THE WAITING IS THE HARDEST PART

Recently Carlton posted about abortion rights and, in the comments section, I wondered why it has been deemed necessary that there should be a "waiting period". I wasn't being entirely ingenuous, since I had a ghost of an opinion about why these exist. Shortly after making my comment I saw, on Pandagon (which is generally excellent), something that gave a bit more form to my ghost of an opinion. It all boils down to the general effort to make abortions as difficult to obtain as possible while still keeping them legal.

After I read the Pandagon piece I thought a bit more about it and then sent an email to Carlton. I said that Pandagon summed up my suspicion, "otherwise the waiting periods make nothing more than symbolic sense. I mean, honestly, how many people were popping in for abortions-while-u-wait in the years before these laws came into effect? Even if [one is] ambivalent/hostile about children (like me) and pleased as punch to have the right to an abortion, the fact that one is pregnant would, I suspect, incline most women to, perhaps, consider what to do before taking action. This [getting an abortion] is hardly the equivalent to 'well hey! There's an assortment of chewing gum! And right here next to the checkout! Well, I didn't WANT gum, but now that I've got a shot at some I think I'll just help myself!'''

I might have continued by pointing out that while the other famous American waiting period - for guns - is designed in part to encourage an over thinking of It, the more important function is to give the dealer time to check public records for the legality of the purchase. Even without the second function, however, thinking over whether to by a gun is very different from thinking over whether to get an abortion. Although it is clearly possible that some women might find out they are pregnant and immediately storm down to the nearest clinic for a snap abortion, I find it difficult to believe that this sort of thing happens very often. In the (perhaps equally unlikely) event of a heat-of-the-moment gun purchase, however, there is a clear threat to public safety at stake.

And before you splutter that abortion is murder, I'm going to tell you that a fetus is not capable of being a victim of murder, since it is not a person. A fetus is a potential person, in much the same way that lump of coal is a potential diamond.

Carlton prompted me to blog about this (I forget, sometimes, that I have a blog) and so now I have.

I will continue with a related point. I am not happy with the "sincere" handwringing pose pro-choice politicians so often strike (the safe, legal, and rare mantra, which is often delivered with a slight quaver in the voice). Perhaps these folks really are sincere, but I still don't like it. There is entirely too much emotion swirling around this issue (most issues, in fact) and I think it is bad strategy, and just plain bad, to add to it. Abortions are medical procedures. Politicians who say things like the decision is "between a woman and her god" make me sick. Freighting abortions with so much public guilt and hooha does nothing more than increase the pressure on the people who are thinking about having one. If you think someone should be able to have the choice but should "think it over", then shut the fuck up, shove your piety up your ass, and let her think.

If you don't think they should have the choice, of course, you are well within your rights to be an ass about it, but you'll never get invited over to my house.