HSTFridaysVille
I like to think that, if I were a young woman, and I had to make the decision for myself, that I would use the 'quickening' as my own personal guidepost.
Which would be around 16 weeks, give or take.
But I am neither young nor a woman so, really, my personal feelings on the matter are moot (which is the real point, right?).
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Now.
Setting aside that which really matters, just for a moment...
At first glance my own personal thoughts on the matter should make it possible for me to be comfortable with the latest gambit of the anti-choice crowd, which is that 20 weeks should be the maximum because this may (or, more likely, may not) be the time that the fetus perceives pain.
But, truth be told, even I am not comfortable with this so called 'incremental' change, down from the 24 weeks that is the time of 'viability' as defined by Roe v. Wade.
Why?
Because I agree with Nora Caplan-Bricker in The New Republic, that these people will not stop until, once again, we are back to a place where a woman's choices about her own body do not factor into the decision-making process whatsoever.
Right from from the get-go, including the first trimester.
In other words, back to a time when stuff like the following happened routinely, for no good reason at all:
"And so much for all that. I have to go upstairs and call the hospital. Sandy is in there again with another miscarriage - a real nightmare version, this time, since it puts me head on with the abortion laws. She's only two months pregnant, but the pain is so bad she can't stand up....and the pigs say they can't do a therapeutic abortion. All they do is keep her drugged up on codeine and wait for God to work 'His Will'. The D&C operation is as simple as pulling a tooth, but they won't do it.....and this is Colorado, which recently passed a "liberalized" abortion law. Man, I'm coming to really hate that word 'liberal'"
Hunter S. Thompson,Letter to Oscar Z. Acosta (his 'Samoan' Attorney), March 1970
Reprinted in: The Gonzo Letters Vol II, Simon and Schuster, 2000, pp 286-7
Which is precisely why 'liberals' have to make a stand.
Right here.
And right now.
OK?
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Got onto this today because of solid page A1 piece by Erik Eckholm in the NYTimes...
Together with Cathy, I've written about this zealotry 'creep' by stealth before in a slightly different (but not really) context before...
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2 comments:
One way to get to 1% is to start by getting rid of 50%. The war on women is relentless and never ending.
Paul Krugman: Sex, Money and Gravitas.
Thanks Anon.
Another excellent column from Dr. Krugman.
You know, I read somewhere recently, but can't remember where exactly (therefore, may be apochryphal), that if PK's NYT editors had known that he would actually write about more than just 'standard' economics that they never would have given him his column.
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