Thursday, June 18, 2009

A fetus by any other name

is still an unwanted baby.

William Saletan, Supreme conserva-douche at Slate, thinks that us little wimmins would have to think twice about abortion if we stopped calling it a fetus and started calling it a baby. Oh and we should all look at the ultra sound so we understand exactly how grave abortion is.

But here's something to blow Mr. Saletan's tiny brain.

I am a woman. I've had several abortions. I saw the ultrasounds. I still choose not to have a baby. I choose to abort a baby.

And the child that I did choose to have, despite my obviously homicidal tendencies as stated above, is now 14 and healthy and has never been at risk of infanticide.

Now how other women choose to deal with unwanted pregnancies is up to them. It's a difficult decision to begin with, and I don't think forcing women clockwork orange style to view ultrasounds or playing semantics police over terminology is they way to go. if you need to call it a fetus, call it a fetus. If you don't want to see the ultrasound, you shouldn't have to see it. Whatever you have to do to get through it is for you to choose. Not me, and certainly not some dude who will never know the joy of an invasive medical procedure with you legs akimbo in stirrups on a cold table.

The right to choose is not about whether a baby/fetus is a living being or not a living being. It's about whether a woman wants or can afford to play a life support machine to another person. At some point, 40% of women in this country can't afford to be a life support machine and choose to abort a baby to save their own lives from physical, emotional or financial doom. (In that case- abortion is closer to self defense than murder, but I am pretty sure a douche like Saletan thinks women aren't capable of defending themselves.)

So call it what you will, but I don't think treating women like infants who can't figure out right from wrong is doing a damn thing to prevent more abortions from happening.

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