Remember, the Mothers Day Blogswarm for Maternal Death is this Sunday. We’ve gotten some coverage in places like BlogHer, TMV, and Healthy Concerns, and we expect a good turnout.
As some food for thought before the event itself, please consider some of these stories:
First stop is Kansas, where prosecutors are going on a fishing expedition through confidential patient records to see if — if — a crime has even been committed. More to the point, they are trying to harass a doctor out of doing a procedure that is regrettably sometimes necessary. Oh, and a judge has called them on it.
In Missouri, lawmakers want women to submit to extensive *ahem* informational counseling and questioning before allowing an abortion. The question of whether a woman psychologically unfit to have an abortion should really be raising a child is left to your imagination. Thanks to Bitch PhD for this tidbit. Who the heck are these women who are allegedly being “forced” to have abortions against their wills? Are we talking about minors whose parents have made a valid medical decision on the behalf of their child?
A law currently on the Governor’s desk in Oklahoma would force women to have an ultrasound before getting an abortion. I bet the patient has to pay for this procedure too, raising the cost substantially. No word on whether this requirement could or would be waived in a medical emergency.
Don’t forget South Dakota.
Some within the so-called Pro-Life community — and I will continue to say so-called until they denounce the internal faction that believes it is acceptable to enforce their opinions with violence, vandalism, and murder — even want to limit access to birth control, falsely claiming it can “cause” an abortion. This shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the term “pregnancy” and shows their true colors as not pro-babies, but anti-sex.
Here’s a summary of abortion laws around the world.
Wikipedia’s article on Abortion in the United States points out that 2.8% are due to risks to maternal health, and another 3.3% are due to risks to fetal health. Also, 59.3% of abortions are in the first 8 weeks of pregnancy.
And then there are our sisters in Africa. Rape is a weapon of war there and elsewhere.
Speaking of war, there are our sisters in uniform, one in three of whom will be raped by fellow soldiers while serving our country. Sometimes the *ahem* alleged rapist even allegedly murders their pregnant victim rather than let her testify.
And then we have teenage girls that are pregnant and deathly afraid of what will happen when their parents find out. Sometimes it turns out ok. Sometimes it does not. Seven out of ten are already being abused by their boyfriends. Of those, some of them were deliberately impregnated as a form of control. What a lovely way to bring new life into the world.
And I haven’t even mentioned what I will be writing about.
As much as I hate to agree with Hillary Clinton on anything, in an ideal world abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. You prevent abortions not by making it hard to get one, but by preventing the unwanted pregnancy in the first place.
In closing: Ezra on retirement; an interesting observation about Guantánamo Bay; Hillary is 404; follow-up on Kelo; and the finalists for Bruce Schneier’s annual movie plot threat contest.