"The only moral abortion is my abortion"

[onager]

This particular bit of religious hypocrisy has been discussed in here before, but with the pending Supreme Court decision, it seems like a good time to mention it again.

Some Catholic, Evangelical etc. women have abortions at Planned Parenthood. And the very next day, they're back on the picket lines screaming "baby-killer" at the people who helped them.

This is an old report (2000) but the anecdotes are fascinating. Like the South Carolina woman who went to New York for an abortion. When asked why she traveled so far: "Because I'm the head of SC Right to Life..."



http://www.prochoiceactionnetwork-canada.org/articles/anti-tales.shtml

[Curmudgeoness]

1. Just call me baffled.

I have always known that there were some women who were total hypocrites about abortion when it came to them or their children who ended up pregnant. I did not realize how many stories there are about these holier-than-thou types. Incredible.

This really stuck out to me:

Many anti-choice women are convinced that their need for abortion is unique -- not like those "other" women -- even though they have abortions for the same sorts of reasons. Anti-choice women often expect special treatment from clinic staff. Some demand an abortion immediately, wanting to skip important preliminaries such as taking a history or waiting for blood test results. Frequently, anti-abortion women will refuse counseling (such women are generally turned away or referred to an outside counselor because counseling at clinics is mandatory). Some women insist on sneaking in the back door and hiding in a room away from other patients. Others refuse to sit in the waiting room with women they call "sluts" and "trash." Or if they do, they get angry when other patients in the waiting room talk or laugh, because it proves to them that women get abortions casually, for "convenience".

[SusanCalvin]

8. "Many anti-choice women are convinced that their need for abortion is unique"

A version of IOKIYAR. Same principle.

[AlbertCat]

14. "Many anti-choice women are convinced that their need for abortion is unique"

And their relationship with god is unique

and their faith is special and unique

and their marriage and love life is unique

and their bout of flu last year was special and unique

and their wisdom teeth ordeal was unique

and

and

and



and everything that happens to them is special and unique.....


Religion is a symptom of egotism.

[SusanCalvin]

15. That is a very good point.

If God talks to you, you must be very special.

[progressoid]

4. Yup. n/t

[LostOne4Ever]

3. Some of those stories....wow

[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=teal]The college president of the RTL group was more worried about them hearing about her having an abortion and losing her position than realizing that she was fighting to deny others a service she herself needed.

That type of thinking is chilling.

But the last two stories, on the other hand, restored a bit of my faith in humanity. Good to know people can change, and realize the world is not black and white and can even end up working for the greater good.[/font]

[progressoid]

5. Fascinating read indeed.

Thanks.

[Warpy]

6. Conservatives want all the restrictive laws to apply to other people

and walk around in a haze of self righteousness, thinking such restrictions will never apply to them. It's a permanent "Kick me, I love it" sign on their backs and they're always terribly surprised to find out that the laws they supported to punish other people are punishing them, too.

Yeah, we know they all sneak in to PP as soon as the sun goes down. We know they take a day off and are back thumbing their beads and screaming abuse at women they don't know the next day after. They're conservatives. They don't think being denied a life saving abortion will ever happen to them, only to those other women who shouldn't have acted like such sluts.

[RussBLib]

7. where do the women learn such abhorrence of abortion if not from a church of some kind?

...or from someone who attends church regularly?

It would seem to me that ALL of the anti-abortion sentiment is generated from religious quarters. Am I wrong?

a sort of unrelated snip from the OP

Although few studies have been made of this phenomenon, a study done in 1981[1] found that 24% of women who had abortions considered the procedure morally wrong, and 7% of women who'd had abortions disagreed with the statement, "Any woman who wants an abortion should be permitted to obtain it legally."

A 1994/95 survey[2,3] of nearly 10,000 abortion patients showed 18% of women having abortions are born-again or Evangelical Christians. Many of these women are likely anti-choice. The survey also showed that Catholic women have an abortion rate 29% higher than Protestant women. A Planned Parenthood handbook on abortion notes that nearly half of all abortions are for women who describe themselves as born-again Christian, Evangelical Christian, or Catholic.[4]

hmmm....but upwards of 70% of the population identifies as religious in some way

[Promethean]

9. Not necessarily.

I was confronted with the ethics of abortion after I had abandoned religion. My initial reaction was to be against it. It seemed like a no brainer to me, a potential person is being terminated. If there hadn't been people challenging me I doubt I would have analyzed it more and realized the necessity of pro-choice.

This is part of the reason I am anti-theist. Religion encourages people to hold set ideas that will not change. To them hypocrisy and maintaining their current flawed ideology is better than reflection and self improvement. The article shows a ton of prime examples of this. Hypocrites who get abortions but rationalize it as "mine is the only one that is O.K."

[Curmudgeoness]

10. This article is so powerful,

it should be posted in GD, if it hasn't been there already.

[mountain grammy]

11. The last story was beautiful..

Many of us have made the choice. It's difficult, but sometimes it's the best choice.

The day the government can force a woman to remain pregnant will be the day a government can force a a woman to terminate a pregnancy.

[PeaceNikki]

12. Joyce Arthur is one of my heroes.

I've posted this on DU several times. Thanks for bringing it to the attention of even more.