hypocrisy unlimited

Today's Globe And Mail has a sizeable story about the new South Dakota law that criminalizes abortion. It profiles a 51-year-old anti-abortion activist named Leslee Unruh. Ms. Unruh makes a number of claims that should not stand contested, among them, that most women who terminate pregnancies regret it. In fact, they do not. Most women who terminate an unwanted pregnancy experience mixed emotions, chief among them tremendous relief.

But the real devil here is in the details: Ms. Unruh has had an abortion. At 51 years old, she is not going to need another. This woman was able to do what she felt best with her body and her pregnancy because the procedure she chose was safe and legal. Now she wants to make sure no one else has a right she has already exercised. The hypocrisy is mind-boggling.

This is not uncommon. A fair amount of female anti-choice activists have had abortions. To me, these women are the lowest of the low.

The article is shot through with quoted lies. The law's architect, Roger Hunt, claims the spectre of women dying from unsafe, illegal abortions is "a myth". If only.

He claims the law will be "an economic boon" to South Dakota, and will benefit adoptive parents. The mind reels. Does it occur to Mr Hunt that he's talking about women - about people?? Not breeding machines, goddamn it! Not baby-makers for a state's economy or to build other people's families! How dare this man suggest that a woman should bear an unwanted child so someone else can have a family.

This makes me sick. It makes me so angry I can't see straight. The story closes with this quote from Ms Unruh:

"I know there's a cost when you stand up for what you believe. When I was a little girl, grandfather would say that people will know you by your enemies. Look at my enemies. They're so angry. They're not happy people."

Angry? Leslee Unruh, you have no idea. People like you will drive women to desperate measures that will cost them health and sometimes life. People like you will cause more unwanted children to be brought into the world, more poverty, more crime. People like you want to control other people's most important and intimate decisions.

People like you are ruining their country. Damn right we're angry. You have no idea.