When Anti-Choice Laws Work As Intended

[catsittingstill]

Danielle and Robb Deaver lived through ten days of knowing that Danielle's pregnancy was doomed to miscarry.

Nebraska law (thank you anti-Choice voters!) forbids abortion after 20 weeks, even if the fetus is doomed.  Because saving fetuses is not the point of the law.

Danielle suffered through labor and delivery for nothing, and Danielle and Robb watched their baby die in their arms over the next fifteen minutes, struggling to breathe.

State Senator Mike Flood, the anti-Choice politician elected by anti-Choice voters, said the law "worked as intended."  That's perfectly true.  That law was intended to increase the suffering of women, and it succeeded.  Mike should be very proud.  The anti-Choice voters who elected him should be very proud too.

Here is the article, if any anti-Choice voters wish to read it and pat themselves on the back--I wouldn't want them to miss this opportunity to see how the anti-Choice laws they brought about are actually working out.  Of course, in this case, the suffering was mostly emotional--the actual woman involved didn't die, or anything.  Consider it a promissory note of better things to come.

And here are some thoughts on how this fits in with International Women's Day.

Comments

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

I don't know this woman's history, but ten days also increases the size of the child, which has an effect on the difficulty of delivery and possible side-effects. And labor is not exactly comfortable, you know? Nor is the final stage of pregnancy. *sigh*

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Yes.

[jhayman.livejournal.com]

You know we are on the same page with this, right? Here's a slightly different story. Patient X was a young woman in her first pregnancy. She had delayed her 18 week ultrasound a couple of weeks for a vacation. At ultrasound,they found ou that baby had a meningomyleocel (spina bifida), that was incompatible with life. The spinal canal was open from base up to mid-thorax. As soon as the report was "official", she was offered the CHOICE of what to do. At this point termination of the pregnancy does involve delivering the infant. The labour was induced within hours, she was given sufficient medication to eliminate pain. The baby was carefully wrapped to cover the anomaly. It died immediated at birth. A social worker was by her side the entire time. Then she was referred to me, for grief counselling. I met with her and her husband for about two months. I saw them again around the anniversary of the loss, and when they showed up in prenatal class for her next (healthy) pregnancy.

I note that this was in the early nineties, in the first few years of my work in public health. This is what should happen.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I agree entirely. The choice should be hers, and every support should be available to her and to other family members who are also grieving.

I am glad you live in a sane area.

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

May I boost this with a link to this post?

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Go ahead.

[smoooom.livejournal.com]

I saw a snipped some where that said "isn't it odd that all those who are pro abortion are all ready born" It made me want to scream. I'm not Pro Abortion I'm Pro CHOICE. This makes me an odd ball in some of my circles, I weep for the direction your great nation is headed I truly do.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

It is necessary to have a mind to have an opinion. Fetuses don't have brains that can support that kind of behavior. Which is why any entity that is not born is neither pro-Choice nor anti-Choice, any more than a rock would be.

And I'm not "pro-Abortion" any more than I'm "pro-Appendectomy." Someone who wants one obviously has a good reason and I, unlike certain other people, am not interested in making their already-difficult lives more difficult by poking my unqualified nose into what that reason is.

[kittyguitar.livejournal.com]

In regards to the International Women's Day article and the quotes within it:

A fetus doesn't know squat about "loving arms". A fetus knows (to the extent it knows anything) its mother's warm, snug uterus. That's all it's ever known. And it's not going to have a chance to learn about the joys of being held in a mother's arms if it dies gasping almost immediately.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I have to admit I have my doubts that it was any comfort. Someone "present" enough to realize these are Mom's loving arms is "present" enough to realize "I can't breathe--I'm dying by inches."

The best we can hope for is that nothing registered in any way.

Pro-life really isn't

[(Anonymous)]

This goes to show that once again, Pro-lifers aren't really aren't interested in protecting real life -- only patting themselves on the back by thinking they are protecting hypothetical Gerber babies. Note, they ignore the fact that a high percentage of pregnancies are naturally not going to be viable and many of those will end in miscarriage before the women even knows she is pregnant. Pro-lifers give little thought or support to dealing with the problems their policies create. Few adopt unwanted children, particularly children who are older and have developed behavior problems from living with people who are unwilling or unable to care for them. The same people thwart rational solutions to prevent unwanted pregnancies -- like supporting family planning and realistic and accurate sex education in schools. Then they don't want to support the impoverished mothers and children their policies help create through welfare. The wealthier privileged conservatives also usually also thwart attempts to raise the quality of education for poor children to even a minimal standard of quality by fighting busing, attempts to raise taxes, and equitable funding solutions (see Savage Inequities). Then, they ignore the dire health consequences to women in third world countries due to unwanted pregnancies -- 1 in 9 women who don't have access to medical care can die from complications, often leaving children without a mother -- others die from complications related to unsafe abortions. This is not to mention the dire consequences to world ecology, health and peace when more people are competing for increasingly scarce resources in order to survive.

I highly recommend the book The Means of Reproduction in which the author discusses the history of this issue and the effects of legislation. In one country where abortion was strictly outlawed, a woman couldn't even get an abortion for a tubal pregnancy.

-- Leslie Jordan (ljordan@go.shoreline.edu)

Re: Pro-life really isn't

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Actually it's my theory that a lot of "Pro-lifers" aren't actually thinking about babies at all--they're thinking about making those despicable people who have sex while female suffer for their "moral transgression."

Which ties nicely in to their general indifference to the suffering of unwanted babies and wanted babies born to poor families. The baby wasn't really the point--the baby was the excuse to make a woman suffer. It also ties in to why they oppose birth control--less availability of birth control means women who have sex are more likely to suffer. And it ties in to their indifference to women's suffering in undeveloped countries--they probably don't enjoy it as much as the thought of an American woman suffering, but they'll take what they can get.

While I haven't read the book you mention, I am aware of the problem in --Brazil, was it?-- with women with tubal pregnancies unable to get abortions. These people honestly don't care that the baby dies too--it was the woman's suffering that was the point, not the baby, and the suffering they get in spades.