Bristol Palin Lives On...

Read this here, first.

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The first point I wish to make is that she is not pro-choice. She is anti-abortion. Anti-abortion means that you do not believe in abortion. If you think every child is a wanted child without regard to a woman's right and her simply being a means to an end for life; a mere vessel or something, even though a fetus is not a child by the way, then you are anti-abortion based upon your belief that abortion takes wanted and unwanted fetuses. Abortion is a means of birth control. Women are not cargo space for babies. The tone of such is repugnant and all that is wrong with the anti-abortion crowd. Conversely, I am pro-abortion meaning that I believe in the procedure for anyone and everyone who wants it available to them, even if they chose not to obtain the procedure. I am also pro-life because WE ARE ALL for life. It's not about life and it's not about a choice. It's about either saying I believe in abortion or not. Plain and simple. Preaching to the choir, again, I know...

Moving on. I think it is imperative to first begin this discussion over what abortion is and what it is not. Abortion is a medical procedure and it needs to be treated like such. If you disagree than vasectomies, tubal ligations, and everything in between should be offensive too if we go on the terms that it's more than a medical procedure and its the stop of life. The personal is not political and whatever you decide to do is your business. It's your medical decision that occurs between you and your physician. The author would like it to be something more, something moral, something offensive. It is not. It is a medical procedure that some couples and women elect to undergo and some do not.

This kind of journalism is often judgemental without facts. It seeks to pit women against women so as to subvert the patriarchial underpinnings of the issue. For example, the Bristol Palin and Jessica Simpsons of the world who decide to elect to have their children are touted as role models and heroes in the public arena. Heroes for being mothers. Yet there is little discussion that in doing so they are not living up to their potential, become a government statistic, are more likely to live in poverty for their remaining days, etc., etc. There is a general disconnect between facts and reality and the notion that motherhood is far more superior to the social ills that teenage pregnancy carries with it. As such there is no mention of teen mommies being whores and there is infrequently a discussion of the method of contraception that was used, if any at all. Discussions on sexuality before marriage or being too young also do not seem to apply. However, this lot of judgment on women who elect to abort their pregnancies usually applies. You know because only the poor and whores abort fetuses. Thus, motherhood subverts the Mary Magdalene connotations because afterall, a baby Jesus saves!

There is also the notion of being less responsible if you terminate a pregnancy. As Merrill notes above, she already loves her unborn fetus more than anything else. As though those who decide to terminate unwanted pregnancies are incapable of love or that they didn’t love their fetuses enough to keep them because abortion does not equal love. Love has little do with a decision to have an abortion or not. People love their children and have vasectomies. Love is usually not something I discuss with patients when discussing oral surgery. Therefore, where does love fit into the equation of whether you terminate or continue and unwanted pregnancy.

Merrill further claims that she does not lead a dangerous lifestyle and is more than capable of taking care of herself. This would be news to a public health professional like AG, who not only can regale the dangers of unprotected sex, but the risks of teenage pregnancy and birthing both on the mother and unborn fetus. Sociologically, it is much more likely that society will financially care for this baby than she will. Especially since she is now no longer eligible for health insurance coverage via her parents policy and I doubt a part-time job at Barnes and Nobles funds Blue Cross and Blue Shield of PA. So, AG as a tax payer of the state will foot the $20,000 hospital bill.

Furthermore, being able to take care of yourself is having enough education, self esteem, and respect for yourself to require condom use each and every time you have sexual relations. (Now that, is a better definition of love!) It also means you understand that today you need to earn a real living beyond Barnes and Nobles Café at minimum wage. For goodness sake, she left Temple and returned to farm country so she wouldn’t be alone when the child is born. How noble of her to run back to Mommy and Daddy for comfort. Not that there is anything wrong with that per se, but don't act pious when you are crying it out under their free roof. That is maturity, not living with Mommy and Daddy because you couldn't tell some guy who you thought loved you to go fuck himself if he wasn't wrapping it up before moving in the troops.

The world has had enough of the Bristol Palin media queens who know very little about anything, let alone the women's movement and the work that women like our mothers and grandmothers did so these little Dixie Cups can even have a spot in a newspaper, let alone a fucking voice to undo everything that we've achieved thus far. How about we hear from women who made it out of a rough childhood, went on to graduate the Ivy Leagues, graduated Summa Cum Laude, makes more than all of her former boyfriends, owned a home before turning 30, and never has needed a man or seed to feel good about herself? Why not celebrate the women who had abortions (or did not need them) and how they succeeded because they did not take the more rocky path.

Don't get me wrong, being a mother is an honorable and very respectable job and one that I value deeply, but not all of us put fetuses before freedom and success. And you know what, we love ourselves and our putative children to wait and stand tall on abortion as a viable birth control option. If that makes us hate mongers and whores or whatever this little 18-year-old has painted out other women to be, well fuck her and the row boat she tided in on because at least we know how to get on oral birth control and demand a condom before coitus. more...