On Pro-Choice

[desertvixen]

http://www.forbes.com/business/businesstech/feeds/ap/2006/02/28/ap2559931.html

President Bush, asked about the South Dakota measure in an interview with ABC News' Elizabeth Vargas, said Tuesday he hadn't "paid attention to that, to this particular issue you're talking about" but "I am not going to prejudge how the Supreme Court is going to judge a particular issue."
However, he said, "My position has always been three exceptions: rape, incests and the life of the mother." Asked if he would include the broader category of health of the mother, Bush said: "No. I said life of the mother, and health is a very vague term, but my position has been clear on that ever since I started running for office."

I know some of the discussion about the bills in South Dakota and Mississippi have included women wondering about how the distinction between a woman's life and a woman's health. I guess now we know (I hadn't seen this particular quote previously) what the President thinks.

As a woman, I'm scared, very scared. Considering that GWB thought they should keep Terry Schiavo alive as well, I guess anything up to just short of a woman hemorraging to death in the middle of delivering a baby won't count as endangering the woman's life.

So would he support forcing a woman to continue a doomed pregnancy? (Anacephaly comes to mind.) Forcing a woman to carry a child that has no chance of life - which by the way, you're now financially responsible for. Personally, I think it would either make me crazy or drive me to doing something harmful to myself.

Call me selfish, but I'm one of those people who doesn't want to live if I'm not *alive*. The quality of life is a big factor, and I think some people are starting to blur that one out.

I'm pro-choice, because it affords women the right, the basic right, to make decisions about their lives. Our reproductive life impacts on every single area of our lives, and we should be able to control it.

I think we should have access to abortion, if needed, without having to jump through flaming hoops. I think we should have access to birth control, at an affordable cost, and access to a method that works for us. I think we should be able to walk into any pharmacy and have our prescriptions filled, without worrying about if the pharmacist is "okay" with it. (BTW, if they're so concerned about our sex lives, stop selling Viagra while you're at it.) And I think we should have the right to these choices without being hounded and harrassed and disrespected.

DV

Comments

[anneebrat.livejournal.com]

I agree with you in ever aspect of what you say. Maybe when I said "Draw the line" it wasn't the best choice of words to use. I did do some quick cheking though and found some stats at http://womensissues.about.com/cs/abortionstats/a/aaabortionstats.htm

according to the stats found there 47% of abortions are performed on women who have already had one or more abortions. You are right in the fact that it is your body and it is your choice, but for me it's an area where I disagree since there are other ways to handle the situation before the fact from birth control to even a permint solution. I would never suggest forcing this on anyone, but the options should be given at a point same as the option of abortion is given to woman.

[rockahulababy.livejournal.com]

Actually, permanent forms of sterilization (ie tubals, Essure) or IUDs are not that easy for all women to receive. Many women without children are told they must have children before given a tubal, Essure, or an IUD. Women with children are told they have to have so many children before they will be given a tubal, sometimes ending in another pregnancy.

Many women in their childbearing years who do not want children ever, the childfree, have a lot of issues with getting a permanent form of sterilization, and even IUDs, are told that they'll "change their minds".

I went to get an IUD a few months ago, and I found one doctor willing to give the IUD to me. He wasn't available to do the actual procedure, and the doctor who was refused to do it because of a 1% chance that I might become sterile and not be able to have children.

Also, not all women can use certain, in some cases, multiple forms of birth control. I cannot do horomonal birth control for whatever reason. I have eczema, so that patch is out. The NuvaRing (what I was perscribed instead of the IUD) irritated me, and not only that, I found the schedule to be confusing.

Some women are just fertile. While I don't disagree that alternate forms should be suggested, a woman should never be turned down for a procedure in which she wants, regardless of how many times she's previously had the procedure done. I'm all about doctors being open and honest about all health information, however, like I said, the woman is the one with the ultimate choice.

I would also venture to guess that women are informed about birth control methods at such points in time. I know I am always whenever I go get tested. (Somehow I need to "slow down" just because I like to get myself tested on a regular basis just know that I am clean. I thought that was a good thing, but apparently, it makes me "loose" around here. But whatever.)