For John, BLUF: Some folks are too stubborn. Nothing to see here; just move along.
A few days ago I blogged about the unartful♠ way that Ms Chelsea Clinton talked about her Grandmother being pregnant before she was married.♥ And then went on to say how nice it would have been if Planned Parenthood had been there. The casual observer might draw the conclusion that had Planned Parenthood been around Ms Clinton's Grandmother might have not gotten pregnant or perhaps might have had an abortion. The end result might have been Quinn Bradlee making that speech.♦
Well, like all things, the comments spiraled down to the issue of "Life" vs "Choice". I will state my position up front before I go on. There is a Venn Diagram out there that says some 80% of Americans think abortion is wrong and some 80% think it should be available. One might think that the American tradition of compromise might allow some sensible compromise position to grow out of that. Compromise is the genius of the American system, and its Achilles Hell.
If we are asking the Life crowd to accept that some abortions make sense to many Americans, can we not expect that organizations such as Planned Parenthood should be willing to move past "we want to see a reduction in abortions" to the position of not performing abortions after—what, maybe 23 weeks, or 25 weeks. At least not not unless it is the physical life of the Mother. I don't like it, but it would be an American solution. Action, not platitudes.
Instead we get a sometimes a great notion sort of stubbornness. Never Give an Inch.
Regards — Cliff
♠ Not actually a word, but inarticulate didn't quite do it for me.
♥ Back in the old days there was the term PWOP—Pregnant Without Permission.
♦ Sally Quinn having become a US Senator, with the backing of her husband, Mr Ben Bradlee.
Compromise may well be the grease of progress, but it is becoming less and less a tool of choice. Folks seem much more strident in their positions, in many cases, fanatical. If you ask them to give an inch, they want an inch in return, and even if one is offered, it is viewed with skepticism as being not what it is promised to be. I give you 3000 acres of undeveloped prime land that one day will become the seeds of a megalopolis, and you give me a box of cheap Taiwanese jewelry and a pile of blankets made in China out of recycled asbestos.
ReplyDeleteIn order for compromise to work, trust is key.....AND a willingness to modify one's views.
Ah.......if only pigs could fly......
Not "Life" vs "Choice"--"Life" vs. "Reproductive Healthcare Services". That's the reason the Venn diagrams overlap. 80% of folks don't want abortions. Some significant portion of that 80% want women to have access to reproductive healthcare services. (That pesky 97% of PP's budget). Some of us aren't so principled as to support throwing babies out with bathwater, and, yeah, the irony of that cliche is on purpose.
ReplyDelete"Reproductive Healthcare Services".
ReplyDeleteSeriously, WTF is that.
I've seen a gynecologist plenty of times in my life, and I'm pretty well educated on my body to the extent I can monitor my own cervical mucus and and its internal position.
Do we talk about any other part of the body this way?
I never talk about my health in that manner.
When I get glasses I don't call it visual healthcare services. I go see the stinking ophthalmologist.
But I'm visually impair, a woman's natural fertility is not an impairment.
Back in the 90s, there were a lot of discussions about how the medical industry unneedingly profits off contraception, when a significant population could do without 'reproductive health services' with actually learning how their body works.
Natural Family Planning/Knowledge is cheap compared to 25 years of contraception maintenance, that's why PP and Pharmaceuticals market that NFP doesn't work.
Ok, Renee, refer to the section of the PP pie chart devoted to education, then, and accept my apology for the inadequacy of the euphemism I chose, but that, again is the point. Women on the whole have very mixed levels of education, as well as access to lots of other things, from STD and cancer screenings, to prenatal vitamins and other pregnancy-related services. We all agree that PP's counseling and education includes that-which-should-not-be-named-lest-we-devolve-again-into-an-argument-about-that-which-is-NOT-included-in-Chelsea's-intent. Many find it impossible, then to support anything that they do. Myself, I feel that is a tragedy, because PP's services related to education, screening and contraception do more to reduce teen and out-of-wedlock pregnancies than any pro-life rally seems able to do. (Or why else do girls like Bristol Palin keep getting pregnant?)
ReplyDelete