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December 07, 2005

Just because abortion is legal

Do you know where a lot of domestic porn is made? In Chatsworth, California. Porn is legal and the making of it generates revenue for the San Fernando Valley town.

However, it's not the kind of thing one would be proudly highlighting on the "Welcome to our city" website.

So I'm just a little disturbed at the cheerleading tone taken by Jill at Feministe with her post on New York City being the Abortion Capital of America.

Abortion, like porn, is legal. Adult women have the right to obtain one with little restriction practically right up to birth, certainly up to 24 weeks' gestation.

But, excuse me; this is something to be proud of?

Abortion under almost all circumstance is tragic. It represents a reaction to failure - a failure of planning or a failure of conception. We certainly can feel sympathetic, empathetic, and compassionate towards the woman who chooses abortion, but it is wholly inappropriate to feel congratulatory.

A: After my boyfriend left, I found out I was pregnant. I had an abortion yesterday.

B: Woohoo! Way to go, sister! Best thing, evah! I need to buy you a t-shirt.

Somehow, I just don't think tour agencies are going to jump at organizing a vacation in the Big Apple featuring a 5 day/4 night stay in a four-star hotel, tickets to a Broadway show, a carriage ride around Central Park and an abortion at a premiere hospital with a souvenir gown to mark the occasion.

The vast majority of abortions are done in the first trimester and not because of either the woman's health is in danger or the non-viability of the fetus. It is done because the woman finds the pregnancy inconvenient.

Some women choose to put their convenience second to the nascent human life they find themselves carrying. Many times those babies are adopted into loving homes.

No, it is not easy and can be very heart wrenching, but such a decision is truly something to be proud of.

Posted by Darleen at December 7, 2005 07:16 AM

Comments

Yes, yes yes! Thank you for stating the obvious :)

Posted by: Nicholas at December 7, 2005 02:14 PM

Wow, that was a dense post. The thing to be proud of is that New Yorkers have found it important to make abortion safe and available...and thus that people in other states come to New York because its the only place they can go. The pride is that your city is the place they can go for help, not that they need the help in the first place. But you knew that, and seem to have posted merely to be obnoxious.

Posted by: rabbit at December 8, 2005 11:19 AM

"My baby got aborted in NYC and all I got was this lousy T-shirt."

Sorry. Couldn't help myself.

Posted by: MrSpkr at December 8, 2005 03:39 PM

rabbit

Can you tell me where in the country that legal abortion is deliberately unsafe?

Certainly, abortion as a medical procedure should be not different than a appendectomy.

But leaving the pure medicine aside, we are not talking about an appendix, are we? The end result of an abortion is tragedy.

If New Yorkers were as dedicated to facilitating adoption, which is a POSITIVE outcome instead of tragedy, THAT would be something to be proud of.

Posted by: Darleen at December 8, 2005 05:55 PM