Oh… it’s good to see there are other sane people…

The Abortion Issue: Who Decides? (5 Letters) Published: May 28, 2007

 *** The letters were in response to this NYT article  ***

To the Editor:

Re “Abortion Foes See Validation for New Tactic” (front page, May 22):

Finally there is something for women on the opposite sides of the abortion question to agree on: that it is insulting and degrading to women, and a dangerous erosion of their rights, to assume that women cannot understand the consequences of their actions.

As a judge, I am extremely disheartened that our Supreme Court would adopt the patronizing and backward language in the Gonzales case, which upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.

Admittedly with no reliable data to support it, the majority court speculated that doctors misinform their patients of the details of the procedure to spare their feelings, leading the women to later regret their choice and suffer “severe depression and loss of esteem.” This attitude harkens back to the old vision of women as helpless, delicate flowers who must be protected from themselves.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg put it succinctly in her dissent: “This way of thinking reflects ancient notions about women’s place in the family and under the Constitution — ideas that have long since been discredited.”

My friends may be more liberal than I on the abortion question, but we stand together on the question of whether women are capable of knowing their own minds.

Elizabeth Doyle
Hollidaysburg, Pa., May 22, 2007

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To the Editor:

I had an abortion when I was 21 years old. I am now 48, and not once have I regretted my choice.

Every choice we make contributes to our present reality. Mine includes two beautiful girls, a wonderful husband and a life rich with art, community service and lots of joy.

I cannot imagine what path my life would have taken had I carried my first pregnancy to term. I do know that it would have led to somewhere very different.

Perhaps groups like the Justice Foundation, which has collected stories from women who see themselves as victims of abortion, should add stories from people like me. I am sure we are in the majority.

Jessica Sporn
Glen Ridge, N.J., May 22, 2007

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To the Editor:

Your article about the strategy of anti-abortion activists reveals their new claim that by pushing for mandatory counseling about abortion’s alleged psychological and physical risks, they’re working in the interests of women.

The Supreme Court narrowly endorsed that claim when it upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, substituting political propaganda for medical science.

But meticulous research shows that there is no causal relationship between abortions and mental illnesses. Women’s mental health is jeopardized when laws require doctors to mislead them and is best served when women make their own decisions. That’s why the American Psychiatric Association stands in favor of women’s access to reproductive health care.

Anti-abortion activists have even made up a mental disease: “abortion trauma syndrome.” Recently I told Congress that the association recognizes no such disorder.

Doctors take an oath to work in the best interest of patients. Anti-choice activists merely claim that mantle as their tactic du jour.

Nada L. Stotland, M.D.
Chicago, May 22, 2007
The writer is president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association.

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To the Editor:

It is normal for people to feel depressed about life’s difficult events, including divorce, moving to a new city, job change, birth of a first child and, yes, abortion. Uncomfortable feelings are not the province solely of women who have had an abortion.

These feelings are an expected and healthy expression of a loss — just as a new puppy, child’s refrigerator drawing or marriage might elicit the normal emotions of joy.

Complex and varying emotions are part of being human. To be protected from them is to be robbed of the richness of an authentic life.

After writing a book on the emotional recovery from abortion, my co-author and I have found, from thousands of letters and e-mail messages over 10 years, that very few women feel serious distress after an abortion.

Most often they tell us that if they do feel regret, it is because they had to go through such a tough decision.

Candace De Puy
Los Angeles, May 22, 2007

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To the Editor:

As a bioethicist who supports robust informed consent throughout the health care system, I am outraged by pro-life strategists who have hijacked and misused this important concept.

The point of informed consent is to offer the consumer the best medical facts about her condition, so that she can plug those facts into her value system and her life circumstances and make the best choice for her.

If there is good evidence that a significant number of women suffer emotional distress after abortion, that is important information women should know.

They should also be informed of the physical risks of carrying a pregnancy to term, the proportion of women who suffer postpartum depression and the emotional consequences of giving a baby up for adoption.

Dena S. Davis
Cleveland, May 23, 2007
The writer is a professor at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.

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Of course, on the other side is… …  …

  

Love how the “sacrificial” lamb is clearly complicit… in fact, loaded with come-hither entrapment   😉

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