To-do list for today:
8:30 Join the picket line outside Planned Parenthood to talk women out of getting abortion.
11:30 Have my abortion.
1:30 Rejoin the picket line.
Seriously. This happens often enough that abortion providers have taken to calling it the “Me Exception.”
The Women Who Leave Anti-Abortion Picket Lines to Get Abortions
“All of us who do abortions see patients quite regularly who tell us, ‘I’m not pro-choice, but I just can’t continue this pregnancy,’” said Dr. Sarah Prager, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Washington. “We’ve even seen people coming into the clinic off the protester lines to get their abortion, then return to protesting outside the clinic.” And to be clear, she added, “these are not people who turn anti-choice after having an abortion, but who simply access this essential service when they need it in spite of their personal beliefs about abortion in general.” [emphasis added]
According to Prager, the phenomenon is so common that abortion providers have a name for it: the Me Exception.
“We in the movement often say people believe abortion should be legal in cases of rape, incest and ‘me,’ meaning whatever reason is relevant for that person,” she said. And yet, she noted, of the many surveys describing how Americans view abortion, virtually none reflect that reality.
This includes women who work for Republican legislators, or who have connections to major leaders of the forced birth movement. In many cases, they display a sense of entitlement, and certainly they are overflowing with hypocrisy. And it’s not a rare thing, either:
Rather than a one-off, stories about anti-choice activists literally coming off the protest line to seek care were rife. That phenomenon may fade in states where clinics are shutting in the face of legal threats, but providers were confident hardcore activists will continue to seek their care.
Of course, professional ethics, not to mention HIPAA, prevents doctors from revealing names (something that never seems to stop the other side). And I’m not at all suggesting that anyone should do so. But Americans don’t — or didn’t used to — care much for hypocrisy. There has to be something we can do with this to wake more people up to the reality of abortions and the hypocrisy of the forced birthers.