Where the Reality of Abortion Resides: Intimate Wars (new book)

[sinkingfeeling]

http://www.truthout.org/where-reality-abortion-resides-intimate-wars/1328219163

by: Merle Hoffman

When I first opened a clinic for women's abortion care in Flushing, New York in 1971, women
finally had access to safe, legal abortions – even before Roe v. Wade decriminalized abortion across the country. New York State had acted to decriminalize abortion in 1970, so we were already a step ahead. Doctors could now treat patients in a respectful environment, away from the back-alley secrecy and lethal dangers.

"I would want to keep this pregnancy, if only…" I learned that it is in the "if only" that the reality of abortion resides. It's there in the vast expanse of a lived life -- the sum of experience, the pull of attachment, the pain of ambivalence. "If only" is a theme with thousands of variations.

If only I wasn't fourteen.

If only I was married.

If only my husband had another job.

If only I didn't give birth to a baby six months ago.

If only I didn't just get accepted to college.

If only I didn't have such difficult pregnancies.

If only I wasn't in this lousy marriage.

If only I wasn't forty-two.

If only my boyfriend wasn't on drugs.

If only I wasn't on drugs.

If only . . .


The act of abortion positions women at their most powerful, and that is why it is so strongly opposed by many in society. Historically viewed and conditioned to be passive, dependent creatures, victims of biological circumstance, women assume the power over life and death with the choice of abortion, an awkward mantle for many. They fall prey to the assumption -- the myth -- that women should not be trusted with this ultimate power.

[Blue_Tires]

1. kick

[CTyankee]

2. Kick so more DUers can read this important article...

It was in articles such as these that the pro-choice movement began to thrive and reach the hearts and souls of many women and men. We need to bring this back to restate and emphasize the decency that the movement represents...

[secondwind]

3. Clinic escort here.... K&R! And stealing!

[bemildred]

4. Word. nt

[yardwork]

5. When I was young and had no health insurance I went to Planned Parenthood for health care

and I heard a lot of stories like that from women in the waiting rooms. I was fortunate not to get pregnant - mostly because I had access to affordable contraception through Planned Parenthood - so I didn't have to make the decisions that they were struggling to make.

The suggestion that women are not intelligent enough to make their own decisions about important issues - that men running the government need to make those decisions for them - is at the heart of the anti-choice position.

Thank you for a powerful OP.