conservative politics of the Bush admin. forced me to have an abortion

[rodeodance]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/02/AR2006060201405_pf.html

What Happens When There Is No Plan B?

By Dana L.
Sunday, June 4, 2006; B01

The conservative politics of the Bush administration forced me to have an abortion I didn't want. Well, not literally, but let me explain.

I am a 42-year-old happily married mother of two elementary-schoolers. My husband and I both work, and like many couples, we're starved for time together. One Thursday evening this past March, we managed to snag some rare couple time and, in a sudden rush of passion, I failed to insert my diaphragm.

The next morning, after getting my kids off to school, I called my ob/gyn to get a prescription for Plan B, the emergency contraceptive pill that can prevent a pregnancy -- but only if taken within 72 hours of intercourse. As we're both in our forties, my husband and I had considered our family complete, and we weren't planning to have another child, which is why, as a rule, we use contraception. I wanted to make sure that our momentary lapse didn't result in a pregnancy.

The receptionist, however, informed me that my doctor did not prescribe Plan B. No reason given. Neither did my internist. The midwifery practice I had used could prescribe it, but not over the phone, and there were no more open appointments for the day. The weekend -- and the end of the 72-hour window -- was approaching.

But I needed to meet my kids' school bus and, as I was pretty much out of options -- short of soliciting random Virginia doctors out of the phone book -- I figured I'd take my chances and hope for the best. After all, I'm 42. Isn't it likely my eggs are overripe, anyway? I thought so, especially since my best friend from college has been experiencing agonizing infertility problems at this age.

[NMDemDist2]

1. k & N, what a mess! and there, but by the Grace, go many of us n/t

[Demeter]

2. So, Was This One of Bush's Soccer Moms?

Pardon my skepticism. I just think that any Democratic woman would have known all of this (by heart) and not had such a tedious tale to tell, nor have been the least bit surprised.

[Caoimhe]

8. Life is full of surprises

even us Dem women make mistakes we didn't have a contingency plan for.

[Hekate]

13. Perhaps a Dem woman was willing to tell her story publicly...

The author is articulate, intelligent, professional, dispassionate -- what you would expect of a lawyer, after all.

Her politics are not a given one way or the other, but the fact that she went public with her story instead of turning this sad episode into a dark and shameful secret speaks volumes about her concern for other women.

She reveals details about her life in order to shame those who carry signs like "The selfish woman plays/her unborn baby pays." She's faithfully married, she's a mother, she's careful.

She is not playing the victim here, she just lays it out like it is and places the blame where it belongs -- Bushco and the way they play politics with women's very lives and our most intimate decisions about our health. She relied on her personal healthcare network, and they all let her down.

Sounds like a thoughtful, informed, and caring person to me. Could be one of us.

Hekate

[Demeter]

16. One of Us Would Know That 3 Days' Dose of Regular Birth Control Pills

Would do the same job.

Any one of us has been fighting rear-guard action for 30 years now--trying to protect women's rights for ourselves and our daughters and granddaughters.

A female lawyer in Washington DC so profoundly ignorant of this vital political and health fact has been sleeping or awfully smug and complacent all her adult life. The kind that doesn't think the political is personal, until it bites her own ass.

Nope. Still no sympathy.

[raccoon]

18. I'm pro-choice, and I sure as hell didn't know that.

"One of Us Would Know That 3 Days' Dose of Regular Birth Control Pills
Would do the same job."

I'm glad she came forward with her story.

[Demeter]

19. One Stop Resource--Everything You Didn't Know

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning-after_pill

The Internet--Use it or lose it! Same as with all other civil liberties, talents, and assets.

[Snaggletooth]

23. How judgmental

Rodeodance made it clear she uses a diaphragm not birth control pills. Since they can only be acquired by prescription, it is highly unlikely that she had any lying around. Perhaps she is too smart to be willing to play russian-roulette with her biochemistry via hormones. Most doctors will not prescribe birth control pills (or patches) over the phone, which leaves her in exactly the same position she was in via the Plan B issue. Timing is everything!

Snaggletooth the Crone

[AmyDeLune]

24. I didn't know that

I've never been on birth control pills.:shrug:

[Hekate]

25. Wow -- how judgmental of a sister's troubles

Just speaking for myself here, but I always took "pro-choice" to mean that I should respect another woman's freely made choices, and work to ensure that that they were indeed able to make them freely.

She uses a diaphragm. Many women don't use the Pill because of health concerns. Even if she had a friend who had a prescription, are you saying she should ask her friend to put herself at risk by borrowing some?

In my youth I used the Pill successfully, but unlike others once I quit it took me a year to ovulate again.

My 30 year old daughter has never been able to use hormonal methods of birth control. Every time she has done so since the age of 17, she has gotten cysts on her ovaries. One of them, when she was 19, was so big her gyn did exploratory surgery and left her with a scar from navel to pubis.

As we keep trying to tell the right wing, there's no one-size-fits-all solution to any complex problem.

Hekate

[Crunchy Frog]

3. And to think that if the fundies had their way,

she wouldn't even have access to her diaphragm, since they are opposed to ALL birth control for all women.

Frankly, I think it's time to start fighting fire with fire and picketing the offices of docs who refuse to prescribe Plan B, and of pharmacies that refuse to dispense it.

[IndyOp]

4. Very well written. Matter of fact tone. Abortion is a medical procedure -

sometimes with strong emotional repercussions - but far more often with lessor repercussions than a pregnancy.

[mcscajun]

5. An important article.

She's quite brave for making her case public. Even if she dropped her last name, somebody's bound to figure out who she is.

It's unfortunate for all of us that this can happen.

I ponder the writer's use of the phrase "politicized religion", though. Shouldn't it be the other way around? It's not the insertion of politics into religion that's the problem here; it's the insertion of religion into politics and law.

How would the reversed phrase read? I don't think there's an adjective based on religion to suit the phrase. ::wanders off::

[kiahzero]

6. I found this pretty sad

Yet another demonstration that the right-wingers don't really care about "minimizing the number of abortions," they just want people to suffer for daring to have sex.

[Control-Z]

7. I agree with Demeter.

How could she not know?

[kiahzero]

10. Because politics isn't a hobby to many?

If you're having discussions on a political message board, that alone makes you a distinct minority. There's also the difference between having knowledge of something and having that knowledge really affect you - it's one thing to know that it can sometimes be difficult to obtain emergency contraception, and another thing entirely to suddenly have it happen to you.

[Control-Z]

15. I agree.

Politics is not a hobby probably for most Americans.

I get a little hot on the subject, though. I get frustrated when something is so clear and people either don't see or think it isn't about them. I'm sure I do the same myself on other issues, though.

I guess I'm not a very good judge of what mainstream America really does know or how they feel about what they do know. It took me until 2003 to become aware of what was happening to women's rights. I'm still kicking myself for not seeing it coming. Sometimes I assume that whatever I know everyone else also knows and that they knew before I did.

[IronLionZion]

9. the self-righteous want to punish that poor family for their mistake

because to them it's a punishment, not a baby. Won't somebody please think of the children? Conservatives never do.

[catzies]

11. My family was complete, but I was told I was "too young for ligation."

I had my daughter at 17, in 1980. In my 20s, I KNEW I WASN'T EVER GOING TO HAVE MORE BABIES. (Mostly for economical reasons as somehow I guess knew I was going to remain a single mom.)

"You just haven't found the right man yet, honey, and when you do, you'll want more babies." I was told this by a male ob/gyn in 1990.

By the time I found a female ob/gyn who would do it, it was 1998. I was 35 and my daughter was 18.

I had 3 abortions I wouldn't have had to have if a doctor had tied my tubes when I wanted.

[knitter4democracy]

12. Why would the doctor not prescribe it?

I'm not sure, but I think my ob/gyn does, and I think the internists my hubby practices with all do. It's not something they advertise, but they are more against a patient facing a greater risk in a procedure (well, with our ob/gyns in this town, it's a risk) than with the meds.

That's so wrong! Those docs need to straighten up.

[kiahzero]

14. Because they're assholes

And they forgot about the Hippocratic Oath, and for some reason, the AMA won't call them on their bullshit.

[MountainLaurel]

20. Yeah that.

This story shows us that we need to be asking our doctors before we're in such a situation whether their dogma is going to trump our health care. And if it is, we need to go to doctors where this isn't a problem.

[knitter4democracy]

22. Yet another thing on the list.

*sigh* We have to do so much work just to pick and see a doctor these days. Why aren't there more docs like my hubby who don't force their beliefs on their patients and just treat them to the best of their ability?

[knitter4democracy]

21. Well, the AMA doesn't like it but considers it a freedom thing.

The AMA and all the other medical groups are very pro-birth control and pro-choice. The problem is that these doctors think it's okay to force their religious beliefs on their patients. I can understand an ob/gyn not wanting to do abortions (it's hard, but I can see it), but not prescribing the meds? That's ridiculous.

[calmblueocean]

17. K&R this. People need to know.

This is a really well-written article that tells the truth about women, sex, pregnancy, contraception, and abortion in America. Lots of people who will superficially say that they don't believe in abortion would do the same thing if they were her, and be just as outraged.

What a brave person she is for telling her story.