Category Archives: abortion rights

Democratic Convention Part II: The Party With Heart

Posted on September 6, 2012 by marsheiner

Part II: In Praise Of Democrats

Before I say one more word about the Democratic convention, anyone who missed Bill Clinton’s speech last night should run right over to You Tube and watch it now. It is well worth the 49 minutes—this guy can talk, remember?—and he reminds you that there’s still hope in the realm of electoral politics. More on Bill later.

 

Show Don’t Tell is the first—possibly the only—rule of creative writing. You don’t introduce your main character with, “Jane was prone to daydreaming out in nature.” Rather, you say something like, “Jane ambled down the lilac-lined driveway on her way to pick up the mail as she’d been asked to do, when a cluster of just-bloomed orange tiger lilies beckoned her. She stood admiring them so long that she forgot to do the errand and went back empty-handed.”

This writing metaphor came to me because, at their convention, Messrs. Romney, Ryan, and other Republicans told us, in a mountain of phony verbiage, what caring concerned people they are, while the  Democrats showed their care and concern via a long line of speakers whose lives have been improved by President Obama’s policies. Who knew?

Lily Ledbetter told of the injustice that was never made right for her, but won’t be inflicted on our daughters and granddaughters because President Obama signed her namesake, The Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, as his first piece of legislation. Ledbetter was one in the parade of strong, righteous women who addressed the convention. There was Nancy Keenan, president of the National Abortion Rights Action League-Pro-Choice America (NARAL); Sandra Fluke, whom Rush Limbaugh called a slut for demanding insurance-covered contraception; and Stacey Lihn, whose baby daughter needed three heart surgeries within the first few years of her life, the cost of which would have maxed out her insured care, until Obama’s health bill made such caps illegal. Said Lihn:

“Like so many moms with sick children, I shed tears and I could breathe easier knowing we have that net below us to catch us if we fall… Zoe’s third open-heart surgery will happen either next year or the year after. If Mitt Romneybecomes president and Obamacare is repealed, there’s a good chance she’ll hit her lifetime cap.”

Stacey Lihn, husband Caleb, and Zoe
Google

There was also a visitation from Sister Simone, a Catholic nun who called Republicanism “Politics masquerading as values.”  This I take exception to: organized religion doesn’t have the exclusive franchise on values. Politics are about who has power and who does not; who has money and who does not; who will eat and who will not. If that’s not defining values, I don’t know what is.

The issues of contraception and birth control were front and center, more than they’ve ever been before, a hard-hitting response to the crap Republicans have been throwing around since the primaries. I give the Dems a lot of credit; in fact, I’m ecstatic  that they seem to have grown a pair. (You know what I’m saying…didn’t you just love Clinton’s similar allusion to “brass?” )

One thing that bothers me, though, about the contraception/abortion debate is the absence of any comparison to policy on Viagra and similar drugs. They’re covered by insurance to “treat” “erectile dysfunction” (gimme a break!) without a single iota of controversial discussion.  You don’t hear men being grilled about their “ED”, they’re simply believed when they say they have it. Men aren’t treated like children who can’t make their own decisions. Nobody even dares to point out that fewer erections are a normal part of aging. Nobody accuses men of wanting others to pay for their pleasure. I’ve heard absolutely zero controversy about these drugs that’ve been flagrantly misused for recreational sex since Day One of their appearance in pharmacies. I even knew a guy who stocked up on them just to sell them at a profit, and I’m sure he wasn’t the only one. I’m not saying I’m against Viagra use; but it does make me furious how different men’s and women’s sexuality gets treated. It’s the double standard for geezers!  I know…this should probably be a separate blog. I just had to say something…okay, moving right along:

The Party With Heart

The ultimate tear jerk material, or so I thought, came on Tuesday night with a video tribute to Senator Ted Kennedy. Naturally, there was not a dry eye in the house—or, I’ll bet, in the homes of people like me who watched those gut-wrenching memories and remembered a time when we had a more functional government.

At one point the Kennedy footage evoked simultaneous tears and laughter, in a segment of the debate between Teddy and Mitt Romney in their opposing campaigns for Senate. Kennedy: “I’m pro-choice, he’s multiple choice.” He ended a recitation of Romney’s ever-spinning opinion changes with “If we give him two more weeks he may vote for me!”

Google Image

Did I say “ultimate” tear jerk material? Sorry, Teddy, I mean no disrespect to your memory, but Bill Clinton topped you this time, on Wednesday. I can hardly begin to convey the genuine emotions, sharp intelligence and wit, exquisite logic, and the pure inspiration coming from Bill Clinton. Going through the Republican charges against Obama, Clinton spelled out a rebuttal to each, piece by piece. He laid out what they’d said, then insisted we all “Look at what’s really happening,” and he told the truth concerning the budget, the deficit, education, health care, just about every issue that matters. He predicted what a Romney administration would mean to different groups of people, including children with disabilities like autism and Downs Syndrome, and he ended with a firm, utterly believable insistence that “We can’t let it happen!” He brought the audience to their feet, tugging on their hearts until he managed to rekindle the spirit of hope. Bill Clinton has been called The Comeback Kid. He’s the kid who’s got the brass to say “America always comes back,” in a way that makes you believe it’s possible.

At the end of Clinton’s speech Barack Obama came onto the stage and they embraced, a visual linkage of one administration to the other. Clinton’s old rallying song, “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow” played, then switched to Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down,” the  perfect song for Obama and his struggle against the obstructionist Republicans. Obama’s a great speaker, but I’m not sure he’ll top Clinton with his acceptance speech tonight. I’ll tell you what, though: Democrats and Independents, and maybe even a few Republicans, will be rooting for him.

Clinton, Obama embrace
Google

A few media blurbs on Clinton’s speech:

“Bill Clinton came in and beat up the other side.”–Christopher Hayes

“Extraordinary.”–Andrea Mitchell. 

“As a Democrat it doesn’t get any better than this.”—Ed Schultz

Part III: Media Coverage (Coming Soon)

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Posted in abortion rights, campaign, Civil rights, Clinton, Congress, Democrats, Disability, Elections, Health care, humor, injustice, kids, Obama, people with disabilities, Politics, President Obama, Presidential election, TV, women and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Perspectives On Abortion

Posted on August 6, 2012 by marsheiner

I just posted the following comment to NPR’s Perspective Page in response to one they aired this morning:

There was no doubt in my mind that I would have an abortion when I got pregnant by a man who told me he’d had a vasectomy. Planned Parenthood, that wonderful organization, said they’d heard the story before.

I was living in New York at the time, working as a legal secretary, trying to recover from the past decade, during which I had gotten married and pregnant at 19; gave birth to a son with hydrocephalus (a disorder of the central nervous system requiring several surgeries); had a baby girl two years later, got divorced, and, after two years as a single mother, let them go live with their father and his new wife while I figured things out. It was 1974 and abortion had only recently been legalized.

I am now 66. My children are grown; my daughter has two of her own. My son lives independently, despite ongoing physical and mental problems, a few miles from me. From this vantage point, my third pregnancy and subsequent abortion are minor blips in a difficult, complicated life. I rarely even think about it, except when women like Ms. Gresset tell their painful experience and extend it to everyone else by concluding nobody should have an abortion. There are as many experiences of abortion as there are women who have them. In my case, at the moment it was performed I did have intense feelings—but they lasted only for those few moments. I felt like life—not a baby, but the life force, life energy—was being sucked out of my body, which it literally was, and I cried. My first thought, however, was not of regret, but of determination. I said to myself, “This is never going to happen to me again.” And it hasn’t.

What if I’d had that baby? I would have had to care for him/her by myself. My two children, who’d already suffered through more difficulties than some people endure in a lifetime, would have felt confused and rejected that they were not living with me, yet I had another child. It would’ve taken me ten times longer to feel confident and competent enough to take them back, as I did after four years. If I’d had that baby, I have no doubt he or she would have a lot of problems as an adult.

Given the controversy surrounding this issue, I think it’s irresponsible to air an anti-abortion statement—which Ms. Gresset’s is—without giving equal time to the other side. Ms. Gresset doesn’t just tell her own experience, she goes on to proclaim that everyone should learn from it and never have an abortion. Wouldn’t it be absurd if I told everyone they should have abortions based on my story? It is just as wrong for Ms. Gresset to do it. I’m not even going to venture into that territory, but just say that I’m enormously glad I had the freedom to choose not to have a child when having one would have been, not “inconvenient,” but devastating.

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Over Our Dead Bodies

Posted on January 15, 2012 by marsheiner

Has there ever been a more blatant display of misogyny than Gingrich, Romney, and Santorum falling all over themselves to prove who’s the most anti-abortion? The war for the Republican Presidential nomination is being waged over the bodies of women.

They’re acting like a bunch of fat hairy gorillas, pounding their chests a la King Kong on top of the Empire State
Building, the difference being that Kong was a sympathetic character. And these guys aren’t fighting for their lives, but for their sperm. Santorum doesn’t even want a condom playing catcher with his stuff — he thinks every ejaculation deserves a name. If ever I itched to overthrow the patriarchy, it’s now.

I’m disappointed in Obama, but he’ll get my vote. Hell, I might even make a few phone calls on his behalf. These Republicreatures scare the shit outta me. Romney is probably the least scary just because he’s malleable – but he needs to be surrounded by sane thinkers, and there aren’t that many sane thinkers left in the country.

I can see how easy it must be to adopt an absolute position on something, anything really, and run with it. It’s so much easier than thinking. And if you happen to trample over a few million women in the process, so be it. They’re only women, after all. So long as the sperm’s okay nothing else matters.

Well, that’s not entirely true: apparently it also matters what kind of a capitalist boss you are. This week they fought over who’s the meanest, with Romney leading the pack for firing people from Bain Capital, his corporation. Soon they’ll run through that thrash, though, and turn their attention back to abortion – and, if Santorum has his way, contraception as well. They’re too obsessed with controlling women to leave the subject for very long. Which raises the question: will Obama be forced to debate abortion? Contraception!? And if so, will he come through for us? Or will he cave, as he has on so many other issues, to prove he’s as manly as any self-respecting Republican fetus lover? Stay tuned.

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Abortion Restriction = Invasion of Privacy

Posted on March 16, 2011 by marsheiner
Woman at the first month of pregnancy.

Image via Wikipedia

Several states are considering restrictions on abortion at this time, and several others already have them. These typically involve an enforced 72-hour “waiting period,” which strikes me as ironic, considering that the later the procedure the more hysterical the anti-abortionists become. It seems like their strategy is to make her wait, throwing obstacles in her way,  hoping to stall her until it’s too late for a simple procedure.

And what is the woman supposed to be doing during those 72 hours? First she must have an ultrasound, during which the technician describes in minute detail every tiny aspect of the creature swimming in her uterus – every aspect, that is, they can find. It may take hours to pick up a heartbeat, but by god, they’ll find one or die doing it!

To fill in the rest of the waiting period she must undergo “counseling.” The “method” of counseling used by anti-abortionists is to bombard the pregnant woman with “information” about her “unborn child.” This strikes me as akin to torture, or, at the very least, brainwashing. I wonder how many women under these circumstances succumb, and alter their lives forever by giving birth?

I had an abortion when I was 27. I’d gotten pregnant by a man who told me he’d had a vasectomy. (I know, I know – how could I have been so naive? But the doctor at Planned Parenthood, that brave much-needed organization that’s now under vicious fire from anti-abortionists, told me they’d heard that story before.) It was a time of fast and furious romantic adventure, at least in my life, and the guy was a friend of my boss, a Colorado cowboy who breezed through New York buying and selling Native American jewelry. He courted me in my boss’s penthouse suite overlooking the Hudson River.

At the time I had two children, aged six and eight, living with their father on Long Island. They were there because after my divorce I’d become overwhelmed by single motherhood, and, just as important, I really wanted those adventures, having had children far too young to get that need out of my system. One secret about divorce is that when Daddy takes the kids for those long weekends, Mommy gets a taste of freedom, perhaps for the first time in her life – and that taste whets her appetite for more. So there I was, living where I’d always wanted to, in New York City; not as the Greenwich Village artist I’d fantasized, maybe, but as a secretary. (Fantasy seldom takes into account economic necessity.) It was good enough. I was having my adventures, and not just the sexual kind.

The trouble was, I missed my kids. Every day I woke up physically aching. I didn’t like how their father was raising them, to put it mildly. They were growing more and more distant from me. Besides a genuine desire to be with them, I was weighed down by enormous guilt. I didn’t know how much of my suffering came from female conditioning and how much was real, and couldn’t begin to separate one from the other. Every day was a struggle to shove my feelings aside and live without depression and guilt riding my back. I started a Mothers-without-Custody support group, which met weekly for two years.  Four years after I’d left the kids I took them back.

How, under these circumstances, could I possibly have another child? What would it have done to my abandoned children?  To my guilty conscience? This baby didn’t even come with a few pennies from Daddy: how could I support a child when I was barely supporting myself? I absolutely positively did not want another child; and PS, my oldest had been born with a chronic medical condition that took a hundred times more mothering energy than the usual. I knew better than others all the things that can go wrong. Fortunately, abortion was legal and performed without drama.

But what if I’d had to wait 72 hours? If I’d been forced to look at a sonogram and listen to a lecture? If I’d been dragged through the thick sentimental anti-abortion muck? I know myself well, and I can tell you what would have happened: I would have borne that baby. Between my guilt over my kids  and the hormones of pregnancy running through my body, I bet I would have caved in. I would have staked my future, and my kids’ future, on a fleeting emotion.

Fortunately, I was not subjected to brainwashing, to an invasion of privacy, to what I want to call torture. To be totally honest, during the abortion I felt the life being sucked out of me, and I cried. There is sadness here, yes – but again, you don’t, or shouldn’t, base major life decisions on fleeting emotions. Even in my sorrow I did not regret my decision. I did promise myself inwardly,  This will never happen to me again. It never did.

I am grateful my abortion wasn’t prevented by law or brainwashing. It worries me that girls and women do not have the same freedom today. Even before the anti-abortionists get their nasty claws up close and personal  enough to strangle the fight out of them, most women have already been pumped full of dreck from our culture and its post-sixties backlash, where every birth is a triumph and every abortion a tragedy.

The tragedy is unwanted babies, unhappy women, and ruined lives.

*Note: Necklace above by Joan Max Reinmuth
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Will We Gain Health Care but Lose Abortion?

Posted on November 11, 2009 by marsheiner

Grrrr! My blood pressure is going sky high. To read the whole story, click on the first phrase below.

WASHINGTON – Catholic bishops have emerged as a formidable force in the health care overhaul fight, using their clout with millions of Catholics and working behind the scenes in Congress to get strong abortion restrictions into the House bill.

And now you can go do something about it, thanks to NARAL :

I’m pretty angry that the House passed an anti-choice measure that would essentially eliminate insurance coverage for abortion in the new system. Health reform is important, but no one should lose coverage in the new system.

I just signed a petition to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asking him to stand strong against a similar attack in the Senate. Will you add your name? The deadline is 12 noon (EST) on  Friday, November 13.

Stand up for women!

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