General Discussion

eridani

(51,907 posts) Sun Oct 7, 2012, 01:44 AM Oct 2012

'Abortions on Women Who Aren't Pregnant' Common Trope of Anti-Choice Movement

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/10/03

Reproductive rights reporter (and RH Reality Check weekly columnist) Amanda Marcotte writes Tuesday that Missouri Congressman and Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin, already well-known for his solidly anti-choice positions, gave a speech in 2008 in which he states that, among other things, abortion providers perform abortions on "women who are not actually pregnant."

To many readers, that would seem like a bizarre statement. After all, you can't have an abortion unless you are pregnant! But for the culture of anti-choice activists that see providers as monsters and women as gullible victims, this is almost religiously-accepted fact.

Carol Everett, a former clinic worker in the 70's who then "converted" and became an outspoken icon for the anti-choice movement, was fond of telling stories of the horrors she allegedly assisted with when she was in the "abortion industry." She once provided a testimonial on James Dobson's Focus on the Family's radio program in the 80's where she claimed she was constantly involved in "unneeded" abortions in order to make money.

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It's ironic when you think about it, however. On one hand, anti-choice activists are declaring that a woman is pregnant before a pregnancy test could even confirm it, or that a fertilized egg not implanting in the womb somehow is the loss of a complete and separate fully formed life. At the same time, they are also completely convinced that there is a mass undertaking by doctors to perform pregnancy terminations on women who aren't in fact even medically pregnant.