i've been thinking a lot about abortions lately, what with this right wing shift that seems to be sweeping north america (sidenote: ARGH! what IS THAT?!?!? WHAT IS GOING ON???). and the thing i think people don't understand about abortions is this: we're not talking about cases where people really really want to abort their fetuses just for fun, so they can go out and have more fun and return to get the "problem" taken care of again. (note: i love the way we say fetus to get away from the fact that we are, in fact, talking about children). the reality is that some women find themselves in positions where they feel that they just CAN'T bring their baby into the world. for whatever reason. they don't feel they have the economic or psychological resources to give birth to or raise their child. from another place, it seems pretty easy to condemn those reasons. but having never been there, i hesitate to say how i'd feel.
anyway - so you have women making decisions to abort. without adequate abortion facilities, many women try to arrange their own abortions using stairs, coat hangers, unsafe backroom abortion practices. the maternal mortality rate rises. nothing is solved. women still get pregnant, and in trying to take care of it, they kill or maim themselves.
the year after abortion was legalized, the maternal mortality rate in new york state dropped by 45%
if you're against pro-choice - try advocating for more education, raising of income in high risk populations, health policies that support birth control education. taking away a woman's right to abortion doesn't solve the problem.
and then maybe look at some developing nations where the highest cause of death for children under five is diarrhea because their water supply is unsafe. i think it's hypocritical to bemoan the deaths of unborn children in North America when there are so many deaths we could prevent but don't.
8:30am - 2001-03-02
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