Letters to the Editor
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One old story
Th increasingly sad state of health care for women seeking birth control and abortions is alarming. The attitude, often couched in caring for the unborn, of punishing women for being sexual beings is backward and ...well, most of you have an understanding of the patriarchal mind set that creates this atmosphere.
I will always be grateful for my experience post-rape 22 years ago. At the hospital the night of the rape, as they did the "rape-kit" thing, they told me they don't give "morning after" treatment because the percentage of pregnancies from rape are very small. The next morning my own HMO doctor was surprised by that but had it confirmed by a colleage. I told him I was deeply concerned about pregnancy (I wasn't sexually active with anyone at that point in my life & wasn't on BC & rapists don't generally bother with condoms, which was perversly good in this case as he was later convicted on DNA evidence). My doc told me to make an appointment for the first day I was "late." I did & had a blood pregnancy test (they didn't have the drugstore tests then). A week later I learned I was pregnant. I had no doubts that I wanted an abortion. The HMO set it up for a month later. I told my doc that was too long to wait under my circumstances. He agreed & found a provider that I could see in 2 weeks.
I will always be grateful that I had the presence of mind to push the issue, that my doc responded to my concerns and that my HMO paid for the entire thing. I was lucky that I had a job with health insurance. I was just out of college & had very little money of my own. I don't know how I would have done it on my own. I have never had any regrets about having an abortion and don't anticipate that I ever will. My only regret is that a degenerate man (who now sits in prison) forced me into that situtation.
To slightly change the words of another poster, I believe cheap and universally available abortion on demand is the right way to go.
I know this is only one story, but there are more stories like this than we know. When I began to confide to several close friends that I'd been raped, I learned that 3 of them had been raped in the past and had never told anyone.
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abortion funds to the rescue
Ms. Lerner,
Thank you for your insightful and disturbing article on the challenges women face in many parts of our country when they seek an abortion. I think a lot of people are not aware that for many women in our country, abortion may be legal but it is entirely out of reach.
But your readers should know that they can help these women directly and tangibly by giving to their local abortion fund. The National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF) has member funds in almost every state. Abortion funds raise money from individual donors and give that money to women who want an abortion but cannot afford one.
The women in your article are precisely the women that abortion funds are designed to serve- women who have to travel out of state to find a doctor, women who are choosing between their rent and their abortion, women who have been pushed into their second trimester as they struggle to raise funds for their procedure.
Advocacy and policy change work are fundamental to ensuring abortion access for all women, but while we wait for the next election, thousands of women are forced to have children they are unable to care for because they are denied adccess to an abortion. For many, many women, financial assitance from an abortion fund is their only hope. I hope your readers will donate to their local fund today.
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the whole 'responsibility" thing
Why should a woman be punished for failing to be responsible about birth control? Or if her birth control failed? In what other realm of human experience do we deny remedies to people who made poor choices, when the outcome is so drastic? ER doctors treat the motorcycle crash victim who wasn't wearing helmet. Colleges admit late-blooming adult students who decided to screw around rather than going straight to school. The IRS negotiates with tax evaders. You can declare bankruptcy.
The only interpretation that makes sense to the "responsibility" crowd is that they believe women should be punished for having sex. I really can't see it any other way. It certainly doesn't evince care for the child -- that would require, say, a committment to better welfare support...
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Amerigo spouty pro-life myths (LIES)
The biggest LIE of the anti abortion movement is the
PROPAGANDA:"abortion is allowed on demand" for any reason any time during pregnancy". THIS IS A BOLD FACED LIE! Under Roe v Wade. abortion rights are allowed under a trimester system: THE FIRST TRIMESTER. (1-12 weeks) Yes, abortion is allowed for any reason.. the woman's rights superceed the rightss the rights of the fetus. Over 95% of abortions perfomred )
SECOND TRIMESTER (13-23 weeks): The rights of the fetus and woman are equal. States can regulate abortion if it does not impose and "undue burden" on the woman. 2-4 % abortions performed 2nd trimeter. THE THIRD TRIMESTER: (23-36 weeks). The rights of the fetus superceed the rights of the woamn. Abortion was only allowed to save the Life and health reason of the woman.(very few abortions have been perfomd in the third trimester less than .004%. However through an ungenuious campaign by antis (so-called partial birth abortion) the reproductive health of a woman late in pregnancy is no longer valued. There really is no reason for any more restrictions abortions than under ROE. Teh real goal of antis is to outlaw ALL abortions.
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From someone in Mississippi
As a woman living in Mississippi, let me give everyone a little background.
Voting. Yes, obviously women can vote in Mississippi. But there is no such thing as a pro-choice politician in Mississippi. Republicans are anti-choice. Democrats are anti-choice. Being a pro-choice is political suicide. Sure, we can vote, but our choices are limited--very limited.
Poverty. I am not poor in Mississippi--I am middle class. I see poverty everyday, but I still don't see the level of poverty that some endure in this state. Unless you see it, live it, and experience it, you cannot truly understand the conditions some endure. Birth control? Sure if there was a medical clinic. There are areas where the only medical clinic is sixty-plus miles away. You have no car. No health insurance. No money to get to the health clinic. And this isn't just to get birth control, but for basic medical care and education. Plus, even if a person had a subscription, there isn't a local pharmacy, and if there isn't a car to go to the doctor, there isn't a car to go to the pharmacy. Condoms. Is there a local drug store? A grocery store? In some places, there isn't.
Education. People talk a lot of education. How can a person not know she is pregnant? How can she not know HOW she got pregnant? How can people not understand how reproduction works? My guess is they were never taught. I know it sounds strange to those of us who had middle class upbringings and had to suffer through the embarrassment of sex ed in health class, but for many people in some areas of Mississippi, sex ed isn't taught. Abstinence is what is taught. The basic birds and the bees are not. What about their parents? There's a good chance they don't know either. Remember how little you knew about the biology of reproduction before you learned? Remember the myths? To some people, that is all they know.
Mississippi is a restrictive state. Incredibly restrictive. I am trying to leave the state for many reason, but one of them is this exact issue: the lack of reproductive choice. I do not want to live in a state that doesn't believe I have the right to make decisions about my own health and body. I don't have children but if I did I would not raise them in this state. One of those reasons is that I would want my daughter(s) to have a choice. I would not want to raise them in a state that has no respect for them or their bodies.