12 September 2008

This is the scariest shit I've ever heard

Charlie Gibson's Sarah Palin interview, part 3. I'm sitting here trying like hell not to let this idiot woman talk about putting women back into the dark ages send my blood pressure through the roof.

No to abortion in the case of rape or incest. Keeping in mind that victims of incest are usually juveniles. Sarah Palin supports forcing children to have children fathered by close relatives....pregnancies that occurred by force.

That is so fucked up, I have to repeat it again.

Sarah Palin believes with all her heart that children victimized by sexual predators should then be victimized by their government. No choice in getting pregnant. No choice in whether or not they must bear the resulting child.

My question to Sarah Palin is: Do you just assume that these children will offer up their children for adoption? Is that your answer to everything? Adoption? So, the child that was forced into motherhood by an act of violence is now forced into giving that child up to someone else?

That is so seriously fucked up that I can't even imagine it.

I don't know why this is so personal to me. Sure, I'm a woman, but I was never a victim of incest. Was never raped. My one run-in with violence in a sexual relationship left some haunting emotional scars, but eventually they healed and I was wiser, more wary, and just a tad more militant. The humiliation is the thing that took a bit longer. In any event, I've never been pregnant to the best of my knowledge. I don't think that abortion should be used as a form of birth control. I get pissed at teenagers (everyone for that matter) who don't protect themselves from unwanted pregnancy.

But why do I get mad at these people? I get mad because abortion isn't something to be taken lightly. Women make a decision and sometimes that decision haunts them the length of their days. But no matter how irritated I get at the irresponsibility that sometimes results in unwanted pregnancies, I think that outlawing abortion is certain to marginalize women in our society.

I think there are times, circumstances, and reasons for abortions. Reasons beyond rape, incest, and health of the mother. There are times when not having a baby is the right answer. If Sarah Palin gets her way, women who are faced with these circumstances will become outlaws. And back-alley abortion clincs are proven to harm women.

My grandmother had an abortion between the birth of my aunt and my mother. She nearly died. I nearly wasn't born at all. But even that isn't the reason. I don't know what the reason is. Compassion maybe? Understanding maybe? Knowing what it's like to panic at the thought of being pregnant. (Oh, I HAVE been there.) I got lucky. I just don't know where my passion about this arises.

I do know that Sarah Palin is just about the scariest woman on the planet at the moment.

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