Letters to the Editor
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Wow, a bunch of guys yakking about Abortion
Yeah, abortion is messy, so is giving birth. Those late-term abortions that gross you out so badly? Ever occur to you that most of them are because of amnios that show serious birth defects--i.e. the baby dies shortly after birth, or doesn't have a brain--or because the mom's about 12 years old?
Most abortions--particularly the ones where the woman just doesn't want the baby--are early. And, no, no cute little feet. It really is pink blob.
I understand the movie's mostly men opining on something that they'll NEVER EVER experience. And, gee, you're grossed out. Yeah, well, guys can afford that. Women have to be realists.
Fact is, a baby doesn't just pop into being at the moment of conception. Pregnancy is a process--one that's damn hard on the mother's body, by the way--it often goes badly--are you aware that miscarriages look just like those abortions that so horrify you? That women who have a late miscarriage must undergo what is essentially an abortive procedure?
And those are every bit as unpretty to look at. I've noticed though that miscarriages (which are far more common than clinical abortions) seem to evoke about zero reaction--no funerals, no huge outpourings of grief and despair about a third of all babies dying before they're even born. Suddenly, that baby's not a baby after all.
No, it's the decision NOT to have a baby that makes people shriek. Of course, given that a large percentage of women have had abortions, have fun trying to figure out which of your wives, mothers, sisters and girlfriends are secret murderers.
Squeamishness and religions that predate our modern understanding of biology by 2,000 years are a LOUSY basis for public policy on this issue.