My personal take -

[kyburg]

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?

Comments

[moropus.livejournal.com]

The number one reason I've never gotten pregnant in 20 years of marriage is we never had sex frequently enough to cause a pregancy. Also my hormones are so screwy, I'm not sure if I could have gotten pregnant if I had sex every day. I have not enough of one hormone and too much something else. I can't remember which. My periods were insanely erradic and painful until I passed 40, and suddenIy they went normal. Who knows?

Eventually, I decided my life was too complicated to involve caring for a baby, and called doctors until I found one who would give me a tubal ligation without having children first if my husband consented. So about 10 years ago, my husband legally consented to allow me the right to do what I chose to do with my body.

Both of us found it humiliating and disgusting. Suddenly, I'm a child and he was my guardian. He was also ashamed that he was required to do this.

Before the 'consent' appointment, we had many long discussions on how the 'consent' did not affect us personally and that we would never try to control each other. We never had, and never will try to control each other. This ugly 'consent' appointment gave both of us the screaming heebie-jeebies, even though the staff was very quiet and professional. My body is my own. My husband 'consented' to that. Before the 'consent' he got down on one knee and begged me not to take it personally or not to hate him for doing the 'consenting' even though I asked him to 'consent', so I could have the procedure.

Our rights as women are very precarious. They can be taken away without fanfare. First I was the property of my father. The day of my surgery, I was the property of my husband. When I'm old, I won't have a son, so I imagine I will be the property of one of my nephews.

[chipuni.livejournal.com]

*blink* *blink*

*looks utterly incredulous*

The doctor said that you needed your husband's consent? As if your uterus weren't yours, but was under the control of your husband? That's... that's ludicrous. (I understand requiring that your husband be notified... just as I understand a hospital notifying the next of kin before any operation. But I don't understand requiring consent.)

I wonder whether anyone has written a story with the genders reversed -- requring a male to get his wife's consent before an operation -- to help show just how ridiculous the concept is.