My Real Thoughts on Abortion

Because I couldn't leave a criminally long response to Burb N Bougie's YouTube post and decided to blog about it instead.

First, here is the video:

Hi Burb, forgive me this long-ass comment, but I felt I should provide some context.

Back in the 1980s I was an abortion rights activist, and I used to have to deal with a lot of pro-lifers on the other side of the picket line.

And, for a short time, I used to be a clinic escort. Back then, I had a lot of friends who worked for private abortion clinics, and Planned Parenthood. There wasn't a week or a month that would go by when their workplaces had credible bomb threats, etc., not to mention the presence of vociferous (and sometimes violent) protestors that appeared without fail to verbally harass and hassle women trying to get a legal medical procedure.

It was kind of mind blowing to see some women being on the protest side of the clinics, only a few weeks, month or a year later come to these same clinics for the abortion services they once protested. This happened a lot more often that this story (posted above) illustrates.

Later on in life, I found myself unintentionally childless, and had to deal with medical issues with my infertility. This was right around the time of the Dr. Kermit Gosnell case, where a doctor who was subject to a DEA investigation because Dr. Gosnell was running a “pill mill.” Much to their horror the DEA agents found that Dr. Gosnell was performing illegal late term abortions. They found fetal remanants in communal refrigerator, blood stained floors, filthy examination tables, among other horrible things. I was riveted by the case, and as a result of it, I had a complete change of heart about abortion as a right.

[I have a lot of thoughts about that case, but have decided to talk about that in other posts.]

While I didn't find myself picketing abortion clinics, I could now see and understand the other side's position. I even supported some prolife organizations that I believed were helping women make the choice to give birth. I met people who were sincere in their beliefs; they really did live according to them. There are a lot of prolife pregnancy centers and help for women who want to carry their babies to term. Unfortunately there is not enough of them to service the sheer number of women who need them. This story is a case in point, that abortion, indeed adequate health and prenatal care isn't available to all women who need it, regardless of their closely held moral beliefs.

But I didn't rejoice when Roe was overturned, because though my personal feelings about abortion had changed, I never for a moment stopped believing in choice.

The Roe decision, if anyone cares to read it like I have (kind of a requirement if you're a political activist), centered around the issue of privacy of a personal medical decision. It was very clear that SCOTUS felt back then that they should not be in the business of determining when life begins. And I knew, because I work in law, that we were going to have a lot of confusing state legislation come down the pike. Still, I didn't think it would get that bad, given that abortion is still technically legal.

So back here in AZ where I live the AZ Supreme Court attempted to resurrect a law that has been on the books since 1864, I felt that I could no longer stay out of the fight, and protested along side a lot of other older women who were (like me) old enough to remember when abortion was illegal. Actually, I was surprised to see that most of us who were protesting were older, not younger women. Since I decided to switch sides again, I felt I had to get caught up on what the current situation for reproductive rights is - I recommend reading Abortion, Everyday, Jessica Valenti's Substack, as a start if you are interested.

What I have since learned is that the "forced birthers" as you call them are linked to other (ahem) Nefarious Anti-abortion Zealous Indivduals and organizations that seek not only to deny women's access to appropriate healthcare, but the deny them civil, indeed their human rights. This is illustrated with just how heinous and draconian some of these laws really are.

And, as you have astutely observed, the other side is not content to make abortion illegal, this is about stripping what little rights women do have to nothing. Some of these zealots want to strip women of their right to vote. While that is not an explicit policy position of the so called Maga Republicans, it is clear by the selection of JD Vance as a vice president that they are no longer interested in the women's vote.

You even had a post about some Redpill guy running for office in Minnesota, who said that quite part out loud. God forbid, Mr. Royce if I take offense sir for being called “mouthy” and maybe that is a little thin skinned of me to think so, but isn’t that the equivalent of calling a black person “uppidity”? (Who wouldn’t take offense to that? Am I right?) Furthermore, politicians are technically our public servants so technically they are supposed to be concerned about ALL of their constituents.

It is this contingent of the Magots that really don't care what women think, how they vote or anything remotely in their collective interests. Candidly this goes way beyond JD Vance’s “cat lady” comments and his sentiment that the only suitable occupation for older women is to be an unpaid au pair girl to their grandchildren.

Like most older women, we never wanted our daughters and nieces and cousins to make the Hobbesian types of choices that they are forced to make now. It's excruitating and painful for me to see how far we have fallen from where we used to be as women, worldwide, and this only in a few short years.

Thankfully, and meanwhile here in Arizona, Governor Hobbes repealed the abortion ban law from 1864, and there were enough signatures to get a reproductive rights proposition on the ballot.

However, not only is the battle is far from won, but it is only getting started.

And here we are.