Appalled twice

[catsittingstill]

I saw an article about a woman who abandoned a newborn baby at a church, believing people would take it in and give it a better life than she could.

I'm appalled.  I mean, I understand that lack of access to birth control and abortion (or an unwillingness to abort) may lead to a woman having an unwanted baby--I certainly don't blame her.  But that she didn't have access to those things to begin with is appalling.

And I totally understand that she might want her baby to have a better life than she could give it.

No, what appalls me twice over is buried two thirds of the way down the article, in a throwaway paragraph.

According to police reports, Christianson gave birth in a yard outside the apartments where she and her father live. She told Federal Way police that she cut the umbilical cord with scissors, threw the placenta in the trash and wrapped the baby in a beach towel.

Go back and read that again.  She gave birth in a yard.  It sounds like she was alone.  I realize that it isn't usually necessary to go to the hospital to give birth.  But this woman didn't even have a roof over her head or a friend to hold her hand and wipe the sweat from her brow and call for help if something went wrong.   I don't know why she couldn't turn to her father, but since she obviously needed another option, she should have had one.

Jesus, even Mary had a stable. 

Welcome to Culture War Land.  Where birth control and basic medical care are so out of reach that women give birth in ditches.

Message to the In Sorrow Shalt Thou Bring Forth Children crowd: are women suffering enough yet?

Comments

[lola-mccrary.livejournal.com]

The *Roman* Catholic church, I believe you are referring to. I am an *Old* Catholic, and Episcopalians consider themselves catholics as well. It is the Roman Catholic church that refuses to acknowledge that it is only one expression of "catholic."

The abuses of the Roman Catholic Church are hard to bear. I read an article once that said that many Hispanic women would rather have an abortion now and then--committing one mortal since occasionally--then use birth control every day, committing daily mortal sin. I was appalled that John Paul II would go visit an AIDS hospice when he was in San Francisco, when his church refused to allow the use of condoms to prevent the spread of disease.

Those are only the first two types of abuse that come to my mind...

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

My apologies--you are of course correct. The infamous Magdalene Laundries in Ireland are the immediate reference that comes to my mind, because of the famous Joni Mitchell song.

[lola-mccrary.livejournal.com]

Um. I did sound touchy about the various kinds of catholics. It's a verbal shorthand on the part of the R.C. church that clearly makes me a little crazy.

The Magdalene Laundries was a new one for me. Thanks for the link.