Now this is rich. Kevin Burke, a proponent of the invented "post abortion syndrome," writes that the criticism of Sarah Palin "may have a relationship to the collective grief, shame, and guilt from personal involvement in the abortion of an unborn child." Here I thought voters made decisions based on the issues that matter to them - little did I know that women across the country who don't support Palin are simply depressed about all of those abortions we've been having!
Burke gets even classier when he brings Palin's pregnant teen daughter into the mix:
If Bristol Palin had quietly aborted, Sarah Palin would have been spared the politically untimely focus on this very personal family issue. The problem would have quietly gone away. But Bristol, like countless post abortive women, would have paid a high price to protect her mother from the political heat that her pregnancy brings to the campaign. We know from our work with thousands of women who feel pressured to abort for various reasons that she would surely suffer many of the common post-abortion symptoms; depression, promiscuity, drug and alcohol abuse, sleep disorders, and relational problems. But she would have suffered in silence; no one would know her secret. No one would acknowledge that she has reason to grieve or have symptoms after abortion. Sarah Palin would have lost not only her precious grandchild...she likely would have lost her daughter Bristol to the silent ravages of post abortion suffering.
Wow, given that one in three American women will have an abortion in her lifetime - there must be millions of tired, addicted, slutty, depressed, single women running around voting Democrat!
Seriously, conservatives need to get their heads out of their asses - and out of our uteruses. (Sorry, not the best visual.)
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Promiscuity is a "symptom"? In my world it's a hobby... like Palin-hating, you know, I'd love to spend more time on it but I have so much on at the moment.
Wow, thanks Kevin Burke! Cool hypothesis! I didn't realize that I was feeling guilty for the abortion I never had and THAT was why I disagree with Palin on just about everything that spews from her mouth. *sigh* I would love to know what it's like to be this blissfully ignorant!
Wow. I've obviously been having abortions without my knowledge, since I am strongly anti-Palin and yet can't quite seem to recall ever having one. Good thing I've got Kevin Burke to set me straight!
I had better warn all of my women friends, who must also be having abortions left and right since they too do not support Palin.
Sigmund: I know! How fascinating, to learn I've actually been secretly having abortions all these years, despite only recently having become sexually active and using two forms of birth control every time!
This is pretty stupid, but that's what I've come to expect from the National Review.
I wonder if they expect this to work in getting women to vote for McCain-Palin.
I'm pretty sure that nobody is going to say "Wow, Kevin Burke really showed me the light."
Someone really ought to create a PSA warning women about the side effects of "sleep aborting". I mean, that must be what's going on, if so many women--myself included--who hate Palin just don't realize we've been having abortions.
Y'know, something like:
One in three American women will have an abortion because, unlike in many other countries, we strive for equality.
There would be no viable argument against abortion rights if someone would be brave enough to state the real reason women support abortion and put that reason out into the mainstream media.
In America, the reason is equality.
Its not about when life begins. Its not about "personhood". Its not about the right to choose. Its not about control over one's body. Its not about privacy.
It IS about equality. Equality to men. Men are the benchmark and we want to be equal in all spheres. We want to be equally sexual and sexually free and therefore equally without the burden of pregnancy and childbirth as men.
Because it is about reproductive equality to men, economic equality to men, social equality to men, and sexual equality to men. Access to safe, convenient, ubiquitous, and fully funded abortion services assure and preserve our equality.
I think the people who promote this idea fail to take into account that many of the women whom they claim are "depressed" (derisive air quotes, ftw) after an abortion were probably depressed before the abortion too... I mean, depression is a really common thing.
Oh... and the ones who are promiscuous after having an abortion? Also probably promiscuous before the abortion -- cause it too is incredibly common. And I'm sure their idea of promiscuity is having sex with someone to whom you're not married.
I know several people who have had abortions (I'm not one of them thanks to good luck and BC), and I don't think any of them had any psychological symptoms post-termination that they didn't have before it.
This argument is stupid and irrelevant. Yet another example of reducing women to the sum of their physical parts. My abortion-broken depressed uterus is not deciding my vote for me. My head is.
Speaking of heads, Jessica your visual made me simultaneously laugh out loud and cringe with disgust, while at work. haha
There are several false premises there.
Also I would hazard a guess that in most cases promiscuity comes first, teenage pregnancy second.
@abbs
The high rate of abortions in the US isn't quite due to the need for equality. Here in Western Europe women have at least the same rights as in the US, if not more, but our abortion rates are much lower. The reason for this is lower teenage pregnancy rates due to better sex education, and availability of anti conception, whether they be the pill, or condoms or femidoms etc.
Um . . . I'm a virgin. So, I guess all of the eggs that I've passed during menstruation are guilting me into voting for Obama. If only I had made babies with them! *runs crying into the night*
What amazes me here actually is the weird emphasis on the *woman* and the (false) effects that abortion has on her -- I think this runs parallel to Palin's insistence that Bristol made the *choice* to keep her baby. This rhetoric isn't about baby-killing any more, it's about trying to make women choose what you want them to choose by manipulating their own self-interest. That's really weird. What's going on?
Robbert: You make an excellent point, yet another reason why I get so angry and frustrated with a lot of the junk Republicans are spewing out right now. Palin's daughter is a great example of what happens when politicians become obsessed with preventing abortions yet refuse to teach ACTUAL sex education. If McCain and Palin want to really wanted to reduce the number of abortions taking place, they'd need to embrace sexual education and birth control.
I had a friend who had an abortion a few years ago, and she did have "emotional issues" about it before, and afterwards. It was a tough decision for her to make, but in the end she decided what was best for her and the baby she knew she couldnt possibly take care of.
HOWEVER, I would like to point out that what this man is doing is using that against us. I mean, I think we can all agree that no one is saying "Yipee I get to have an abortion now" and might feel something before and afterwards. In fact, I would hope that a woman would show some emotion after the fact, but to turn that around and say that it is a syndrome that causes drug abuse, sluttiness etc. to occur is just ridiculous and draws a clear line in the sand; If you feel emotion you are a victim of being pressured into having an abortion against your will or instinct, and if you don't feel emotion you are a cold hard bitch who likes having abortions. Lose, lose. And typical.
I wonder if anyone has posed the question as to whether Bristol Palin was even given a choice or if that decision was made for her by her mother's political advisors.
I find it interesting how he speaks of how Bristol Palin would be 'suffering in silence'. If he is so concerned with suffering in silence, or indeed, with any of these so called 'post abortive' symptoms, would it not be an idea to set up a national dialogue that supports women to speak the truth of their experiences?
Why, Mr. Burke, is it such a difficult concept to grasp that women may not support Palin simply because we disagree with her policy positions?
And why (no offense to any men here) is a man in charge of a "ministry" to women who have had abortions and why does he feel entitled to speak on their behalf?
@ Idiolect - I think you're raising a very important point here. The "pro-life" movement want to attract followers by passing themselves off as a "pro-choice" movement, when in reality, the women in question are simply being manipulated into "choosing" the "right decision".
Despite this, I do think that in some cases abortion can be fairly traumatic, although I'd like to see some reliable statistics. I think that women react as individuals to abortion, but there are many factors to take into account. For example, what role does the shaming of the "pro-life" movement play in post abortion "psychological trauma"*? Are women simply looking for a concrete reason for their depression/things going badly in their life? Are these same women relieved to have found a mob mentality of sorts as a support network? I.e. denounce your choice of abortion and be unconditionally loved by the "pro-life" zealots.
*For want of a better word.
I'm sure some women do have negative psychological effects after having an abortion. I'd guess those are women who had mixed feelings going in to it, and felt coerced to have the abortion.
You'd probably find equal rates of negative psychological effects among women who continued their pregnancies because they didn't feel they had a choice.
The problem comes in the lack of choice, and the lack of support for those choices. Women who want to keep their babies should have support to do so, and women who don't should also have support.
So, if depression is reason enough NOT to have an abortion (and not saying it's a valid point, because it isn't) what about postpartum depression? Does that mean women shouldn't have children either?
The stupid sword cuts both ways!
I don't doubt that, in many cases, women may have mixed feelings about abortion that might manifest themselves in post-operation feelings of trauma or depression. If a woman is in a situation where she has to make the decision to have an abortion, chances are it is a difficult situation already, and she has come to the conclusion that choosing to give birth to a child will have even worse psychological, physical, or financial consequences.
As a devout Catholic, I would not choose to have an abortion if I accidentally became pregnant. But, I am adamantly pro-choice, first, because I believe that every woman should have the right to own her morals (not everyone believes what I believe, nor should they have to) and secondly, because women are often not given agency in becoming pregnant to begin with, such as in cases of rape, coersion, or misinformation.
I don't know why conservatives never seem to understand that being pro-choice does not mean being pro-abortion.
Jen Astle:
In fact, I would hope that a woman would show some emotion after the fact
Why would you hope that? I'm just not understanding your point there.
I am pro-choice.
But there is one thing that has long bothered me about the pro-choice mentality, and that is the idea that no one who has an abortion could ever feel anything but good about it.
"being pro-choice does not mean being pro-abortion."
-Nora
This is correct. I don't think anyone is pro-abortion, in fact. It's a choice no one ever hopes to have to make, but needs to be there regardless. This is my first post. I had an abortion one year ago. Me, and at least 17,000 other women (from a post-abortion-stress-syndrome BELIEVE IT OR NOT non biased website) do not feel good, and its not just because of religious reasons (I am an Atheist). And there is nothing wrong about that, just as there is nothing wrong with feeling positive after an abortion. People's feelings can't be wrong.
There's a lot that goes into making such a decision. It's impossible for EVERY man and woman to come out of such an important ordeal completely and totally satisfied.
Oh, and on a related note I would like to add that what Kat said was very insightful:
"I'm sure some women do have negative psychological effects after having an abortion. I'd guess those are women who had mixed feelings going in to it, and felt coerced to have the abortion. You'd probably find equal rates of negative psychological effects among women who continued their pregnancies because they didn't feel they had a choice." -Kat
Abortion is a choice, but it isn't always the woman's. Many women are pressured, and at such a chaotic state in their lives (discovering an unwanted pregnancy), many women who would otherwise not be susceptible to coercion become vulnerable.
An unwanted pregnancy- It's a shitty thing to happen to anyone and you get shitty options along with it. I think that abortion should remain legal, but that much more needs to be done to allow women who would like to keep their babies to be able to do so safely- something that Palin does NOT support, as she cut funding in Alaska for programs that help teen mothers. I guess her daughter is the only teen mother that should have it easy. You can't take away the option to abort and then take away the support for pregnant women. What the hell, that doesn't make any sense.
>:/
Oh, and on a related note I would like to add that what Kat said was very insightful:
"I'm sure some women do have negative psychological effects after having an abortion. I'd guess those are women who had mixed feelings going in to it, and felt coerced to have the abortion. You'd probably find equal rates of negative psychological effects among women who continued their pregnancies because they didn't feel they had a choice." -Kat
Abortion is a choice, but it isn't always the woman's. Many women are pressured, and at such a chaotic state in their lives (discovering an unwanted pregnancy), many women who would otherwise not be susceptible to coercion become vulnerable.
An unwanted pregnancy- It's a shitty thing to happen to anyone and you get shitty options along with it. I think that abortion should remain legal, but that much more needs to be done to allow women who would like to keep their babies to be able to do so safely- something that Palin does NOT support, as she cut funding in Alaska for programs that help teen mothers. I guess her daughter is the only teen mother that should have it easy. You can't take away the option to abort and then take away the support for pregnant women. What the hell, that doesn't make any sense.
>:/
It isn't that my abortions make me feel guilt or, even, jealous that Palin did not make the really difficult choices I made many years ago. The fact, for me, is that anti-choice people are saying that they do not trust others to make an informed conscientious decision. It is so insulting and arrogant.
I trust women to make a their own decision about sex, birth control and what to do if pregnant. When respected and informed, women's decisions are the correct ones for themselves. Anything otherwise is just outrageous.
Palin, McCain, Right-to-Life are all saying that only they have a fully developed conscience. I would love to see the conversation move to that point.
I've actually been fairly impressed with how quickly the hoopla over Bristol Palin's pregnancy died down. I think there are actually some issues with her pregnancy worth discussing (If the daughter of a major proponent of abstinence only education still ends up pregnant, perhaps we should teach sex education for those times teenagers fail to live up to their parents moral standards). But for the most part, I feel bad for her having been thrust into the spotlight. However, it seems that most of the political world has gotten over the pregnancy stories and moved onto new criticisms... This article feels like it's coming about a month late.
While I'm extremely concerned about protecting the right to choose, it's hardly my only concern in this election. Sarah Palin could be the biggest pro-choice advocate in the world but I still wouldn't vote for the McCain/Palin ticket because I disagree with their stances on so many issues.
I don't know why conservatives never seem to understand that being pro-choice does not mean being pro-abortion.
Oh, I think they do understand it. The ones who are leading the anti-choice march.
If they were to paint pro-choice persons as anything other than "pro-death" or "baby-killers" that might allow room for members of their flock to slip away.
Discussions of family planning, access to adequate child care, pre-natal care, pregnant women's rights, adoption, (in addition to abortion), don't exactly lend themselves to the "evil baby killers" image.
Hm, seems I, my boyfriend, my ex-boyfriend, my best friend and several other women whom I know have never slept with a man have all had abortions. News to me. I second the PSA idea! That would be hilarious!
And Annabelle, I don't mean to denigrate your feelings, but nobody's saying that everyone wants to run through a meadow while singing a happy song after having an abortion. Most pro-choice people I've talked to *do* recognize that it is often an emotionally fraught decision. What we don't like is the idea that women need to be protected from their widdle emotions by big Papa Government, which is why I'm Not Sorry and suchlike exist, to prove that we don't need that kind of coddling.
i had an abortion. not happy about it, but it was the better of two bad options. not skipping merrily in a meadow. not crying my eyes out, either.
but as for the "tired, addicted, slutty, depressed single women voting democrat"?
am i tired? well, yeah.....y'all try doing 2 master's degrees at once and raising a munchkin.
addicted? does diet coke count?
slutty? sorry, nope. unless premarital sex with my monogamous boyfriend counts? oh, shit! we're not married. okay, i guess i'm slutty. *eyeroll*
depressed? well, i will admit the past 8 years have made me pray for deliverance at times. i don't consider that depressed, though. i consider that SENSIBLE.
single? well, not *married*. but monogamous. i consider that not single.
voting democrat? FUCK YEAH, BABY! WOOOOOT! (doing my best to turn arizona blue, because very few things in the world would make me laugh harder than john mcdouchenozzle losing his own state. :)
I had an abortion, and, honestly, it wasn't a hard decision. I didn't feel bad, or guilty, or upset afterwards; I cried tears of relief. Even now, a year later, I don't look back on the decision with any sort of negative feelings, even a "what if. . ?" If anything, I feel bad about NOT feeling bad, about being heartless bitch who didn't appreciate the precious life inside of her that the pro-birthers like to portray.
Annabelle says, "But there is one thing that has long bothered me about the pro-choice mentality, and that is the idea that no one who has an abortion could ever feel anything but good about it."
Really? I feel the exact opposite. I feel that the pro-choice crowd has a very vocal component that constantly says, "I would NEVER have an abortion myself. . . " or emphasizes what a difficult decision it is, or clarifies that abortion SHOULD be rare (which to me implies that abortion is bad).
"Wow. I've obviously been having abortions without my knowledge, since I am strongly anti-Palin and yet can't quite seem to recall ever having one. Good thing I've got Kevin Burke to set me straight!"
I've never been pregnant and still won't vote for Palin. Meanwhile, some people out there would condemn my being a virgin at my age (instead of having children and especially instead of being married off ASAP and having as many children as possible) almost as much as they'd condemn me having an abortion or using contraception, because of all those gentile babies that could have been born and weren't...
I am always amazed at how all post-abortion emotions are tied to the abortion and not the circumstances leading up to it. I had an abortion at 19 after I was brutally raped and became pregnant. I went through several "feminist" therapists before I found a therapist who agreed that my symptoms just might be related to the rape rather than the resulting abortion. Honestly, I felt victimized by those first therapists.
Add me to the list of anti-Paliners who have never had an abortion. What's my excuse? Disagreeing with her policies? Mmmmmneh...must be that she's prettier than me.
Really? I feel the exact opposite. I feel that the pro-choice crowd has a very vocal component that constantly says, "I would NEVER have an abortion myself. . . " or emphasizes what a difficult decision it is, or clarifies that abortion SHOULD be rare (which to me implies that abortion is bad).
That's what I've encountered as well.
The pro-choice buts. It's absolutely fine if you're pro-choice but would never have an abortion. But in a political argument, I don't see why that's necessary to mention unless specifically asked what your personal choice would be.
I've always thought part of being pro-choice was working to rid our society of the stigma(s) surrounding abortion.
Each individual woman needs to be able to feel whatever she feels without fear of stigmatization from society due to those emotions, be they sadness or depression or an absolute sense of relief.
Seconding absynthe and marigold here. I would greatly prefer to live in a society in which we didn't give a damn what women feel before/after their abortions/pregnancies because it shouldn't be any of our collective business. In this imaginary but hopefully possible world, women would have the freedom and support to do the kinds of family planning they choose to do. If a woman felt pleased, regretful, sad, joyous, indifferent, or whatever about an abortion--fine by me, because unless I have a relationship with her, it shouldn't be my business what she feels about her reproductive life and decisions. There is no particular way she should be required to feel about it!
My interest is in doing what I can to ensure that all people are able to have that freedom and support, so that they can decide for themselves what their reproductive life will be like, whether that means a child, some children, or none; now or later in life; conceived (however it works best) or adopted. That's what pro-choice means to me--having the ability to have the kinds of families that we want to have, when and how we want to have them.
Ah, so that is why I hate Palin so much! It must have been the abortion I never had! So that is why I am so angry about someone who is completely unqualified being added to the republican ticket in a pathetic attempt to get Clinton supporters to vote for McCain! That is why I am so ticked off that she talks about the glory of motherhood, but will to absolutely nothing as president to make it easier for working mothers!
If only I could bring my daughter to work with me and spend a 1,000 of campaign money on her outfits. That would be awesome. I must just be jealous. That's it.
I agree with Cedar, Absynthe & Marigold and others, There is a lot imbedded blame in the mix here when so many pro-choicers feel the need to exclaim that they never had an abortion, or never would. Who cares. And I can see a flip-side of truth in the National Review statement that women who don't support Palin feel bad about their abortions. Abortion is considered a grave failing by apparently all sides, a shameful thing, how can we not be defensive? And how can we not feel ill at people who are promoting the same and guilt, as though we need more of that. I sometimes think I'm in the minority when I say what women need is LESS shame and guilt because it does affect us, unless we consciously and constantly fight those feelings.