DR LARCH - SHIT OR GET OFF THE POT - Warning: Long

[Coexist]

(I began a thread about a month ago regading the movie Vera Drake - which led me to re-read "Cider House Rules - which led to this very long rant.)

DR LARCH - SHIT OR GET OFF THE POT read the note that was pinned to the woman’s dress. It referenced Dr. Larch’s refusal to provide safe abortions for women, yet act as caregiver to those who came to the hospital near death from abortions performed by butchers.

That line from John Irving’s classic “Cider House Rules” always runs through my head whenever abortion is the topic of debate.

Pinned to this woman’s other shoulder were her panties. It was practical; women who left the ‘clinic’ may have forgotten their underwear otherwise, in their pain and stupor. The placement was also a badge of shame – these women likely weren’t cognizant of this garments whereabouts as they staggered home – but knowing eyes who watched their slow progress down the street saw the Scarlet A for what it was. Shame at their daring to have sex. Will we force women to become ashamed once again?

What DOES Pro-Life embrace and why are their frames wrong?
Young woman in this country have never lived without choice. Their only exposure to the abortion debate has been framed by those who claim to value all life. "Help us give the unborn a voice" they cry – they show 4-D ultrasound pictures of fetus’ sucking their thumbs. Their claims of protecting God’s precious gift are sometimes misleading, to say the least. Many vocal Pro-life leaders have no problem with calling for the destruction of life under other circumstances. Their hypocrisy often knows no bounds.

One of the favorite tools of the Pro-Life crowd to horrify people into seeing things their way is “The Silent Scream”; A graphic movie depicting an abortion. My feelings on this movie and their motives are best expressed by James Prescott:

http://www.violence.de/prescott/humanist/abortion.html
<snip>
“In the production of The Silent Scream questions must be raised as to the elements of compassion and malevolence that made that film possible. Presumably, those who abhor abortion under any circumstances would not support any abortion, including participation in filming an abortion they consider to be a murder! Why did the anti-abortionists not stop the filming of the abortion and the abortion itself which made the film possible? Or is the fetus simply an object to be exploited for ulterior motives—like the children of the anti-abortion cultures?
<snip>
When the Reverent R.L. Hymers, Jr., pastor of the Fundamentalist Baptist Tabernacle in Los Angeles, called Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., a "baby killer" and led his four-hundred member congregation in prayer to ask God to kill Brennan so that President Reagan could replace him with a judge who opposes abortion, does this not reinforce a common morality of violence in the anti-abortionist mentality as it is reflected in The Silent Scream and the fire-bombings of abortion clinics and personnel? (See, The Washington Post, June 2, 1986.)”

Does that make you think? I hope so.

"With, without. And who’ll deny it’s what the fighting’s all about?" Waters/Wright

Now, let’s try to be practical for a moment Whether deemed a privacy issue or not, whether legal or illegal, abortions will happen. They have occurred throughout our history - from roots and herbs, to poison and coat hangers, to cushy clinics for wealthy women.

What I would like women to understand is that access to safe abortions is the real issue at stake here. Wealthy women and "partners" or daughters of wealthy men will always be able to obtain safe abortions. Their money gives them control of their lives and their healthcare. It is the women in the other tax brackets that will be forced to seek out poorer choices for their reproductive health, and possibly die painful deaths.

Please - take the time to understand. This is a CLASS ISSUE for women, and a CONTROL ISSUE for battling forces in our society. If it was strictly a respect for life issue, the Pro-Lifers would use available data to find a more humane, civil and accepting way to cherish women and their offspring. Take for example, these statistics:

http://www.americanvoice2004.org/health/contraception.html#_ftnref8
<snip>
“The Netherlands has no restrictions on abortion yet has an abortion rate almost 70 percent lower than that in the United States. This is because in that country contraceptive devices are widely available and free.<59> Sixty-seven percent of sexually active Dutch teen females use oral contraceptives compared to 20.5 percent in the U.S.<60> U.S. women who use contraception are 85 percent less likely to have an abortion than women who do not.<61>”

http://www.violence.de/prescott/humanist/abortion.html
<snip>
In brief, the following relationships were obtained from twenty-one primitive cultures where coded anthropological information was available on abortion and other behaviors:
1. 55% of cultures that punish abortion practice slavery while 92% of cultures that permit abortion prohibit slavery.
2. 73% of cultures that punish abortion also torture, mutilate, and kill enemy captured in warfare while 80% of cultures that permit abortion do not torture, mutilate, and kill enemy captured in warfare.
3. 78% of cultures that punish abortion punish premarital coitus while 67% of cultures that permit abortion permit premarital coitus.
4. 88% of cultures that punish abortion punish extramarital coitus while 67% of cultures that permit abortion permit extramarital coitus.
5. 70% of cultures that punish abortion exploit children while 78% of cultures that permit abortion do not exploit children.

It was concluded from the above data that the anti-abortion ideology did not reflect compassion and respect for human life but, rather, an ideology of authoritarian control over the personal lives of individuals that included violent means of human oppression.”

Abortion WAS Legal beore Roe v. Wade

For the reconrd, Roe v. Wade did not signal, and was not reflective of a decline in the moral values of America:
http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/history_abortion.html
<snip>
“Abortion has been performed for thousands of years, and in every society that has been studied. It was legal in the United States from the time the earliest settlers arrived. At the time the Constitution was adopted, abortions before "quickening" were openly advertised and commonly performed.”

…and information I found to be an interesting peek into our past:

http://www.connerprairie.org/historyonline/whlh.html
<snip>
When contraception failed, as it was often wont to do, there was abortion. Abortion in the early nineteenth century simply did not elicit the controversy or comment as today (though it was rarely discussed as openly). Though not openly encouraged, it was not necessarily condemned out of hand if carried out early in the pregnancy
<snip>
“One book, Samuel Jennings' The Married Ladies Companion, was meant especially to be used by rural women. It offered frank advice for women who "took a common cold," the period colloquialism for missing a period. It urged using cathartics like aloe and calomel, and bleeding to restore menstruation. Abortion information was usually available in two sections of home medical books: how to "release obstructed menses" and "dangers" to avoid during pregnancy.
Clearly, any woman wishing badly enough to abort could find a solution to her dilemma, without relying on outside aid. If she wished to rely on herbal remedies, they could be easily obtained. Aloes, one of the most widely urged and effective abortifacient, were regularly advertised in newspapers as being available in local stores.”

… So if you feel that women should have as much control over their bodies as they did in the past, please support organizations that fight for equal access to quality healthcare and reproductive choice for us. Don’t be afraid to let people know that although not as vocal, the majority of us prefer sexual and reproductive freedom to being morally stifled. At some point we all have to take a stand. We have to find a way around the hypocrisy and spin to come to a sane and caring conclusion. Think about it and decide – Shit or get off the pot.

[Coexist]

1. thanks for the Recs.

I guess no one wants to discuss this today.

:(

[Coexist]

2. last kick - then I'll let it die a peaceful death!