Abortion – Abortion Clinics, Abortion Pill, Abortion Information

Abortion

A short while ago, one of my regular readers expressed frustration over the tsunami of anti-abortion measures being considered (and passed) in various state legislatures across the country.  She then asked a logical question:  why doesn’t the pro-choice movement respond in kind?  “Why don’t we introduce our own legislation?” she asked.

Well, the real simple answer is that in most state legislatures we just don’t have the votes to pass anything.  But there’s more to it than that.

With the exception of a few right wing nut balls, no sane politician wants to vote on the abortion issue.  They don’t even want to talk about it.  That’s because these (mostly male) legislators are totally uncomfortable with the issue and are not interested in being lobbied by advocates on both sides of the debate.  Even if they are in agreement with the lobbyist sitting in front of them, they still don’t want to talk about the issue.  That’s why whenever there is a vote on abortion, the debates are not very long.  Sure, you always have your regular stalwarts willing to get up there to make their points but for the most part, everyone dodges the debate and would love to dodge a vote if possible.  This mentality is equally applicable to anti-abortion and pro-choice legislators.  Then, if the worst case happens and you are ultimately forced to vote, you know you’re gonna piss off half of your constituents – and no elected official wants to piss anyone off.  It’s a lose-lose situation.

Abortion

But, let’s imagine there is a fervent pro-choice legislator in Virginia named George and he feels very strongly that the state should use its Medicaid funds to pay for all abortions.  The first thing George will do is consult with the pro-choice groups and, knowing the state of Virginia, they’ll tell George that he can’t win because the votes are just not there.  And any straight thinking lobbyist does not want to lose a vote.  But let’s say these lobbyists see things differently.  Say they think that it’s time to “make a statement,” to force everyone to vote which will help them identify those they want to try to get out of office.  So, they tell George to go for it.

The next thing George has to do is get the word out that he is going to propose that Virginia restore Medicaid funding for abortions.  Suddenly, everyone is chasing him down, wondering why the hell he would force people to vote when there was no chance the measure would pass.  And, remember, the buildings that the state legislators perform their work are not very big so it’s not easy for George to hide from the deluge of colleagues who want to wring his neck.

George suddenly is getting cornered in the cafeteria, at the poker table, outside of church.  “Geez, George, why the hell are you forcing me to vote on this issue when it’s not going to win anyway?”  is the common refrain.  Even George’s fellow Democrats, some of whom are anti-abortion, get on his case.  It’s a pressure packed situation that he never anticipated.

Now, if George was an elected official from New York or California, he might be able to go for it and possibly win – although many of his buddies would still resent his forcing them to vote on abortion.  But, in states like Virginia, Kansas, North Dakota and many, many others, it’s a simple thing to say why don’t we initiate pro-choice legislation?  It’s another thing to actually go through that grueling process.

The fact is that most pro-choice legislators do not wake up thinking of abortion, unlike many anti-abortion legislators who can’t stop thinking about bloody fetuses.  For the pro-choicer, who has a more global view of things, it’s a different animal and it takes cajones to pursue what you think it right in a sure-to-be losing effort.

I guess the answer is it’s easier said than done.

Related articles

• Why I am Pro-Choice – and why this does not make me Anti-Life (gandhihadapoint.wordpress.com)
• Opinion: 40 Years After Roe v. Wade, A Pro-Choice Perspective (pbs.org)

Anti Choice Christian Terrorist

On a cold, sunny December day in 1994, a pro-life terrorist named John Salvi walked into two abortion clinics in Boston and killed two people and injured five.  Then, for some unknown reason, he jumped into his car and drove all the way down to Norfolk, Virginia where he pulled up in front of the Hillcrest Clinic, a facility that also performed abortions.  He jumped out of the car and fired randomly at the building with a semi-automatic rifle.  Fortunately, no one was injured and about a week later I visited the clinic and the clinic director, Suzette Caton, showed me the bullet holes.

The Hillcrest Clinic had always been a target for anti-abortion zealots.  But, despite John Salvi, years of picketing, a bombing and an arson, the Hillcrest Clinic served women in the Tidewater, Virginia area for four decades.  And now they are shutting down their doors because the Commonwealth of Virginia thinks they don’t have adequate parking and their hallways are not wide enough.

Anti Choice Christian Terrorists

The Hillcrest Clinic closed its doors on April 20, 2013. There were two main reasons for the closure.  One was that their patient load had declined over the last few years from 2,116 in 2009 to 1,629 in 2012.  As any business owner knows, you always have a bottom line to pay the bills and a decline that dramatic certainly affects the income.   Of course, one could say that that is “good news” in that fewer women were having abortions.  Let’s just hope there were fewer abortions because the women just elected to not have them, versus being pressured by the state or anti-abortion zealots.

More Christian Terrorists

The second – and main- reason was that regulations had recently been passed by the Commonwealth of Virginia under the guise of “enhancing patient safety” and, according to Caton, it would have cost the clinic about $500,000 to comply with the new rules.  The rules generally require the clinic to meet hospital-like design guidelines, such as hallway size, the number of parking spaces and number of toilets.  As if the patients in the clinic were being forced to pee outside.  That was too much of a price tag for Hillcrest, so they elected to close – which is exactly what these regulations are designed to do.

If there is any good news, it is that according State officials, of Virginia’s 20 abortion clinics, Hillcrest is the only one not seeking to have their license renewed.  No doubt, the Planned Parenthood clinics will embark on fundraisers to come up with the money and the independents, well, it’s hard to say what their strategy will be.  One thing that at least one clinic is hoping for is to stretch out the process until Virginia can elect a pro-choicer Governor this November.

Abortion

“It’s a little bit bittersweet,” said Caton.  “But I also feel like for 40 years we’ve had the honor of providing compassionate care to the women in Tidewater who are faced with an unplanned pregnancy.”

In 1983, a man broke in to the clinic, poured kerosene throughout the office and set it ablaze. A year later, a cluster of pipe bombs exploded nearby, breaking a plate glass window of the bank branch on the first floor.  In May, 1989, six activists pushed their way into the building.  Then Salvi paid them a visit.

Despite the violence, the clinic staff never talked about closing.

The pen may indeed be mightier than the sword.

Related articles

• Norfolk abortion clinic plans to close doors (hamptonroads.com)
• Bullying clinics to satisfy ideology (hamptonroads.com)
• Abortion clinic in Norfolk closing Saturday after 40 years (wvec.com)
• Virginia’s New Anti-Choice Restrictions Will Force 40-Year-Old Abortion Clinic To Close This Weekend (thinkprogress.org.feedsportal.com)
• Abortion Clinic Closes (newsplex.com)
• Virginia Abortion Clinic Closes Thanks to Bullshit ‘Safety’ Law (jezebel.com)
• Government overreach on abortion (hamptonroads.com)

Abortion

I am a C-Span junkie.   I keep the channel on in my office all the time and every once in a while I hear the “A” word.   That’s when I grab the remote and increase the volume.  More often than not, it’s some Member of Congress talking about abortion and, in particular, the “horrors” of abortion.  They stand there in the well of the House of Representatives, all spiffed up in their $700 suits and chastise the thousands of women who are “killing their babies” every day.  They get themselves all worked up to the point where they barely contain themselves from calling these women “whores.”

But there’s more than meets the eye here in the nation’s capital.

The other day I had lunch with an old friend who runs an abortion facility in Washington, D.C.    She’s very political, keeps track of congressional voting records and so we started talking about the latest legislative efforts on Capitol Hill to restrict access to abortion.

“What a bunch of hypocrites,” she said.  I asked her what she meant.  She chuckled and replied “we see them in here all the time.”

Intrigued, I asked her to elaborate.

Abortion

“Anti-abortion Members of Congress and the Senate come here all the time.  They’ll set up private appointments and bring in their wife, their girlfriend, a niece, you name it.  They’ll pay extra money to use the clinic when it’s closed to other patients.  They’ll come here and procure the abortion, then weeks later I’ll see them on television making some kind of speech about how people like me should be put out of business.”

I had heard rumors about this before but never heard a confirmation.   Of course I was intrigued as to whom these elected officials were but, as she pointed out, she was prohibited from naming any names.  I could tell she was dying to blurt out a name or two but, to her credit, she remained silent.  She just shook her head and said “hypocrites.”

I’ve often wondered what it would be like if on one day every administrator of every clinic in the country just came out and named names.  Not just anti-abortion Members of Congress but members of the state legislatures, governors, White House officials.  We know they’re out there, we know they are harboring their little secret yet they do not hesitate to criticize OTHER women who have obtained abortions.

But the more I think about it, the more I realize that if they were exposed probably not much would happen.   The anti-abortion politician would admit his complicity in this “truly unique situation” and would tell us how he and his wife/mistress/daughter had prayed to God for guidance before making the difficult decision.  Then he would share with us how he has since asked the Lord for forgiveness (and received it), his constituents for the most part would applaud his courage and then would forgive him at the polls.  For about a year or so he would be conspicuously silent during the public debate on abortion but would still continue to vote against abortion any time he could.  Then one day he would reappear on the floor of the House to make the same old speech about “those women” who have had abortions.

So, we probably wouldn’t get anywhere but wouldn’t it be a lot of fun to reveal these hypocrites?

Hmmmmmm…..What if every doctor who has ever provided an abortion for one of these culprits just put a list together and had it published once they died?

Related articles

• Kansas Religious Fanatics Set to Enact Most Restrictive Anti-Abortion Law in US (littlegreenfootballs.com)
• Kansas Expected to Pass Anti-Abortion Bill (counselheal.com)
• Kansas Senate approves sweeping anti-abortion bill (kansas.com)
• Kansas legislators pass anti-abortion bill declaring life to begin at fertilization (syndicatednewsservice.wordpress.com)
• New Kansas anti-abortion law orders doctors to lie to their patients (rawstory.com)
• Anti-abortion bill passes Kansas Senate (m.cjonline.com)
• Kansas Senate passes anti-abortion bill defining life as beginning at fertilization (kansas.com)
• Kansas Lawmakers Approve Sweeping Anti-abortion Bill Stating that Life Begins “at Fertilization” (blackchristiannews.com)
• Kan. House Passes Sweeping Anti-Abortion Bill (wibw.com)