My Akin Vagina

I must live in a cave.  I was tuned in when a college student was called a slut.  I remember the idea that institutions have feelings and that somehow that makes it a-okay for Roman Catholic institutions to refuse to offer birth control coverage for their employees cuz that offends institutional sensibilities.  But on August 18th, I discovered the wonders of Google Sketch-Up(r, no copyright infringement intended) and I am just now resurfacing for air.  So I missed the whole Todd Akin fiasco regarding legitimate rape and repelling vaginas.  And I missed Tom Smith of Pennsylvania saying that carrying a pregnancy that resulted from rape to term is equivalent to having a child out of wedlock.  Uh, excuse me please.  WHAT ???  Oh lawdy lawdy, my Akin vagina.

A good friend of mine, a college student-- a devout Roman Catholic college student-- was raped one night while walking back to the dorms after her job.  The rape, the legitimate rape, was definitely forcible.  I guess her Akin vagina failed to do the job it [or should I refer to her vagina as "she?"  I don't rightly know] was Divinely Created to do.  Because she did indeed turn up pregnant after the rape.  As a devout Roman Catholic, the proper thing according to a bunch of men in dresses would have been for her to stay pregnant.   

Alas, there was a twist.  My friend had cancer.  [She is dead now].  Her specialist informed her that if she continued her pregnancy, she would die.  Sooner, rather than later.  And the baby inside of her Akin vagina pretty much didn't have a chance anyway.  Because abortion was not available as a legal option, her specialist did a very compassionate and humane thing.  He arranged for her to have a safe abortion via the "exploratory surgery" route.  Sorry folks, I don't feel bad about her medical insurance company having to pay for that one.  [This was much longer than eight years ago, b.t.w.].

My friend did not want to have the abortion.  Her specialist understood the true value of life.  He understood the value of a baby's life and also the value of the mother's life. 

I too was raped.  I was raped several years before my friend got raped.  But my Akin vagina did her job.  She repelled the rapist's sperm and I walked away unscathed.  Uh, well, not exactly unscathed.  That was an unfortunate choice of words.  I walked away unexpectant.  At least I think I did.  I have been told once by one person that a woman can have a spontaneous abortion and not even know she was pregnant.  One person believed that, so it must be true.  This spontaneous or "natural" abortion thing will happen in cases where the baby is totally deformed.  Not all cases obviously.  Just in some percentage of cases.  A quandary of the highest order.  Does God allow spontaneous or natural abortions in the case of rape?  Maybe so.  Or maybe not.  Oh my.  I don't know what to think.  Neither does my Akin vagina.  I'm so glad that those men in dresses and a bunch of politicians can do my thinking for me.

Men can get raped too.  Not just forcible rape in prison by other men either.  Men can and do get raped by women.  I know it happens.  Well, specifically I know it happens at least once.  Because it happened to a male acquaintance of mine.  But men cannot get pregnant.  And men aren't commonly ordered by divine writ to be subservient to women.  Maybe a few men are subs-- oh never mind, that is quite the subject for a different day.  Maybe even a different blog. 

I'm suddenly thirsty.  I shut down the computer and go stumbling off in search of some of that totally kewl powdered sugar in packets to stir into a glass of water.

radical sapphoq

P.S.  And then to discover that Todd Akin was put in charge of some kind of science and tech committee!  That just makes me want to join those poor folks who migrated to Guyana with their good buddy Jim.

Yes, Virginia, There are Politicians Who Want You to Be Shamed into Keeping Your Baby

Virginia may be the next state to require a shamogram sonogram replete with a graphic description of the fetus before allowing an abortion.  Today, Virginia.  Tomorrow Pennsylvania.  Sometime after that, Rick Santorum who is against testing for fetal abnormalities-- specificially amniocentesis, although there are other tests that a couple at risk for birthing a child with deformities may also undergo-- being included in the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" [frequently abbreviated to "Affordable Care Act" or "ObamaCare"] touted by Obama.

Although some sort of sonogram is included in the gold standard of what happens before an abortion, the required "script-reading" by a physician that Texas has passed and that Virginia probably will pass next is not.  In some places, the script-reading laws will exclude women who are pregnant by rape as well as women carrying non-viable fetuses or deformed fetuses.  Ah, a touch of compassion there.  Meanwhile, presidential candidate Rick Santorum has added fuel to the fire by coming out against amniocentesis because he believes that finding out that a baby is not healthy leads to more abortions.

radical sapphoq says: Politicians, get the hell out of our doctors' offices.  Pregnant females should have a right to healthy and respectful prenatal care, including termination of the pregnancy if that is the decision made.  Take your scripts and shove them up the vacuum of Bad Laws. 
Abortion is a terrible tragedy.  I do not believe that an embryo or a fetus is akin to a tumor.  Yes, a life is taken when there is an abortion. 
At the same time, I am not willing to ascribe personhood rights to the embryo or fetus over the rights that a woman has to self-determination.  I still believe in a woman's right to choose, and even in a couple's right to choose if the woman wishes her partner's involvement. 
I remember the days of wire hanger abortions.  [No, I've never had one, nor have I ever been pregnant].  I also think that if we don't want women to use abortions as the default birth control option [note: I don't know what percentage of teens and young women do that], there should be easier access to services like those that Planned Parenthood has to offer.
In the heyday of the AIDS crisis, I was in a small group of activists who used to hand out condoms in a local park where men went to pick up other men.  We also used to hand them out to college kids near bars.
I am beginning to think that we should have a single-payer healthcare option or possibly a system in place instead of the mess that we have now.  The money currently being wasted  utilized by health insurance companies to ensure that we don't get care to administer their plans can be channeled to actually giving healthcare to people.  This may be the cheaper and more viable option which I don't hear anyone up on Capitol Hill talking about. 

radical sapphoq signing off with a final p.s.: Yes I took the photo and modded it myself.  So go away copyright police.


http://www.womenshealth.gov/pregnancy/you-are-pregnant/prenatal-care-tests.cfm

http://www.americanpregnancy.org/unplannedpregnancy/abortionprocedures.html

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/jan-june12/abortion_02-23.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jess-coleman/post_2989_b_1275962.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/02/23/single-payer-health-care-is-coming-to-america-are-we-ready/

http://www.healthcare-now.org/whats-single-payer/

http://www.healthcare.gov/law/timeline/full.html

http://www.healthcare.gov/law/index.html

http://www.whitehouse.gov/healthreform/healthcare-overview

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_Protection_and_Affordable_Care_Act

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/22/obama-pulls-back-part-affordable-care-act/

http://www.northern-iowan.org/mobile/obama-adds-stipulation-to-affordable-care-act-to-deal-with-religious-opposition-1.2703337

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/01/rob_cornilles_says_affordable.html

http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/31/10279932-the-efficacy-of-the-affordable-care-act

http://www.dailytargum.com/news/obama-includes-coverage-for-contraceptives-as-part-of-affordable-care/article_398243f0-55ff-11e1-aa44-0019bb30f31a.html

http://www.thenation.com/article/165864/spoonful-sugar-affordable-care-act

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57380887-503544/santorum-attacks-obama-on-prenatal-screening/

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3460_162-57381041/santorum-stands-by-prenatal-screening-opposition/

http://blogs.babble.com/strollerderby/2011/02/09/dan-patrick-says-sonogram-bill-is-misunderstood/

http://lubbockonline.com/texas/2011-02-24/texas-house-committee-passes-bill-requiring-abortion-sonograms

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57382162/is-a-required-ultrasound-a-barrier-to-abortion/

http://www.care2.com/causes/breaking-in-texas-no-abortion-without-a-sonogram-first.html

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/19/santorum-prenatal-testing-is-to-encourage-abortions/

http://www.livescience.com/12886-abortion-sonogram-research.html

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/bob-schieffer-and-santorum-clash-over-his-belief-that-prenatal-care-leads-to-abortions/

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/02/15/425944/chief-sponsor-of-virginia-personhood-bill-calls-the-affordable-care-act-rape/?mobile=nc