As in a tasty mix of talk

Friday, October 17, 2008

Quote Us: "No Wire Hangers!"

When John McCain raised his hands to make that derisive debate reference to women’s health with “quote” fingers, I couldn’t help thinking of the ugly symbol of pre-legal abortion rights, the coat hanger hook.

Like Cindy McCain, I felt a chill run up my spine. But it was a real chill, not fake rally rhetoric… because the threat to women’s health posed by criminalizing abortion is as horrific as it gets.

In John McCain’s youth, when his well-connected family was coercing University boards to accept him in spite of his abysmal grades, and hush-hushing campus misdeeds that would have resulted in expulsion for anyone else (Rolling Stone, October, 2008 issue), when he was drinking and carousing and womanizing (same issue), he probably didn’t give a thought to back-alley abortions. As a man, abortion wasn’t his problem. And anyone who got one was probably a tramp or a hooker, not good, decent girls like the debutantes he met at parties.

True, when safe, legal abortions were unavailable, the daughters of the rich still had access to medical abortions: Daddy would place a call to a friend with a respectable medical practice, an appointment would be made, and the following week Buffy or Muffy or Cindy would have a nice, flat tummy, so their futures were protected and their virtues remained intact.

How nice for them.

But, in the real world, women who were poor, afraid, or otherwise unable to bear the burden on their lives posed by an unwanted pregnancy could, and did, seek illegal abortions. Maybe a few of them were “hookers.” (McCain has a nice gesture he can use to emphasize that.) But most were young, or sick, or abandoned by their boyfriends, or desperate for a myriad of personal reasons. And when they went to those back alley addresses for their midnight appointments, many of them never returned.

They died of infections from unsterilized instruments… like coat hangers.

They bled to death from botched procedures.

They were raped or otherwise abused by their illegal, unlicensed, unqualified abortionists.

But one thing the women of this era did NOT do was stop seeking abortions, legal or not, when circumstance drove them to the conclusion that it was a personal necessity.

That’s why, John Mcain, outside the grounds of the country club and the Ritz Carlton, safe, legal abortion is a woman’s health issue for millions of Americans. Women may or may not exercise this choice… but we are sisters, daughters, mothers and friends. We are people who love and are loved in return. We are individuals entitled to the rights of privacy and safety. And some of us are grandmothers, old enough to remember the reproductive straightjackets imposed on women who were not privileged, or lacked the resources, to fly to civilized European countries for a legal abortion when it was not available in our own country.

The truth is, the rich have always had access to medical abortions when they wanted them, abortions they could buy and then forget. And with the short memories of the privileged, they have also vilified those who sought the same remedies by whatever back-alley means were available.

So, listen up, John McCain: Compassion… common sense… fairness… choice for those who wish to exercise it… but "no wire hangers!"

6 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Forget the poor, afraid, or otherwise unable to bear the burden...screw em I say. Let's all vote "strategically" to show our disdain for both major candidates and let's help McCain get into office and over turn Roe v. Wade. That'll teach those folks at Acorn and Obama to never, ever do anything wrong again. Viva the 3rd party!

7:47 AM

 
Blogger Laurie Allee said...

This is such a complex election. Voting strategically means that the corrupt two-party system has a chance of being rescued from the pit of corporate ownership and corruption and that eventually more feminist issues will be addressed. Neither party is particularly pro-woman. The last candidate who talked about the ERA was Jesse Jackson. If you want a real feminist candidate, vote for McKinney or Nader. They are actually talking about the issues of equality that the Democrats don't give a crap about. It's all abortion, all the time with the Dems -- with ROE ROE ROE chanted at any woman who dares question the Dem Party.

Here's what a lot of women like me are tired of: sexists who offer us nothing except disdain and an abortion. On a political level, this Roe overturn issue is a hammer to keep women in line with the Democratic Party, even though that party has been woefully inept at addressing women's issues. I am uncomfortable with that. THe party will never truly address the needs of women as long as it can threaten reproductive rights to get us scared little girls to fall in line.

Yes, there is a risk that McCain could pick justices who would overturn this law, given the chance and that scares the shit out of me. But no president has the ability to magically overturn Roe v. Wade just because he disagrees with the law. There is the confirmation process by Congress -- another reason to make sure to vote straight Dem down ticket. (FYI, this is Dean's real strategy: not to get Obama elected president, but to use him to get a filibuster proof Dem Congress. That's also strategic.) Then there is the decision that this will be made an issue by justices who would face death threats and riots if they were the instigators of overturning it. I personally do not believe the law will be overturned bacause it is a golden goose for both parties to rally their bases. But if on the awful possibility it WAS overturned ...there are still the states laws regarding abortion. I'd hate to see it come to that, but I also hate the idea of corrupt thugs destroying our democracy. We're so certain in the US that our democracy is somehow indestructible. Well, talk to anyone in Prague about how shocking it was to see Russian tanks roll in. Talk to the families of some of the disappeared in South America about how quickly government status quo can change. Why does everyone seem to think that our government is not succeptible to being overthrown internally? Didn't we learn ANYTHING from the neocons?

So, while I feel confident that my strategic vote will not affect the abortion issue, I would have a different opinion if I lived elsewhere. I would certainly vote for Obama if I lived in any swing state, or even in any blue state that was polling too close to 50/50. But since I don't, my vote here in Cali sends an important signal on issues every bit as important as the right to choose. It also allows me to keep my own personal ethics and principles. I can not vote for someone I believe to be corrupt, who has abandoned true liberal causes on almost every issue -- except getting a legal abortion.

Reagan was going to overturn Roe. Then Bush 1. Then W. I honestly don't think any Republican would dare try because there would be bedlam in the streets and the ONLY people who would benefit or be happy would be the fringe Right who the moderate Republicans need to rally (with issues like this) in each election. Do you think the center Right could ever get a majority if it didn't have this wedge issue anymore? Now, I wouldn't be having this discussion if the republican candidate were Mike Huckabee -- who absolutely would make it a personal cause to overturn Roe. Blue state or not, I'd vote for a rotting tin can with the word Democrat next to it if that was the other major choice.

These are convoluted, complex times -- and Yak's blog offers a spot to work out one's reasoning. As the mother of a daughter, I can't bear the thought of her not being federally guaranteed reproductive rights. But I also want her represented by elected officials who won't turn this country into a Banana Republic and who actually give a shit about women and women's issues OTHER than abortion.

Acorn and voter fraud IS a big deal. And you know you'd be hysterical, screaming how corrupt the Rethugs are if this were their scandal. You KNOW it. I'm horrified by the moral double-standard. It would be different if we said, yeah, the Republicans are corrupt and we're going to beat them at their game. Instead, we still wax outraged at every bad deed on the right -- and then sign and obfuscate, make excuses and rationalize on our own. So let's at least use our ethics across the board and not condemn the "immorality" of the Right while dismissing the same behavior on our side as somehow unimportant or justified.

That's my two cents, anyway. But I'm just one person.

Great piece today, Yak. You are such a brilliant, passionate writer.

11:09 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks yakpate, wonderful post. I still can't believe there are any women out there that would not be offended by such a remark and condescending put-down...then for McCain to say "Pro-Abortion" people...as Obama said, "Nobody is "pro-Abortion". It is the law of the land, to protect women's freedoms and most importantly their "health".
I remember the minute Bush got into office I saw small articles, in small newspapers reporting how Bush immediately begin to peck away at these rights...like closing down some clinics that performed these procedures because the ceilings were too low!!???
So I believe we do have to protect this law by making sure we keep the Supreme Court Justices as evenly spread as possible or at least tipped in our favor for the edge to stay on the Women's side.

11:49 AM

 
Blogger Laurie Allee said...

NIk, you're so right about that pro-abortion line! And you know what made me the most angry about McCain -- the way he said "Health" of the mother. Oy vay the guy just doesn't get it.

I also had a problem with Obama saying "sacredness of sexuality" in the debate. He said that at the religious conference thing that he and Hillary went to during the primaries. I don't want my progressive rep talking like that. Makes me wonder what his positions really are. (I thought he wouldn't crumble on FISA, but he did. So I'm paranoid.)

Sigh. I really miss Hillary.

12:35 PM

 
Blogger Laurie Allee said...

Here's something I've been wondering about how everyone feels -- why is this basic reproductive right centered around a law that is about the right to privacy? It seems to me that we need another, more concrete law that is about a woman's RIGHT TO HER OWN BODY. Not have it wrapped up in right to privacy. I think that's why the Right actually thinks they CAN overturn it, because it's so flimsy to begin with. What do you guys think?

12:38 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Supreme Court may never move to overturn Roe V. Wade. However, many, many laws and rules have been enacted to limit the reproductive rights of women since 1973. Poor women can't get abortions if they need Medicaid to pay for it. Young women can't get abortions if they can't tell a parent or speak to a judge to get "permission". Rural women cannot get abortions if they can't travel hours across state or to the next state to a clinic that does abortions. Protestors have shutdown many clinics and forced doctors to stop performing abortions by harassing their families and homes. Medical schools have stopped teaching the procedure to students. The fanatics have spread visciously false information about the "partial birth abortion" when there is no such procedure and under Roe v. Wade no fetus in the third trimester can be aborted unless there is severe deformity that will cause death to the fetus and possibly woman. And biology and technology still limit the number to few if any viable fetuses born during the second trimester. There are so many ways the fanatics have limited the right to choose, which is why we have to be ever vigilant in exposing candidates from President down to city council who would use their position to restrict women's rights to life, liberty, and privacy. The ERA is still very much necessary, a constitutional amendment to include women as full citizens in this democratic republic.

9:36 AM

 

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