Abortion Rights?

[Violet_Crumble]

“WE CAN all recognize that abortion in many ways represents a sad, even tragic, choice to many, many women.”



It sounds like something straight out of the mouth of George W. Bush--or some other anti-choice Republican looking to repeal abortion rights. But this was the comment of Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, as she spoke last month to a 1,000-strong crowd of abortion rights supporters on the 32nd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.



Taking a page straight from the Bush administration’s “moral values” playbook, Clinton celebrated faith and organized religion as the “primary” reasons why teenagers would abstain from sexual relations--and insisted that there “is an opportunity for people of good faith to find common ground in this debate.” Unfortunately, the “common ground” Clinton is talking about is squarely on the turf of the right wing.



Clinton’s comments are just one example of the Democratic Party leadership’s attempt to embrace a more conservative stance on abortion rights after their November election losses.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=91&ItemID=7173

[buddysmellgood]

1. I abortion a happy event?

[Undercover Owl]

8. it might be!

There are so many possibilities among life events, who is one person to judge for someone else?

I can think of a few scenarios where abortion would be a relatively happy event.

[Djinn]

9. often yes it is

it is an absolute myth that all women are traumatised or saddened by abortion - all in all they'd probably rather not have had the op but that doesn't mean they're not happily relieved when it's done.

As for Hillary - she's just another shill who'll say whatever is politically expedient - check out her statements on Palestine or Venezuela

[Warpy]

14. C. Everett Koop did a study on that

expecting to find depression and regret. He was honest enough to publish his finding that most women felt nothing but relief when it was all over, and that there were few with regrets.

I think Mrs. Clinton is entitled to her opinion, but my friends who went through it never expressed regret to me or any of their other woman friends, although they did play the regret game with men who needed to feel they were anguished for some reason.

Yes, it's a difficult decision, and yes, it requires the maximum amount of soul searching and life evaluation. However, the procedure comes almost as an anticlimax once the decision has been made and the predominant emotion is one of great relief.

I don't think any woman would describe it as either happy or celebratory.

[politicat]

16. Is divorce a happy event?

I think it depends on the people involved and what has to happen. For my parents, divorce was physically and emotionally wrenching, but absolutely necessary - they could not and cannot live in the same house together without harming each other and those that live with them. Was it happy? At the time, perhaps, no. Later, yes. I've known many people for whom the proper response when hearing about their divorces is Congratulations.

Abortion is much the same; it is the end process of a situation that is intolerable and painful to everyone involved. Mind, the abortion is not the painful process; it's the unwanted or unfulfillable pregnancy. The abortion is just the end game.

I'm not so thrilled with Sen. Clinton's statements, but they could be worse. I wish she'd drop the Rare bit, though. Safe and legal is all that she has any interest in. Whether it's rare or common is a statistical issue that has nothing to do with legislation.

[xchrom]

2. i'm tired of talking about abortion rights,

clinton has the cart in the wrong place.

is a woman's body her own -- or not?
does some corner of her uterus belong to somebody else at some magical moment -- or from birth to grave, is it hers?

i just don't get it any more -- how have we been led away from the real point?

there can be no real discussion about womens equality until women have control over their own physical being.

[TomClash]

3. Abortion is a right that is in its death throes

unless young women stand up for it.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

13. That's not a meaningful argument, I think.

Everyone accepts that we do have the right to compel other people to act in certain ways they don't wish to for the good of others. If you accept that a womans uterus is her own, and therefore whatever she does with it is ipse facto no business of anyone else, then you have to accept that my hands are my own, and if I choose to hit someone with them then the law shouldn't stop me, because that would be interfering with my right to control my own body.

What we do accept is that those actions which one takes which don't affect anybody else should not be regulated. *That's* why abortion should be legal, at least for the first six months. "It's my body and I'll do what I like with it" is not a justification I'd be willing to accept for other actions, so it's not one I'm happy with for abortion.

[Jackie97]

4. I hope this analysis is wrong.

I'm hoping that Hilary and the Democrats are just saying and doing what they have to in order to get power again. Once they do that, they increase abortion rights. I hate to say it, but this is how it works in America a lot of times.

At the same time, I'm thinking some cold thoughts lately. I'm thinking that if some Bush supporter loses their daughter to illegal abortion, then they don't deserve sympathy. I'll feel differently if I ever see it. I know I will. It's just that this keeps running through my mind though.

I keep forgetting that when the fight for reproductive rights started in America (whether we start at the abortion rights movement or with Margaret Sanger fighting for birth control rights), the majority of society was cold as hell. They wanted women to give birth over and over again or else die of illegal abortion. They stoood up to that cold society. They still saw something to save in it. I wish I could be more like them.

I feel ashamed for thinking the stuff that I do. I just keep thinking that whenever X and Y happens because of Bush, that people have no right to complain. At the same time, this will be when they're coming to our side. We can't push them away when that happens.

[noamnety]

5. People need to go to the primary source

Or if you use a secondary source - someone telling you their interpretation of what someone said - try going to media matters to verify it.

"New York Times wrongly suggested Clinton recently "shift themes" to discuss faith" -- http://mediamatters.org/items/200502020002

"Garrett echoed GOP, claimed Sen. Clinton changed her stance on abortion" -- http://mediamatters.org/items/200501260014

Looks like your source is reporting the story in a similarly dishonest way.

[BioDorkBeth]

6. Reversing Roe v. Wade?!?!

If you are against this, help me get as many signatures on this petition as possible! I work in the science community and religious beliefs are no basis to create laws (or reverse them)! I am by no means a bot or a spammer, but as a Dem, I'll be #$%$$ed if we'll sit and accept the election of this butt-wiper!

So please sign this and don't worry about the email thing, no one will see your email except me and I'll only contact yah and use it if you go on and post bad or derogatory things. Send this link on to your friends and as many people as you know!


http://www.petitiononline.com/RVW2005/petition.html

Thanks a bunch!

[Phoenixblade444]

7. She's right

In all things moderation, even moderation.

[pnutchuck]

10. It is a tragic event!

I am a pro choice supporter, but many women are forced to have abortions due to life threatening issues for either the mother or the baby. There are women who don't want to have abortions period. And yes, as women, we should recognize that. Not that we should repeal abortion rights, but that we should embrace them, because we are able to save the lives of women who would otherwise die during childbirth and perhaps cause the death of the child as well.

[Undercover Owl]

11. so...you think it IS a tragic event.

The way you describe it, you sound like you think it's sometimes necessary. Okay, I'll agree.

I wonder if your intended message is, "yes abortion is tragic, but it's a decision between a woman and her doctor". I think that's an admirable, understandable position, and I'll wager that's how most people feel about the issue.

Even if abortion is medically necessary, maybe it isn't a tragedy.
And, what if it isn't medically necessary? Is abortion still tragic?

People have so many possible life situations, that none of us can possibly keep track of all the possibilities.
Sometimes it's necessary, sometimes it isn't. Sometimes it's tragic, sometimes it isn't.

(and sometimes, I dare say, it's probably the best solution to a pregnancy!)

[Warpy]

15. It's always necessary to the woman who chooses it.

pregnancy and childbirth are NOT BENIGN CONDITIONS. They are DANGEROUS!

Any woman who doesn't want to risk her life, her health, her finances, and her social support system on a child she does not want to bear should be allowed to defend her life through abortion.

It's not up to you or the state or the church or any man to secondguess her choice.

[jmm]

12. I can't say abortion is tragic but

I can say losing the right to obtain a safe and legal one is.