Sullivan’s entire sermon), we’d go to the bakery and load up on the carbs.  Then, after the late breakfast, we’d take a “Sunday drive” out to my aunt’s house where my aunt and mother would get sloshed.    Ah, those were the days…

So, today I am not going to write about abortion.  I am not going to write about “choice” or about “life.”  I am not going to pose uncomfortable questions to my friends on the “choice” side and I’m not going to query the pro-lifers.   

Instead, today I will read my New York Times.  I will then go out and buy pansies for my flower box.  I might finally go see “Avatar.” 

Later tonight, I might catch up on some pleasurable reading.  My current craze is (are?) the novels of Theodore Dreiser.  

Then, to end the evening I might try to watch that new show on HBO, “The Pacific.”   And, no, I am not getting paid to mention the show. 

I’ll start chiming in tomorrow.  But, for today, I hope everyone has a good day.  The issue of abortion is a tough one and folks on both sides of the issue mean well.  Let’s take today to appreciate how we can have a civil debate on a medium like this one!

I was bringing my child to her soccer game this morning when I saw a bumper sticker that read:  “Abortion Stops a Beating Heart.”

Being pro-choice, my first response was “oh, geez, another radical anti-choicer.”   But then I started to think a little more about that message and soon came to the conclusion that yes, at some point, abortion does stop a beating heart.

It’s no secret how the fetus develops in the womb.  We’ve all seen the pictures.  If you’ve had a child, you know exactly what I am talking about, especially when you recall your first ultrasound when the technician was showing you the head, the arms, etc. 

At some point, I’m not exactly sure when, the heart starts beating.  And when a woman elects to have an abortion, depending on the stage of the pregnancy, that heart will stop beating.  

So, after thinking this one through my head started spinning.  At first I thought it was because the soccer game went on for nine hours, but more likely it was the realization that a pro-life bumper sticker might be factually correct.

Soon, however, I started to sort it out. 

My thoughts went back to the women, the women that I trust.  They know what they are doing.  They know that they are preventing a life from emerging.  And, yes, they know that at some point that means that a heart has stopped beating. 

It’s all very sad.  In the ideal world every pregnancy would be a wanted pregnancy.  In the ideal world, there would be no need for abortions or the almost equally complicated and sad option – adoption.   Indeed, even giving birth, especially to an unwanted child, is not a perfect option.

The bumper sticker may be accurate.  

But, like most bumper stickers, it insults our intelligence and does not tell the whole story.

I was watching a television show recently where a pro-choice person was asked if abortion was “murder.”

The pro-choicer stuttered and stammered, clearly uncomfortable with the question and possibly the answer in her head.   I think she epitomized the pro-choice movement in general which has stumbled over inflammatory words for many years. 

We know abortion is not “murder” because murder is a legal term and the Supreme Court has sanctioned the use of abortion. 

But is not abortion a form of killing?  

Let’s face it.   Something is alive in the woman’s body when the woman enters the clinic and it is not alive when she leaves. 

How do you define that act?   Can “killing” actually be good (e.g., in times of war, some people support the death penalty)?    

It’s like the use of the word “baby.”  When women call a clinic, they never say “I cannot have this fetus.”   Instead, they say “I cannot have this baby.”   And when it is a wanted pregnancy, from the minute the woman finds out she is telling everyone that she is having a baby.

Or do the words even matter?

At this moment, jurors are deliberating the fate of one Harlan Drake.  

In 2009, Drake shot an anti-abortion protestor who held up a sign of a dead fetus in front of Owosso High School in Michigan.   He also shot another man later on.

Drake, who testified during the trial, admits to the crimes but his attorneys argue that he is legally insane.

Just another example of the craziness that surrounds the abortion issue.

It was 17 years ago today when Doctor David Gunn, an abortion provider who worked in several clinics throughout the south, was gunned down by an assassin as he walked into his clinic in Pensacola. The assailant, whose name I will not mention lest I give him the attention he sought, is serving a life term in jail.

Doctor Gunn was the first doctor who was killed for performing abortions and the story made headlines across the country. In the wake of his death, his son, David Gunn, Jr., became a national spokesman for clinics all across the country. He appeared on “The Donohue Show” and had to sit on the stage with one Paul Hill as he told the audience that it was “justifiable homicide” to kill a doctor who was going to “kill babies.” A little over a year later, Paul Hill murdered Doctor Baird Britton and his escort at another clinic in Pensacola.

Through the years, David Jr. maintained his dignity and spoke articulately about the need to protect doctors. Indeed, a short while later, the Congress enacted into law the FACE Act (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act), which gave federal protection to clinics. David’s father would have been proud of him.

Years ago, looking to commemorate the memory of Doctor Gunn, pro-choice groups designated March 10 as “Abortion Provider Appreciation Day.” Today, all across the country, advocates of the constitutional right to choose are calling their local clinic to thank the staff people who risk their lives every day to be there for women in need.

If you have a moment today, refer to http://www.abortion.com and look for a clinic near you. Give them a call and tell them “thanks.” It will go a long way.

Every day, there is another angle to this very difficult issue. 

Last year, a 17 year old pregnant girl paid a man $150 to beat her in the hopes of inducing a miscarriage.  Don’t read any further – just think about that young woman for a few seconds and what compelled her to take such a drastic step…

To complicate her already sad situation, she was arrested but ultimately a judge ruled that the mother could not be charged with a crime because there was no law on the books dealing with such a situation.   Yesterday, however, the legislature (which apparently has absolutely nothing to do) and the Governor of Utah came to the rescue!   The Governor signed into law a bill that would allow a woman who arranges such an “illegal abortion” to be charged with criminal homicide.   

I’ve thought about this young woman and have wondered why she did not obtain a safe, legal abortion in her home state.  There are at least three clinics in Salt Lake City that she could have gone to. 

Maybe she could not afford to pay the approximately $400 for the abortion at the clinic. My gut, however, tells me that she was afraid, especially living in a state like Utah, to pick up the phone and arrange to have an abortion. 

The abortion stigma indeed has long tentacles.

I would like to take this occasion to recognize ”International Women’s Day.”   

On this day, we celebrate the political, social and economic achievements of women all over the world.  There is no doubt that great strides have been made over the years, but while we recognize the tremendous progress in certain countries, we must remember that there is much more work to be done.    .

When I think of the barriers that women have endured over the centuries, I think of the fight to maintain power over their own bodies, especially as it relates to reproductive issues.  

In most countries, abortion remains illegal and tens of thousands of women die annually from self-induced or illegal abortions.  Indeed, we must not forget that that is how it was for women in this country before 1973, when the Supreme Court legalized abortion in the Roe v Wade decision.   Before that landmark case, women in this country resorted to illegal, “back-alley” abortions, often with fatal results.  The hospital emergency rooms were filled with women who tried using a coat-hanger or a chemical to terminate their pregnancy.  Unfortunately, this is still the case in much of the Third World because abortion remains illegal in many of those countries.    

Although we have lived with legal abortion in this country for decades, we cannot take this right for granted.  Abortion rights are still under attack. Those who oppose legalized abortion are only two votes away on the Supreme Court from making it illegal once again.   While President Obama is clearly pro-choice and, if he could, would nominate a pro-choice justice, his political position in the U.S. Senate is tenuous and it could be difficult to confirm a justice who is clearly pro-choice.  Even if the Supreme Court continues to keep abortion legal, the anti-abortion movement continues to make access to the abortion procedure more difficult.   And without access to abortion, the right to abortion means nothing.

So, I would like to use this occasion to thank the doctors, the staff and the pro-choice movement for holding firm, for making abortion accessible to over one million women each year.  I would like to congratulate the women of this country who have exercised their constitutional right to have an abortion.   At the same time, while we fight to protect that right here in the United States, we should take a moment to think of our sisters in other countries who are struggling to gain the control over their bodies that they so richly deserve.