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

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about parental notification. If a girl gets pregnant, and she believes her parents are not whacked out and abusive about sex, logically they will be the *first* people she turns to for help. If it had happened to me, my first thought would have been "Mom will not be pleased, but Mom will know what to do."

If a girl does believe her parents are whacked out and abusive about sex, what is more reasonable--to assume someone with 12-16 years of experience with these people correctly estimates their attitude, even if her judgment is immature? Or to assume the law knows better, when it has no experience with these people at all and only one possible answer?

I think the entire purpose of parental notification laws is to make it impossible for girls with abusive families to get abortions. Another small step in the whole "making women suffer" thing. But it's the kind of thing they can sell to people who don't want to make women suffer but haven't thought it through. After all, parents must consent to any other medical procedure involving a minor...