REPRINT from The Goddess: Why Abortion Should Be Free
Why Abortion should be Free.
Have you ever been to an abortion clinic? Not the kind frequented by wealthy women with insurance - I mean the kind where poor women beg for an appointment and don't dare miss it. The kind where you wait in line some Saturday morning, and hopefully get in before the Christian fanatics show up to harass, intimidate or murder you. The kind where they do the procedure with only a local anesthetic.
Think about that one for a minute: only a local anesthetic. You see, poor women don't get the "luxury" of general anesthesia. The dignity and comfort- not to mention humanity- of sleep cost extra. A Poor woman has to stay awake. She feels the cold of the famous (or should I say infamous) stirrups in a room full of doctors and technicians. She endures seven needles plunged into her cervix. Men don't even have a body that comes close to causing that kind of pain. Some men will pierce their penis or scrotum for social or decorative reasons. True, you can't see the cervix, but as the owner of one, I can tell you, it's not a place you ever want to feel a needle. Men cannot begin to perceive what it's like, which is one of the main reasons they shouldn't be allowed to make decisions about abortion. To quote Rachel on FRIENDS : "No uterus, no opinion." Once the shots have been administered, and the "numbing" begins hard metal is used to pry open the cervix to allow access to the uterus. Penetration of the cervix is not equivalent to anal penetration, so don't dare make that comparison. Again, this is pain only women ever get to know. And I put quotation marks around "numbing" because it's not as if the woman doesn't feel all of this. She does. She feels the center of her being being spread wide and she feels the scraping of her uterus. The scraping of her uterus. Or the "vacuuming". Either way, it's not a way a human should be awake for on a Saturday morning.
When the procedure is done, the woman walks(!) into a room full of reclining chairs or chaise lounge type chairs with a bunch of other women. Some are crying. Some are sleeping or unconscious. Some are cramping and throwing up- or rather, heaving, because they haven't eaten. When she's feeling stronger, she might have a little orange juice or peanut butter and crackers. After a couple of hours, they send her home. Goddess help her if she hasn't got someone to care for her, or especially if she has children or others that she must care for. Even worse, if she lives alone and begins to hemorrhage in her sleep. You can't call 911 if you can't afford a phone.
The cruelest thing the anti-choice movement does is to call abortion the "easy way out". There is nothing easy about this process. Aside from the actual physical pain, we need to tell young women about all of the effects of pregnancy. Once a woman has been pregnant, even for only a few weeks, her body may never be the same. The same hormonal changes that cause depression, nausea, weight gain, etc. are active at the earliest stages, and sudden termination of a pregnancy can cause severe postpartum depression and/or psychosis. This is a life altering event. Some women never recover completely, physically or psychologically. Thankfully, the social stigma is gradually going away, but we have a long way to go before this process is guilt-free.
I wish for a world in which every child born is wanted. Bringing a child into an impoverished, abusive or loveless environment is unnecessary if we will all be conscious of our choices. Accidents do happen, though, under the best of circumstances. When they do, or when a woman is raped, or when the birth control just doesn't work, we can't point to a social system that provides all of the support needed for the mother or the child. We don't have an adequate safety net for families who can't afford another mouth to feed; another mind to educate; insurance, health care or childcare. Unwanted children are a burden on society. They are abused, abandoned, and mistreated in every way possible. In an ideal world, pregnancy would be a gift and we'd have adequate support available for those willing to raise the next generation, but it isn't and we don't. Until we do, I don't want women to die from illegal, back alley abortions; I don't want women to bleed to death from trying to do it alone or with another unqualified person. I don't want poor women enslaved by a power structure in which we have no say.
The idea that a bunch of rich old white men have any right to tell young women of any color what they can and cannot do with their bodies makes me ill. I am a sentient being. I am not chattle, I am not a slave, and I have the rights to my own body. It's my right to have sex or not; it's my right to host a fetus or not; it's my right to have all of the information I need to make my own choices. So abortion should be legal, and free. And for Goddess' sake, give the girl a general anesthesia. It's the only humane thing to do.
Have you ever been to an abortion clinic? Not the kind frequented by wealthy women with insurance - I mean the kind where poor women beg for an appointment and don't dare miss it. The kind where you wait in line some Saturday morning, and hopefully get in before the Christian fanatics show up to harass, intimidate or murder you. The kind where they do the procedure with only a local anesthetic.
Think about that one for a minute: only a local anesthetic. You see, poor women don't get the "luxury" of general anesthesia. The dignity and comfort- not to mention humanity- of sleep cost extra. A Poor woman has to stay awake. She feels the cold of the famous (or should I say infamous) stirrups in a room full of doctors and technicians. She endures seven needles plunged into her cervix. Men don't even have a body that comes close to causing that kind of pain. Some men will pierce their penis or scrotum for social or decorative reasons. True, you can't see the cervix, but as the owner of one, I can tell you, it's not a place you ever want to feel a needle. Men cannot begin to perceive what it's like, which is one of the main reasons they shouldn't be allowed to make decisions about abortion. To quote Rachel on FRIENDS : "No uterus, no opinion." Once the shots have been administered, and the "numbing" begins hard metal is used to pry open the cervix to allow access to the uterus. Penetration of the cervix is not equivalent to anal penetration, so don't dare make that comparison. Again, this is pain only women ever get to know. And I put quotation marks around "numbing" because it's not as if the woman doesn't feel all of this. She does. She feels the center of her being being spread wide and she feels the scraping of her uterus. The scraping of her uterus. Or the "vacuuming". Either way, it's not a way a human should be awake for on a Saturday morning.
When the procedure is done, the woman walks(!) into a room full of reclining chairs or chaise lounge type chairs with a bunch of other women. Some are crying. Some are sleeping or unconscious. Some are cramping and throwing up- or rather, heaving, because they haven't eaten. When she's feeling stronger, she might have a little orange juice or peanut butter and crackers. After a couple of hours, they send her home. Goddess help her if she hasn't got someone to care for her, or especially if she has children or others that she must care for. Even worse, if she lives alone and begins to hemorrhage in her sleep. You can't call 911 if you can't afford a phone.
The cruelest thing the anti-choice movement does is to call abortion the "easy way out". There is nothing easy about this process. Aside from the actual physical pain, we need to tell young women about all of the effects of pregnancy. Once a woman has been pregnant, even for only a few weeks, her body may never be the same. The same hormonal changes that cause depression, nausea, weight gain, etc. are active at the earliest stages, and sudden termination of a pregnancy can cause severe postpartum depression and/or psychosis. This is a life altering event. Some women never recover completely, physically or psychologically. Thankfully, the social stigma is gradually going away, but we have a long way to go before this process is guilt-free.
I wish for a world in which every child born is wanted. Bringing a child into an impoverished, abusive or loveless environment is unnecessary if we will all be conscious of our choices. Accidents do happen, though, under the best of circumstances. When they do, or when a woman is raped, or when the birth control just doesn't work, we can't point to a social system that provides all of the support needed for the mother or the child. We don't have an adequate safety net for families who can't afford another mouth to feed; another mind to educate; insurance, health care or childcare. Unwanted children are a burden on society. They are abused, abandoned, and mistreated in every way possible. In an ideal world, pregnancy would be a gift and we'd have adequate support available for those willing to raise the next generation, but it isn't and we don't. Until we do, I don't want women to die from illegal, back alley abortions; I don't want women to bleed to death from trying to do it alone or with another unqualified person. I don't want poor women enslaved by a power structure in which we have no say.
The idea that a bunch of rich old white men have any right to tell young women of any color what they can and cannot do with their bodies makes me ill. I am a sentient being. I am not chattle, I am not a slave, and I have the rights to my own body. It's my right to have sex or not; it's my right to host a fetus or not; it's my right to have all of the information I need to make my own choices. So abortion should be legal, and free. And for Goddess' sake, give the girl a general anesthesia. It's the only humane thing to do.
7 Comments:
This post really pisses me off!!! It sounds much more like some anti-abortion propoganda then an attempt at promoting women's access to safe abortions. The author of this post is clearly misinformed about what it is actually like to experience an abortion and spreading this kind of horrific misinformation does a real disservice to any woman reading this who is contemplating abortion. What she has described is a fairly typical abortion -- some protester, local anesthetic, awake through the procedure, then walk - yes walk!!! -- out the door. Abortions are typically not painful. For many, many women, there is no longterm pyschological problem. In fact, there can be a real sense of relief and exhiliration following an abortion! Geez, I could go on and point out all of the ridiculous language used to describe the procedure:
"She endures seven needles plunged into her cervix" -- ???
"pry open the cervix" -- ???
Here the bottom line (from my own experience and those of my friends): The protesters are generally harmless. The procedure itself is uncomfortable - sort of a cross between a root canal and pap smear. The staff is generally supportive and friendly and will provide you all of the information you need regarding risks and complications after the procedure. I hope the author will do some additional research on this subject so that she can promote this cause in an honest and productive manner.
Sorry you feel that way. The point was that there is no such thing as an "easy" way out of an unwanted pregnancy. That's a first hand account, and I won't change it - it was what it was. There's no exaggeration and there are no inaccuracies in it. My point is that we need to be kinder to poor women who experience unwanted pregnancy. We need to make sure they have access to family planning, and to decent conditions. I think it should be a free service, and done in a more hospitable environment.
I'm glad you and your girlfriends had such an easy time. There was nothing easy in my experience. Consider yourself lucky, and keep in mind that you might have had a better experience because you have better health care or more money. This is the experience of someone who could only come up with the hundred dollar minimum at the time.
I think that it does a disservice to the cause to let the Right get away with painting abortion as an easy way out. It isn't. It is easier and safer than having a child, to be sure, but we need to be honest about the risks.
One more thing- I only included elements that were true for the all of the women in the room. There were additional complications in my case that would scare the shit out of people, but I didn't include them because it would scare people who probably wouldn't have the same experience.
I guess I didn't mean to accuse you of misrepresentation - I was, as I said, I bit pissed :) - but maybe just not representing a whole picture.
To some of your points: For some people, abortion is an easy way out. Again, I think you have to be careful about painting a picture of people's experiences with abortion with such a broad brush. It was an easy way out for me (and, again, the many people I know who have had abortions). I thank god that I didn't have to resort to back alley and a coat hanger -- that's what makes me such a fervent supporter of safe and legal access abortion - because I did get to choose the easy way out. I wonder, is it wrong to admit that? Is it ok that I fucked up, got pregnant, and was able to choose to terminate that pregnancy, and didn't really run into much hassle with the process?
Morgaine, I totally agree with where you are coming from. I think our society should make abortion accessible, safe and cheap for all women, especially those without financial resources. I'm sorry you experience wasn't as easy as mine, but I also hope that poor/uninsured women are not discouraged from seeking abortions based on the experiences represented in your post. I'm not convinced that your approach is the best way to get this point across. Abortions are generally very safe with relatively few complications.
From abortionaccess.org: "Prior to Roe v. Wade, as many as 5,000 American women died annually as a direct result of unsafe abortions. Today, abortion is one of the most commonly performed clinical procedures in the United States, and the current death rate from abortion at all stages of gestations is 0.6 per 100,000 procedures. This is 11 times safer than childbirth and nearly twice as safe as a penicillin injection."
Oh, one more thing: This image of abortion as a horrific and painful experience is a well-known tactic of anti-abortionists. Years ago, I protested at a church halloween house of horrors (I think it was called hellhouse) where one the scenes was of a a bloodied women, crying in pain, getting an abortion. Really evil and inaccurate stuff to send your kids to...
I understand where you are coming from, but I'm guessing you've never been really poor. There's a big difference in the kind of support system a middle class person has available, from utilities to health insurance, better diet and more options, than those available to someone who has possibly NONE of those things. I'm trying to get people to understand that abortion is a choice, but it's not necessarily easy. A little empathy would go a long way.
I don't think we do anyone any good by skimming over the facts. I think it's important for young women to know that there are repercussions to having been pregnant, even for a few weeks, because I want them to be careful. I know grown women who aren't using protection with men they barely know. It's stupid and it could be deadly.
Anyway, it's not a tactic. It's the truth, and that's where we need to start.
I know what you mean, Morgaine. Here's the deal...abortions should never be looked at as simple. I've had 4 of them. I should know. They were all different experiences but they will always be significant (if unpleasant) memories.
What Morgaine described with the local anesthetic was very much my own experience. Not 7 needles, mind you, one was enough. Not to mention the speculum. It was painful. No offense, Solange, but I felt you missed Morgaine's point.
She believes, like myself, that women of a lower socioeconomic status are often denied quality care when it comes to abortion. She never said anything remotely anti-abortion or anti-choice. Your abortion wasn't as painful, as you've stated. Most women, however, feel differently about it b/c they've had different experiences.
I notice that you skipped over what she said about women having the right to choose, and men's input not being worth much as it pertains to this issue. I'm with this 110%, b/c men will NEVER know what abortion is like. We as women will never know what prostate disease is like, therefore we have no room to comment. It bothers me when people say they don't believe in abortion.
We all have a belief system. However, I'm a believer in the sense that a person has to have personal or firsthand experience with an issue before they can make judgements. Like, how can you not believe in OR believe in something you've never experienced? Men will never know the emotions or physical stuff that abortion often entails, neither will women who have never had an abortion. I've been told that I'm "evil" b/c I've had abortions. By people who feel it is their duty to pass judgement on a woman who decides what happens to her body.
I had both general and local anesthetic and, IMO, general anesthetic is much kinder. People say the worst about it but I prefer twilight sleep to painful dilation and even more painful needles in my cervix. That's what they do with local so she was being honest there. It is painful and you stay awake the entire time. Some people don't mind it, but it was one of the worst experiences I've ever had. The doctor was a prick, too...no sense of how to deal with patients.
Most young women from working-class backgrounds don't have the wherewithal to lie down in comfy rooms in pristine facilities run by licensed medical staff while a soothing nurse holds their hand and the doctor sends them off to sleep. The clinic I went to offered general anesthetic for years without a license. Nothing happened, until the state required that they offer local instead. Looking around this clinic, all you'll see are women of color, most of whom are young. I'm sure if insurance covered abortions or if they had the option of better care, it would be different.
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