| By Kate Stanton - Jul 3rd, 2007 at 4:41 pm EDT |
| Also listed in: Campus Progress Blog |
D.C. commuters may have noticed a series of unusual advertisements appearing on the public bus system in the past few months. Sponsored by an enigmatic organization known as the “Second Look Project,” the ads feature solemn-looking young women accompanied by provocative messages about abortion in America.
One particularly absurd ad reads:
“Myth: Abortion is legal only in the first three months of pregnancy. Fact: It’s legal for the entire nine months for virtually any reason.”
Um, no. A woman can’t just ask for an abortion in her third term because she "feels like it," for example. Late-term abortions occur rarely and are always subject to a multitude of restrictions.
The ads end with the query, “Have we gone too far?” and according to the Second Look Project’s website (featuring some pretty disturbing first-hand accounts of “partial-birth abortions”), they appear to think we have. As part of the solution, Second Look proudly declares on its home page that they “offer information to help people make informed decisions based on fact rather than emotion.” This is an interesting statement coming from a group sponsored by the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops—not exactly the model of scientific objectivity.
The advertisements are especially problematic in this situation because they display false information of a medical nature on public transportation. Furthermore, the posters make no reference to the true nature of their sponsorship, the USCCB. You can check out the ads for yourself here on the Second Look Project’s website.
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Second, I think the pro-choice side has to confront those partial-birth-abortion stories, perhaps by matching them with stories of women who chose to have a baby, or they will lose in the long run. To sidestep the issue (such as by whining about how gruesome they are, or calling pba "dilation and extraction," which is just scientific lingo that doesn't sound any better) is to inherently admit there is something uncomfortable about abortion. Barbara Ehrenreich, among others, has written (New York Times in July of 2004) about how some in the pro-choice forces need to get over themselves if they are to stay strong in the long run.
What is there to side-step? Is there something unpleasant about the idea of partial birth abortion that I'm missing out on?
I have two grown children and I've had four abortions; I don't regret them. My life, the life of my children would be very different if I'd carried unwanted pregnancies to term.
I wish for a calmer, less breathless, less hysterical discussion of a medical procedure that should be exclusively a woman's own decision. No big deal, not earth shaking, guilt inducing or sinful.
Will we ever get there?
And you're right, you can't get an abortion "for the entire nine months for virtually any reason.” You have to have, like, a doctor's note or something. And we all know that you'll never find a doctor in America to do something like that willy-nilly!
Finally, how DARE those religious fruitcakes put out advertisements expressing, supporting and defending their position - who do they think they are, MoveOn?!