An excellent "abortion" diary is on the front page of The Daily Kos this morning. Abortion polarizes and one thing politics can't tolerate in the election cycle is "polarization". Getting elected is about garnering the largest number of supporters so "factioning" is not what one does to win elections. "Abortion" is not popular with any presidential candidate this year though Democrats "talk support of choice", while doing nothing to directly help improve access to professional abortion care in America. That professional abortion care is available at all with insanely "hostile" state governments and an idiot in the White House who supplies unlimited resources to the "antis" from money to judges IS A MIRACLE. More and more Americans cannot receive abortion care. To see the faces of these American women denied care go watch on line The Last Abortion Clinic , a PBS Frontline documentary. And to understand how this crises in abortion care is one of America's best kept secrets follow me below the fold.
Most of us believe in the "right to choose". We believe women, in conjunction with their families and their faith have a right to terminate a pregnancy. We don't like to talk about it. We are very tired of the nasty rhetoric that comes with discussing abortion and government policy. And besides, abortion is distasteful for a variety of reasons. For one, surgery of any kind is not a fun dinner topic. And abortion also is laden with profound religious and class issues...topics we Americans are touchy about. And only WOMEN become pregnant...so equity and vested interest have a profound impact on this issue. This is why a popular slogan is "Reproductive rights are human rights" with those of us fighting for professional abortion care for all.
How are poor women denied abortion care in America? In states like Mississippi and Louisiana it is difficult, if not impossible to provide abortion care. This is what The Last Abortion Clinic is about, the remaining clinic in Mississippi. You don't have to make abortion illegal if you can make it impossible to provide. And over the last decade that is exactly what has occurred in a very well orchestrated campaign. There is one remaining place in the ENTIRE state of Mississippi to receive professional abortion care and it has been that way for years now. And no one cares. No one. Or everyone is asleep and unaware how professional abortion care is being restricted by the states.
We have come to accept the fact that in America there is a double standard when it comes to professional abortion care. Women who can afford to travel and to pay for care can receive it. Perhaps they will have to listen to protesters shout at them as they walk in the clinic doors, and they may have to wait a day or two before they are "allowed" by the state to terminate their pregnancy. And they may have to look at pictures of the developing fetus, hear and see the ultrasound, sign a statement knowing there is "anesthesia" for the fetus, and listen to a state mandated script delivered by the doctor which may contain erroneous scientific information. This is all "accepted" and a given as women will do most anything that is required when they know they need help not being pregnant.
That an "abortion diary" got on the front page of The Daily Kos is encouraging. Maybe we are beginning to understand the "abortion issue" is a policy issue, hence a "political issue" that needs to come to the forefront...and none to soon. Because if we don't realize that in order for there to be "choice" there must be provision of abortion care and the training and facilities and staff to provide this care must come from SOMEWHERE, then the crises in America will grow worse. And American families will suffer.
There are so many wonderful reasons to become a parent but because you cannot access professional abortion care is not one of them. Let us hope we Americans "wake up" and fight to secure professional abortion care for all. Because in truth, everyone deserves professional abortion care.