The Morality of Abortion

the Ironic Cherry reads...

Life's Work:

A Moral Argument for Choice

by Dr. Willie Parker

This is a book with heart.  It is a short book; I wanted it to go on forever, but I wanted it to end so I could sit here and write about it.  I want to take each one of you by the hand and bring you to the library to check out your own copy of it.  I want to read it out loud to you.  I know I am unable to describe it to my own satisfaction, to the point where you can't wait to read it yourself.  But I will try.

Dr. Willie Parker begins his story by talking about "The Women."  It is the women, us, to which he has devoted his life's work.  He is a man of faith, African American, raised in the South, in poverty.  He acknowledges his hard work and intellect, but appreciates the support of family and educators that brought him to the work he now does.

He is a physician who performs abortions, visiting clinics where there are no other abortion doctors, in states where legislatures have chipped away at women's right to choose to have an abortion.  He is an activist, serving on boards from Planned Parenthood to the Center for Reproductive Rights, traveling to D.C. and throughout the country to give testimony in support of women's reproductive rights.

In Life's Work, Dr. Parker takes us through the changes in his life's philosophy, in which he went from being an Ob/Gyn who avoided abortion to becoming one of the nation's foremost advocates and front-line abortion doctors.  He speaks from a personal perspective, telling how he began to question the rigid moralism of the scripture, and how he became a "born again born again" Christian.  He also speaks clearly from a medical point of view, describing the aspects of the abortion procedure, because he knows that too much myth and distortion controls the conversation.  He tells us to speak out, speak to one another, speak without fear.

Speak without fear.  Dr. Parker has lived, since he has made his decision to work in the service of women who seek abortion, with the knowledge of the risk he is taking.  Each and every day that he walks into one of the clinics in which he works, he has to walk the gauntlet of antis carrying signs and yelling to the women who are merely seeking to live their lives freely.

He calls them "antis."  He does not give them any more title than that.  He writes about and debunks the lies that have been perpetuated, that doctors have been forced by legislators to tell.  He talks about the TRAP laws, those laws that are created under the pretense of protecting the safety of women, but which sole purpose is to close clinics and to make abortion inaccessible.

He tells us about the women and girls who come to the clinics, and those who are forced to carry a pregnancy to term because clinics have closed down or rules about waiting periods run out the legal timeline.  He tells about how doctors have been threatened, how laws have made it harder to practice.  He tells about the terrorists who threaten and who have killed.  And he talks about people who use their religious beliefs to intimidate and to control, and of the people of faith who have stepped up to help provide access to abortions to women who seek them.

Dr. Parker describes the changes in language on the left, wherein sincere abortion rights proponents tried to compromise with the antis, by talking about how abortion was a bad but necessary option, and how we need to make abortion safe, accessible and rare.  And how this reframing actually worked to fuel the antis.  He states with medical authority that abortion is not a "bad" thing; it is a medical procedure, a simple and safe one.  It does not have the essence of evil with which the religious right has attempted to imbue it.

In 2014, in PRO: Reclaiming Abortion Rights, Katha Pollitt began the conversation we needed to be having.  We needed to hear that we have no need to feel guilt or shame, we have the right to medical privacy and medical choices.  The government needs to get the hell out of our reproductive lives.  And, as borne out during the Women's March, we women (and men) are beginning to wake up from that deluded sleep that since Roe v. Wade led us to think we would no longer have to fight.

And now, Dr. Willie Parker has added another strong voice to our fight.

I hope you will take the time to give this book a read.  It is not just an important book, it is inspirational. 

Democratic Women

With terrorist groups using Donald Trump's hate speeches to encourage terrorism, I would like to suggest a little diversion from the terrifying idea that he or any one of those idiots could be our next president.  It is truly too soon after the Dubya years to contemplate.

Instead, let's take a peek at our own SC State Legislature, and the schemes and pranks they have up their sleeves for the coming legislative session.

We do have heroes stepping up to file a bunch of gun control bills (oops, I mean "gun safety"), and a particularly brilliant and much-needed erectile dysfunction bill, the usual nuts and bolts are spewing the usual old-white-christian-male nonsense.  I wish December saw them spending more time celebrating the joy of Christmas and less time ruminating on how to take away the rights of all us residents of Whoville.

We have a bill that will protect pastors from the ever present threat that they will be forced to perform a marriage ceremony on a gay couple.  There's the one that keeps popping up that would make absolutely sure that our judges will not practice Sharia Law in our South Carolina Courts.  And one that will protect us from being overrun by refugees; once they have food and a roof over their heads, I imagine the fear is that the next step will be to establish their own little governments.

Then we have one that would require every school district to display the words "In God We Trust" in every single school in the state.  Since they'll be spending the tax dollars on plaques instead of educational materials, maybe our pols figure a miracle is the only way our kids are going to get educated.

Of course, the real red meat for our right wingnuts is women's reproductive rights.  How can Lee Bright focus on decorating that tree with little mangers when he is imagining all the infinitesimal little tiny babies in all the women and girls that might not be born?  And his buddy in all things despicable, Kevin Bryant, can't hardly say his prayers for imagining what goes on in a woman's body when she has an abortion.  Let's not forget Wendy Nanney who represents all the women who want to control women, and her fact-free "pain capable" anti-abortion bill which is likely to start the session right where it left off in June, attempting to force its way into passage.

As half-time of the two-year legislative sport approached, Kevin Bryant tossed out a bill that would ban "dismemberment abortions."  And chomping at the bit, during the prefile period, a whole plethora of lunatics signed on to the comedically entitled "Defunding the Abortion Industry and Advancing Women's Health Act."  Thanks to the Americans United for Life this bill is spreading around the states like ebola.  So as well as pretending the goal of killing Planned Parenthood is to save "babies," the anti-abortion movement has now taken the absolute galling stand of claiming they are protecting women's health.

Well, here's my point.

We need to fight these idiots.  They are very small, bitter people who are incapable of seeing the irony or the falsehood of any of this legislation.  The same legislators who would like to force women to bring a pregnancy to term work just as hard to make sure that she does not have adequate health care.  In the case of working to kill Planned Parenthood, they also want to make sure that women of limited means don't have access to birth control.  Many of them will fight to prevent medically accurate sex ed.

Gee, it's almost as though the radical right wing wants to punish girls and women for having sex by making them bear children.  And then make them work a low paying job with inadequate child care.  And then blame them -- and the kids -- when they have problems.

Family values just don't get screwier than that.

Here in Charleston County, we have a group of Democratic women that are fighting for sanity in our legislature.  They support representatives that will work for us, that will fight to protect us from the rabid and rage-filled radicals of the right.  And this year they have a goal of joining forces with us to advocate for us in Columbia.

Charleston County Democratic Women (CCDW) meets once a month, on the first Thursday, at the Charleston - Riverview Holiday Inn.  You don't have to be a member to enjoy the $20 buffet dinner and the speakers, and you don't have to be a woman.  You do have to support the goals that will make lives better for women, which in fact, will improve all our lives.

Membership is $20 annually, and January is membership renewing time.  While the cost of the meeting pays only for the dinner, membership goes toward supporting the candidates that will move us forward in South Carolina.  Better education for our children, freedom from reproductive tyranny for women and families.

On Thursday, January 7, the speaker will be Dr. Donna Johnson, first female Chair of the MUSC Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.  She will talk about why South Carolina gets an "F" in women's care.  And what we can do about it.

Start the year off right by supporting Charleston County Democratic Women, and by joining in the effort to make legislative changes that will in fact advance women's health, and improve the lives of all of us.

You can find Charleston County Democratic Women on Facebook, and get more information about Thursday's meeting.

I hope to see you there.

What's Different About Abortion

As the mad Christians in our nation fight to preserve their right to control the bodies of women, I wonder why it is that we have been -- for decades -- victimized by this plague of anti-democratic, anti-freedom, anti-privacy, anti-women wingnuts.  As those in the LGBT community gain freedom and acceptance, as African Americans insist that their rights are respected by law officers, women continue to have their rights violated and their privacy -- and bodies -- invaded.  Some of the most liberal of our lawmakers deem it success when they reach a compromise that only violates some women.

How can this be, when we are fifty percent of the American people?  How can this be when most of us of reproductive age use birth control, many of us have had abortions, and most of us believe that women have the right to make those decisions privately?

At the heart of this battle for reproductive rights is the right to privacy.  Whether or not women should use contraception or have an abortion is so incredibly personal.  But it has become the center of public debate because at its core it has to do with sex.  This debate is not about safety or even about life.  Pure and simple, this is about forcing women who have sex to bear the consequences.  And the vitriol is so intense that those at the far radical religious right claim that even a married woman must literally carry the burden of the act of sex.  The flights of fancy the anti-abortion brigade have taken to pretend this is about the value of life can easily be discounted by their near-unanimous opposition to gun control, universal health care and nutrition programs.

Why, then, are our forces so much weaker, our anger so readily ignored, our supporters so much more inclined to compromise our rights away?

Why are we not so enraged that we can't be ignored?

For one thing, we are women.  I truly hate to say this, but we have been raised to believe that we should sacrifice for the common good, we should be willing to compromise, even walk away from a fight.

And we have accepted that abortion is a bad thing, to the point where our staunchest defenders are willing to make convoluted arguments about how birth control isn't always used to prevent pregnancies.  We chase around the bizarre false scientific claims, arguing about what a fetus is capable of doing and feeling rather than merely insisting that what is inside of a woman's body is her own business, her own life, and it cannot be made into a separate life with separate rights in any way, shape or form.

We can look to movies and television for a sense of social progress.  It wasn't that long ago that I was pleasantly surprised to see a couple of mixed race portrayed without it being a part of the plot.  The same thing has happened with gay couples.  They no longer need to be making a statement about who they are -- they just are.

But when have you ever seen a movie or television program where a character just gets an abortion?  Damn, it happens in real life, why doesn't it ever happen in fiction?  Until it becomes just something that happens, we are likely going to be treating it like a complicated moral dilemma, perpetuating the guilt and shame we have been told we should feel at having to deal with possible pregnancy.  And passing it on to our daughters.

On the bright side, we can go to the fringes and find Amy Schumer, who I saw during a televised stand-up performance outright make a joke about getting an abortion.  I did a double-take, admittedly a little horrified, and then feeling incredibly free. I was in the generation that was liberated by George Carlin's "7 Dirty Words" comedy routine.  And yet, in 2012, we watched, stunned, as a Michigan representative was barred from debate after saying the word "vagina" on the House floor.

We certainly need to change the way we talk about our bodies and about abortion.  But I don't think that that is the main reason we continue to struggle with winning back our freedom.

Abortion is a temporary condition.  This makes it essentially different than sexual orientation or racial heritage.  And, despite the crazy talk by the right wing, nobody wants to have an abortion, any more than a person would want to have a tooth extracted.  Pregnancy is a condition that has a beginning and an end.  We may look forward to or dread being pregnant, we may delight in our pregnancy or it may make us ill.  But it is still not our identity.  So when we decide to have an abortion, that too happens and becomes the past.  If we have not been burdened by the taint of the abortion mythology, we are able to get on with our lives, as with any other medical process.

So when we won the right to reproductive privacy, we got on with our lives, naively assuming the courts had spoken and it was now law.  We didn't look back, and our daughters did not grow up with the fear and dread of an unwanted pregnancy.

And now we must go back to assuming that we are losing that right.

And we don't want to either lose it, or have to fight for it.

That, I believe, is the essence of why we are losing the abortion war.

Abortion Opponents Rehearsed and Camera Ready

This is what I thought about as I tossed and turned for several hours last night:

H 3114, the deceitfully titled, "Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act," went before the SC Senate yesterday.  That afternoon, The State ran a video of a woman -- and her daughter Savannah's -- testimony.  Wendy Duke is dignified and well-spoken, and her remarks were carefully prepared.  She has written an inspirational book about her daughter's first years, and she is a blogger.  She introduces her daughter early on, and 14 1/2 year old Savannah comes to sit by her while her mother continues.

At 21 weeks, Ms. Duke's doctor informed her that there were potentially severe fetal abnormalities.  At first glance, it sounds like the recommendation was based on the fact that one leg would be significantly shorter than the other.  Listen carefully, though, because it turns out there was also "significant brain abnormality," so the recommendation to consider an abortion was more than responsible and justified.

Before she turns the microphone over to Savannah, Duke concludes, "At 21 weeks gestation, this former fetus' personality had already been established."

Well, no.  And therein lies what is outrageous about this testimony.  An emotional appeal mixing feelings with facts, combining the terms "fetus" and "personality" as though they actually made sense together, just does not belong in the South Carolina legislature.

Duke's comments were followed by a brief religious screed by her daughter.  The camera panned on an anti-abortion pin that she wore prominently, with a photo of something that looked more like a premature infant than a fetus, saying, "20 week preborn child -- Please protect me."

National anti-abortion organizations advising the states have been careful not to frame legislation in religious terms and rather resort to nonsensical  medical terms, hence "pain capable" and my favorite, "pre-born."  We have heard legislators across this country claim such idiocy as because male fetuses have erections it is an obvious indication of pleasure, so therefore must feel pain.  We have been constantly inundated with claims that the fetus appearing to flinch in response to stimuli assumes pain, although pain receptors have not yet been developed.

And here we have the testimony of a truly inspirational parent, and her truly amazing daughter, claiming that without this proposed law, her daughter would not exist.  Also not true.

But it is well orchestrated and heart-wrenching.  And here it is on video, and making it to the State website.

If you read to the end of the piece, though, you will find testimony by another woman, Jennifer Lane, describing the tremendously difficult decision she had to make in similar circumstances.  With a five-year-old daughter, she had to make decisions based on not just the severe brain abnormalities, but also on whether she could care for a child with such limitations while also caring for her young daughter.

It is apparent that Ms Duke had the resources to give great amounts of time, pay for years of medical treatments, and nurture her disabled child without sacrificing her own health.  She was able to provide well for her daughter, and to give her all the support that would assure she would excel in her endeavors.  She is an exceptional woman, but she also had the freedom to assess her situation and make the best choice for her.

Yet here she is judging other women, each with unique situations -- financial, familial, emotional -- by testifying that there should be a law preventing them from being able to make the choice that she was allowed to make.

To their credit, the subcommittee has asked for medical professionals to make recommendations on an amendment for exceptions for fetal abnormalities and the health of the woman.  On the other hand, it assumes that this procedure has been done excessively and frivolously and that a law is needed.  And they also seem to have accepted the erroneous claim that this ban is necessary because of fetal pain.

In any event, the subcommittee will be meeting again around April 1, a fitting time for fools to meet.  And it will give me a few days to catch up on my sleep. 

Gun Fantasies

Holiday time, and neither the anti-abortion nuts nor the guns rights idiots could take time off.  Weeks before the start of the South Carolina 2015 legislative session, bills were being pre-filed to make sure they were right in the front of the line to trample on our desire for peace and civil liberty.

As far as gun rights and the NRA are concerned, don't ever think you've heard it all.  And, as with the anti-abortion war, any recent victory -- or defeat -- will result in more attacks on more fronts.

Since his not-quite-stunning defeat in the US Senate primary against Lindsey Graham, not-so-bright state senator Lee Bright has redoubled his efforts to be South Carolina's most formidable gun nut.  If you recall, in the last legislative session, he attempted to top the "guns and liquor" bill by offering up his "guns everywhere" bill.  Supporters of the "Constitutional Carry" bill claim that South Carolina is one of the most restrictive states in terms of allowing folks to tote guns, interpreting the lack of express restrictions in most states to mean that gun-toting is allowed, and not that it should be so obvious that guns aren't allowed that there has been no need for express laws banning them in specific situations.  The "Firearms Freedom Act"  would have kept South Carolina gun manufacturers and owners safe from all those pesky federal laws.

Neither bill passed, but we can count on Bright to come back energized and ready to take up the mantle once again like a warped Don Quixote.  And he has been joined by fellow gun nut, Alan Clemmons, who has proposed a required three week Second Amendment curriculum in all public schools, ending in a Second Amendment Awareness Day, with the festivities closing with a poster/essay contest on "The Right to Bear Arms: One American Right Protecting All Others."  That's right, because in the America we all grew up in, it's guns that have protected our freedom of speech and our individual rights.  Oh, irony, since it's these same goofballs that are continually attacking individual rights.  Maybe if we had weapons, women would be free to have private reproductive health care and gays could marry, anyone could vote and poor people would be given a living wage....

Anyway, obviously, the NRA has its hands all over this one.

But wait!  Here are some of the other less-than-delectable tidbits from the gun nuts in our state legislature:

Again, the "constitutional carry" bill, which would change breaking the law from carrying a gun to carrying a gun with intent to commit a crime.  So, as long as our police officers can spot a crime before it's committed, we're okay.

And because having all South Carolina residents carrying just isn't enough, there is a bill which would allow reciprocity for citizens from other states.  Now, here's the thing about this.  South Carolina does not allow reciprocity with other states for licensed professionals.  South Carolina does not even allow persons from other states with motor vehicle learners permits to drive with licensed SC drivers.  But:  "Got a gun?  Come on in!"

Last year, gun nuts had a resounding success with passage of the bill that allows guns in restaurants and bars.  Because you never know when a gunfight will break out at the saloon, and we should all be ready to defend our honor and our shrimp 'n' grits.  If you don't look too closely at the numbers of shootings in and around South Carolina, you might think that hasn't been a problem.  And if you like the idea of protecting yourself when you take the family out to dinner, you will love the bill that will allow guns to be carried at any college.  Because we'll all rest easier knowing our kids are getting their secondary education in a place where there will never be anyone who is stressed out and unstable and feeling the need to bring a gun to school.

The topping on that deadly cake are bills that would remove the fees for applying for, renewing or replacing one's concealed weapons permit, and of course, allowing it to be used as Voter ID.

To end on a more optimistic note, Democrats Gilda Cobb-Hunter and Mia McLeod have filed H 3034 that would require a person to surrender firearms if the courts have determined that he (or she) presents an imminent danger in a domestic abuse situation, with comparable bill S 3 in the Senate; and H 3033,  requiring national criminal background checks.  I believe I also saw a bill that would create penalties for adults when a child is endangered by a weapon in the home, but I haven't been able to find it again.

Now this is all very confusing for me, as I am sure it is intended.  But I did my best, and apologize for any mistakes.  The important thing is that we know these bills are up there, and they are going to move forward as long as we don't oppose them.  That's how Georgia ended up with its "guns everywhere" law.  Our state restaurant association claims not to have know about the bill allowing guns in bars and restaurants.  So it will take more than occasional disgruntlement to fight this tsunami.  The gun nuts in our legislature know how to rally the gun nuts in the populace.  There really aren't as many of them as there are of us, but, as with the fight for reproductive rights, they are loud and persistent, and we need to keep up, and keep shouting.  So find out who your legislators are, and let them know, today, tomorrow, and next week, how you feel about people walking around in our communities with deadly weapons, and how you feel about our children being forced to learn untruths about the Second Amendment.

It's not just a matter of quality of life, it's a matter of life and death.
  

Using Our Veterans

Tim Scott and Jim DeMint are like your grown-up children who take your money and ignore your advice; you don't hear from them all year and then send you a flowery birthday card telling you all the ways they love you.

It came as no surprise today to find emails from both proclaiming their devotion to our veterans.  I'll admit, I did not read them, because to be honest, whatever they say reeks of hypocrisy; the words never change, and it infuriates me.  So I'll spend my time sharing my thoughts with you rather than reading theirs.

These are two arrogant men who believe they have a special relationship with God.  They use their religion much the way they use our veterans.  Even Jesus had his differences with His Father, but DeMint and Scott have never had an opinion that God did not wholeheartedly endorse.

They both propound that they are fighting for "life" but resoundingly vote "no" to health care for all.  And they are against gun control of any kind; you have as much right to that assault rifle as to that 12-gauge you hunt deer with.

And they both hold two exceptions to how essential it is to reduce our debt.  The first is that no one with wealth should have to contribute a penny more than those without.  The second is that we should pay whatever the cost to arm ourselves.

Which brings me back to our soldiers.  These hypocrites have voted against jobs and training bills for veterans, health care bills for them and their families, help with housing.  They don't give a damn that soldiers who signed on have been sent over and over and over again, while their spouses have struggled alone to raise a family.  They speak of our need for military strength in terms of weapons, while ignoring a country fighting hunger, homelessness, poor education, inadequate health care.  That country, of course, being ours.

Yet they routinely send out the pretentious emails claiming their love of country and of the soldiers and veterans who have defended it.  And those who are fortunate enough to not have to endure the results of their cold-hearted congressional acts will wipe away tears and thank God for Jim DeMint and Tim Scott.

Some Things Never Get Old

It was with some surprise and sadness that I flipped a page on my ACLU 2012 calendar and saw this cartoon:

The great political cartoonist, Herblock, penned this one in 1981.  If you were lucky enough to have been around then, that was when the radical right realized they could make great hay by using the religious right to put them in office.

And so it goes.  Today I heard a news clip wherein John Boehner replied to a question about Romney's now infamous rant on the worthlessness of the 47% by saying, "This election is about jobs."  "Jobs," he added.  And then he repeated, "Jobs."

Yeah, I thought, it's about you keeping your job.  And, recalling the actual 112th House of Representatives, it's about abortion.