Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Not enough RAM

So many sad news stories this week, I'm not sure I can read them. I am positive I simply do not have the ability to mentally process them all. As Bruno Gianelli on The West Wing once said, "My brain just doesn't have enough RAM to do it all. Some things just have to fall away."

But this really hurts; it really has taken my breath away.

Today is my son's seventh birthday. I usually refer to him as the little guy, but he's big enough to have a name on the blog now, so we'll call him Mac, okay? Mac is sweet and kind and sensitive. He's never hurt a soul. Mac is going to change the world someday, or at least make it a better place for a few of us.

So WTF is SCOTUS to imply he should never have been born? I get that they want me dead...I'm a real live feminist, and we all know they hate actual women, so as repugnant as it is, I can understand why they decreed that I deserve to die. I mean c'mon---Western modern society says domestic violence isn't a crime, and stalking is no big deal, and then they all stand around surprised when there are consequences. *eyeroll*

So back to me and Mac. If you look on my sidebar at pregnancy#2, you will see the story before Mac was born. Or you could just read this post and know why it was so medically necessary that I end that pregnancy, save my life, and keep my uterus. Besides the whole fond-of-womb-thing, I could not have given birth to Mac without that precious organ.

In my case I was induced, but I had the luxury of time, I wasn't dying from preeclampsia, or urgently bleeding to death, AKA the nightmare for every woman who has ever faced the possibility of dying in childbirth. (I could have bled to death imminently, but I didn't wait to find out.) I know I was blessed to have great Doctors and live in a country that respects my right to make adult informed choices.

But still, the precedent is terrible. If you look at the oral arguments the court heard, you will note that an important reason the procedure is practiced is so that women can see their babies afterwards in one piece, and take pictures, mourn, & have a funeral. Intact D&E or D&X is reserved done for wanted pregnancies when the child is terminally ill or the mother is dying. D&E where the child is removed in pieces, is done for late term procedures, on women who have non-medical reasons to end the pregnancy (think Chantal Daigle - beaten and abused by her boyfriend in the late second trimester) or in emergencies, it all depends on what happens in the OR, or how sick the woman is.

What's worse is that the US court did not seem to understand the medical arguments presented to it. They did not comprehend the life threatening danger. It's like we've insulated ourselves from reality with technology, convinced that women don't die in childbirth. That everything can be "cured". That our future yet-to-exist children will still magically be born alive and healthy even if our fertility is damaged by previous reproductive disasters.

Happy Birthday Mac. I'm sorry those people don't get it, Mommy promises you that she will defeat them, somehow, someday.

I'll make them see that you have a right to exist to.

15 comments:

  1. I find it really hard to believe some of the stuff hapoening in the US.

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  2. It really is upsetting to me as well, and I had a post about it today.

    I just, ugh. I could go on forever, but I'd be preaching to the choir. Way to go SCOTUS.

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  3. Word. If I say anymore than that, I'll rant for the rest of the day.

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  4. Well said, once again, my friend. Go gettum! I too was outraged by the Supreme Ct's ruling yesterday. All that I can hope is that with a new president and congress, we will be able to get rid of this law against partial-birth abortions. I can hope, right?

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  5. It's made me angry too, and goodness knows I don't live in a country where this is ever likely to be an issue. It seems an extraordinary decision, as you say, completely against medical judgement. It's like "we really want to ban abortion, but we can't go there yet, so we'll just start with this one and hope everyone gets the message." Very, very bad.

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  6. I'm finding myself totally out of it, when I read/hear the "news." Where is the outrage that people had for Clinton, for what would now be considered petty-minor offenses? Where is the accountability? I believe that people have become so selfish that they think that if it doesn't apply to them that it's not their fight. Sigh.

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  7. I love this blog. I hate that decision and I am so glad that other's care. As someone else already said, Go Getum. And please let us know how you are doing it so that we can offer to help if possible.

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  8. The worst part? The law has been pushed through by misleading the public and is being justified with the same tactic. And because, thankfully, people with personal experiences in how pregnancy and childbirth can go to shit are a tiny minority, the majority of blissfully ignorant are happy believe their pastors/priests/whoever that "partial birth abortion is never medically necessary." No, really, I had an argument with a woman who told me she believes her priest on this. Priest! You know, WITHOUT a medical degree.
    And what the hell is a partial birth abortion? I know you know there is no such medical term. Propa-fucking-ganda again.
    This is what gets me-- dishonesty to achieve the goal one believes to be divinely decreed. So you think maybe your deity would mind if you lied and cheated to achieve said goal? I know mine would. But then again, mine doesn't want womens' health jeopardized either.

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  9. Thank you for speaking your mind. Well said. It is a sad day. Unfortunately, our court will be like this for a long while. Our only hope is that conservative right judges retire or ***. We are stuck with them for a long while. Hopefully our next president will be able to put more liberal thinkers in the court to counterbalance.

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  10. Amen, everyone.

    We all know what's really going on here. They're just chip, chip, chipping away at our rights until there is nothing left - nothing! I find that I'm practically incoherent with frustration on this issue so I'll just leave it at that.

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  12. That was me who deleted somehow - oops.

    Well, Aurelia, I just thank G-d you weren't in the present-day United States back then and that Mac is here with us. I'm speechless about this ban and frightened for women with pregnancies that, as Julia put it, go to shit.

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  13. It so saddens me to live in this country with these dumbdumbs in charge. And I just don't get why there isn't the outrage in the populace, the way there was outrage in the sixties about civil rights and Vietnam. Thank you for writing, and thank you for the personal perspective vis a vis your 7 year old (to whom, a belated Happy Birthday!).

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  14. First of all, Happy Birthday sweet Mac. You DO deserve to be here.

    I won't get started on my views about the US ruling - I grew up in the States and I cannot tell you how happy I was to come home to Canada.

    Their ruling is bullshit. I will stop now before I go on my anti-religious right rant.

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  15. The news this week has exhausted me too, so I'm lucky that you have already said this so well. Thank you.

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