October 18, 2008

• For the “Health” of the Mother

  It’s taken me a couple days to calm down enough to write about this so I’m sure that quite a few people who have said it better have already weighed in on this.  But I want to talk about what I thought/felt when McCain, during the presidential debate, did this little wriggling fingers “air quotes” around the phrase “the health of the mother” to mock Senator Obama’s position in answer to the question about overturning Roe v Wade.

  The medical definition of abortion is “the premature ending of a pregnancy.”

  By that definition, I’ve had 3 abortions.

  2 spontaneous abortions in which for reasons known only to God, my body aborted the pregnancy and left me grieving. 

  The 3rd case is one in which I and my Doctor chose to end the pregnancy.  I was not quite 8 months along.  I first developed pre-eclampsia and then the full-blown condition.  My blood pressure was running 160/110 and I was in imminent danger of stroke in spite of having religiously followed the Dr’s orders to be on complete bed rest for 2 months.  (Pre-eclampsia kills about 70,000 women worldwide each year, and the reason that number isn’t a whole lot higher is because modern medical practice gives women choices that they’ve never had before.) 

  I entered the hospital on the day that O J Simpson was doing his surreal slow-motion run from the cops on national television.  I watched CNN with my face averted from the nurse who was administering the medication that would soften my cervix for the procedure to take place the next day. 

  The next morning my Dr. asked me if I was ready and then she broke my water. 

  Six hours later, Michael Caleb was born.

  He was tiny, and he wasn’t in great shape.  The doctor took my husband aside and explained to him that I was still in danger of dying from stroke and outlined exactly what would have to be done to give me and my son the best chance of survival.  And we followed her orders. 

  My story has a happy ending as do the stories of many women across this country every day who have to choose to either continue a pregnancy at great risk to themselves and their babies, or “aborting”. 

  When Senator McCain made that mocking gesture, it was a slap in my face.

  I believe that going on and on about overturning Roe v Wade is a dangerous distraction that enables politicians to cloak themselves in the garb of righteousness while doing nothing to actually change anything. 

  If we are going to see a reduction in “birth-control” abortions, we are going to have to address the conditions that prompt women to make that choice. 

  The most common reasons that teens and young women choose to have
  an abortion include:

  • Awareness that they are not mature enough to
    have a child.
  • Knowledge that they are financially not able to
    support or care for a child.
  • Concern that having a baby would
    change their lives and compromise their (and a child’s) future-many young
    mothers don’t ever manage to get the education and employment necessary to
    raise their child above the poverty line.

  The most common reasons women consider abortion are:

  • Birth control (contraceptive) failure. Over
    half of all women who have an abortion used a contraceptive method during the
    month they became pregnant.
  • Inability to
    support or care for a child.
  • To end an unwanted
    pregnancy.
  • To prevent the birth of a child with birth defects or
    severe medical problems.
  • Pregnancy resulting from rape or
    incest.
  • Physical or mental conditions that endanger the woman’s health if
    the pregnancy is continued.

  If we are going to make a difference, we need to stop talking and start working.  We are going to have to make it possible for young women to get medical care.  (Do you wonder how many of the 45 million uninsured Americans might become pregnant this year?)  We are going to have to make it possible for them to continue their education even if they are mothers.  We are going to have to make it possible for them to have employment that will enable them to support themselves and their child(ren).  We are going to have to create affordable, safe, housing options. 

  When Barack Obama pointed to the fact that the Democratic Platform includes a call for policies and practices that will address these things, he was talking about actually doing something to make a difference.  When Senator McCain mocked a woman’s “health” he showed a contempt for the reality of what it means to be a pregnant woman in this country. 

  We are going to have to get over our fear that some “welfare mom” somewhere is going to take advantage of the system and somehow enrich herself at taxpayer expense.  We need to wake up to the fact that welfare reform has created conditions in the United States of America in which over 18 percent of all children under the age of 18 live in poverty.  If we want to see birth-control abortion rates go down, we are going to have to go to battle against the conditions that create a climate in which women feel they have no choice.  If we can spend trillions of dollars on a war against terrorism, or a rescue of the economy, how about just a couple billion for childcare?  Or health care?  Small business loans?  Educational grants?  Affordable housing programs?

  Proposing, even passing laws making it illegal for women to have abortions doesn’t solve the problem.  It worsens the problem because it makes the assumption that all women who would elect to end a pregnancy prematurely are doing so as a means of birth control.  It removes the ability to exercise control over our health from individual women and our doctors and places it in the hands of the state.    

  A law prohibiting “late term abortions” would most likely have cost me my life, and the life of my son.  That’s not a call I’m willing for any politician to make on my behalf. 

  • 8:30 am
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