Raising hell with stupidity...

A writer friend who is also an RN has lost her temper over this one:

Someone on radio is reading a letter from a 'liberal Democrat' who is protesting the media description of Roe v. Wade.

He says abortion was never illegal, that there was a time when abortions could be prescribed by physicians if the mother's life was in danger, not as a matter of convenience. But his overarcing point is that abortion has never been illegal.

Well, I'd like to tell this guy that the day he can get pregnant is the day he can have an opinion.

If abortion was never illegal, then why did physicians lose their licenses if they performed abortions when they saw a need, be it physical or psychological? Why were women judged and shamed as if they had committed a crime? Why were they browbeaten and threatened and hounded by law enforcement and the clergy until they would name their doctor?

If abortions were legal, why did hospitals ban them even if the mother's life was at risk? Why were pregnant women allowed to die in hospitals because taking the baby to save the mother's life, technically an abortion no matter the trimester, might lose the hospital its accreditation?

As an RN, I don't know any woman who has ever had an abortion or any nurse who has ever scrubbed in on one who would describe it as a matter of convenience. I have stood beside brave doctors who had to make the decision whether to go ahead or back away. I have tended to women whose lives would never be the same again, regardless of the reason their pregnancies were terminated.

If a law had to be passed to make a woman's right to her body her own, to LEGALIZE abortion, then it surely must have been illegal before that law. Because to pass a law to legalize something already legal would be like legalizing butterflies or bubblegum or the air we breathe.

So if people like these are going to write letters and argue the issues, then let them get their facts straight. And let self-righteous, pious talk show hosts who read these misdirected missals have the common sense to think before they open their mouths. If they're going to legitimize what they do by using 'Dr.' in front of their name, then perhaps they should reflect on the responsibility that goes along with the title.
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