kyburg: (GET STUFFED)
kyburg ([personal profile] kyburg) wrote2006-03-02 04:00 pm

My personal take -

So three, maybe four states, are certain they can outlaw a medical procedure.

I'm curious to see how they plan to enforce it. Really. I'm old enough to remember the world before Roe v. Wade, and I have a mother who was a medical professional since 1942. They patched up the women who presented after the illegal abortions they obtained - if they were done improperly, of course - they had entire wards devoted to the problem.

You heard more about the victims than anyone who actually did the procedures, of course.

I grew up with the idea that if I didn't want to be faced with the issue of abortion, I needed to not get in the position of desiring one.

I was the girl who sat on the edge of the theater seat if a boy put his arm around me.

I never dated. I never attended a school dance, a prom or a party. Of any kind.

I learned to wear makeup in theater arts class - and it was stage makeup. Street makeup? No. To this day, I don't wear *anything* on a daily basis, not even lip gloss.

I lost my virginity at 24, married the fellow at 25 and had no other sex partners until my current husband.

When it came time to be certified by DCFS for adoption, they had concerns about us because they didn't think we were "intimate" correctly and sent us to therapy.

Careful doesn't begin to cut it.

And no, I've never thought anyone had to do what I did to be "moral." It was what I decided to do - a personal choice.

I also know that there is more than one reason to terminate a pregnancy - some of them entire valid for the safety of the woman, and the possibility of future children down the road.

So. You want to make it illegal.

Roll the clock back.

Okay.

Put back all the homes for wayward teens and unwed mothers. Put back the reasonable adoption statues that would allow placements. Make money available for public adoption agencies to house, feed and care for women who want to place their children, but don't want to deal with a private agency that has an agenda. They existed. They don't, anymore. Make it possible for women to complete pregnancies safely - make it illegal to evict, starve or refuse health care to a pregnant woman. Make it illegal to fire one.

C'mon. This is just the start, huh? Let's make the whole abortion industry die of starvation. C'mon.

What.

..

You make it such a crime to have a working female gender. It makes you kind of want to have your tits removed and your zorch sewn shut. Paying me 25% less over a lifetime wasn't enough, huh?
wednesday: (star gentle)

[personal profile] wednesday 2006-03-03 12:35 am (UTC)(link)
I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that I can't afford to emigrate to the US without first getting sterilized.

[identity profile] bigbigtruck.livejournal.com 2006-03-03 01:25 am (UTC)(link)
We can be tubal twins - I'm getting mine done as soon as the car foo is paid off. I was going to wait until 30, but why take that risk?
wednesday: (Default)

[personal profile] wednesday 2006-03-03 01:36 am (UTC)(link)
I am all kinds of down with that.

It still upsets the hell out of me that, in late 2004, I practically begged for sterilization and they *wouldn't do it*, even though I'd been contraindicated for the Pill, condoms broke constantly (internal configuration issues; long story), and diaphragms/cups triggered an N-9 allergy but fierce. They weren't then willing to stick in a Mirena or other IUD/S, either. Meanwhile, David managed to get a referral after some badgering ("well, okay, but they'll say no," and they said yes). What does it take to convince someone that women are not such slaves to their hormones that they'll always change their minds on this?

[identity profile] bigbigtruck.livejournal.com 2006-03-03 02:04 am (UTC)(link)
See, that would require acknowledging that women are people.
ext_20420: (Default)

[identity profile] kyburg.livejournal.com 2006-03-03 02:05 am (UTC)(link)
And can decide for themselves. Oh, and pay their own way through life. That sort of thing.

Yeah, I remember those days.

[identity profile] bigbigtruck.livejournal.com 2006-03-03 02:14 am (UTC)(link)
those days must have come before 1990, because I sure don't remember them...
ext_20420: (Default)

[identity profile] kyburg.livejournal.com 2006-03-03 02:15 am (UTC)(link)
The seventies may have sucked some, but it was a great time to turn 10 - and end them turning 20.
ext_20420: (Default)

[identity profile] kyburg.livejournal.com 2006-03-03 02:04 am (UTC)(link)
Mom had her tubes tied after my brother - he was born when she was almost 40. And even so, she didn't think it was worth risking after that.

That's after receiving fertility treatments prior. There had been a 9 year split between first and second child, with two miscarriages in there.

You keep asking until you get. That's what I suggest. Always.