Monday, February 13, 2006

Abortion Rights, Sea Monkeys, And The Middle Ground

A few years ago I was having lunch with a law partner of mine who is ardently in favor of abortion rights. She knew I was opposed to abortion generally and to the Roe v. Wade decision specifically. I commented that regardless of what happened at the Supreme Court level, there seemed to be a "middle ground" emerging on the abortion issue.

Her sharp reply: "What middle ground can there be? You either believe that a woman has an absolute right to choose or you don't." I decided to change the subject.

It's now quite obvious, I think, that the extreme view my partner expressed is held only by a minority. Last Friday, the L.A. Times published an op-ed piece by an author named Anne Lamott, expressing that same minority view. You can read that here. Today a reader responded with this interesting letter:

February 13, 2006

Re "The rights of the born," Opinion, Feb. 10

Abortion must remain legal, safe and available to all women. But with people like Anne Lamott calling fetuses "teeny weenie so-called babies" and comparing
them to sea monkeys, our side cannot possibly prevail.

There seems to be no room in this discussion for a woman like me, who holds two passionate beliefs: that abortion must always be legal, and that I could never have one myself.

Although these are two separate issues, as they should be — the government has no business teaching me morals — Lamott's tirade makes abortion-rights proponents look like spoiled, selfish women who consider having an abortion something that everyone does and who get through tough times by pigging out on M&Ms.

No wonder we are losing this battle.

MIRIAM BILLINGTON

Santa Monica

It will be interesting to see if such voices can find expression in the Democratic Party, or if they will remain heretical.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

http://moethesleaze.blogspot.com/

Please visit our site and answer question concerning your views on abortion right. 

Posted by Moe

Tuesday, February 14, 2006 8:39:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Lamott's tirade makes abortion-rights proponents look like spoiled, selfish women who consider having an abortion something that everyone does"

Not everyone -just about 40 million so far and counting - what percentage of these atrocities are truly for physical "the life of the mother may be in harm" health reasons?  

Posted by DL

Wednesday, February 15, 2006 7:15:00 AM  
Blogger Ed said...

Let’s get a message out to our troops in Iraq, to show them how much we appreciate what they are doing this Holiday season, at:

http://www.americasupportsyou.mil/americasupportsyou/Message.aspx?SectionID=5

Thanks.

 

Posted by Ed

Tuesday, December 19, 2006 1:21:00 PM  
Blogger Adele said...

Hey, just found this blog when researching abortion middle ground. I just interviewed a bunch of high school students that attended both the inauguration and march for life and feel like they represent a possible new middle ground:

http://www.bustedhalo.com/features/a-new-wave-in-the-pro-life-movement/

I would love to know what you think of it!

Thursday, January 29, 2009 6:27:00 AM  

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