QOTD: The dolphin lady
by digby
My God, this Peggy Noonan quote is so bad:
This is almost always true: A woman who aborts a child is operating within an emotional and spiritual context of fear, disappointment, confusion and sadness. If she receives an illegal abortion she should not be “punished” by the law. This is in line with long human tradition and is based on the simple wisdom that she has already been gravely and tragically penalized: She has lost her child, someone who was very likely going to love her, someone she very likely would have loved. The doctor who performs such an abortion on the other hand is not in turmoil, he is in business. He breaks the law and ends the life of the child with full consciousness, and for profit. He should be “punished.” He should be in jail. That we even have to discuss this is absurd. (Peggy Noonan, 3/31)
You want absurd? The idea that women who seek abortions are so addled by confusion and grief over their "lost child" (which they are seeking to abort) they aren't even acting in "full consciousness"! Even more absurd is the idea that these mentally defective people should be forced to give birth and raise children! Indeed, the law should probably require people this deluded about the meaning of life and death and their own agency to get professional help.
I can't convey how deeply insulting to my intelligence I find this infantilization of women. Pregnant women are not mentally disabled. They know what they're doing and they have a right to do it.This argument is something out of the fucking dark ages.
And by the way, the idea that this has always been the "pro-life" position is utter nonsense. It isn't even really their position today. Read this piece by Peter Montgomery for what people like Ted Cruz really believe about this.
Update: Irin Carmen has an informative piece up at MSNBC about how women who have abortions really think about it. Hint: they don't think they're vicitms.
