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10/16/2008
Why no one with a uterus should vote for John McCain
Senator John McCain, Republican candidate for president, on late-term abortions, and whether they should remain legal when the health of the mother is at stake:
"Health for the mother." You know, that's been stretched by the pro-abortion movement in America to mean almost anything. That's the extreme pro-abortion position, quote, "health."
For purposes of my argument, it doesn't matter how you feel about abortion. Forget your own feelings about abortion. My own are rather liberal, offputtingly so to many people, so forget those, too. Forget your disappointment, if you feel it as I do, in hearing Senator Obama use the anti-choice movement's buzzwords, "partial-birth abortion," without busting out an angry McCainish sneer.
Focus instead on the air quotes McCain used, the belittling wiggle of his fingers as he summarily dismissed women facing what's possibly the ultimate lose-lose situation: your baby or your life.
[Source: Talking Points Memo]
Your baby. Your life. If you're reading this blog, chances are good that you're a mother, a pregnant woman, a woman who plans to become pregnant, or a woman who's trying. He means you. He means us when he holds up his hands and says with that single scornful gesture that we don't matter. That we are a figment of the "pro-abortion movement's" imagination. That — what, we're making this whole "staying pregnant might kill me" thing up? (That he did this on Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day is, of course, coincidental, but the irony, it is not lost.)
This is important to all of us, but to infertile women it has a particular significance. Everyone in the infertility blogosphere knows women who delivered babies prematurely because of life-threatening complications. Most of us know women whose illness set in too early for their babies to survive. And many of us know that simply by virtue of needing IVF to get pregnant, we're more than twice as likely to develop preeclampsia, which causes, by conservative estimates, 76,000 maternal deaths and 500,000 infant deaths worldwide each year. [Source: Preeclampsia Foundation]
Not only is John McCain saying we shouldn't have the right to terminate a pregnancy in the event that our lives are at stake, he's telling us he's skeptical that that happens at all.
We know better.
Look, I wasn't going to vote for him anyway. That's true for more reasons than I can list. But this is why I think no one should — no one of childbearing capacity. No women. In fact, no one who cares about women. No one who cares about even just one specific woman. In fact! In fact, no one with a brain. Because even if you're implacably, unconditionally opposed to abortion, a matter on which reasonable people disagree, I don't see any way a thinking person can look at those air quotes and see anything but pandering, contempt, and a dangerous willful ignorance.
Comments (436)
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Thank you.
Amen. I thought the same thoughts at the same moment during the debate. Except mine were less organized and eloquent. And relied heavily on curse words.
Ditto. Thank you for posting this!!
Julie, thank you for an eloquent and impassioned entry. You are absolutely correct.
I'm always reminded of my dear departed Grandpa when I hear these things (whom I loved but would undoubtedly have voted McCain). When my grandma went into pre-eclampsia 50+ years ago, the doctors came out to tell my Grandpa he had a choice: his wife or his child.
My Grandpa apparently grabbed the doctor by the lapels, pushed him against the wall, and said "You save them both, because no one here gets to choose who lives or dies."
A slight lecture about not abusing our medical staff aside, that's the way it should be in politics. Stay the hell out of the uterus. No one but the family should get to have a choice.
Thank you!
Tin soldier. He take your life away.
While I agree completely with what you say... I also know that the Republican party is desperate for evangelical votes. I believe the pro-life people will never be given the opportunity to get what they really want because they will always be in the minority (and I dearly hope I'm right).
thank you for writing this! exactly what I was thinking.
Damn straight, Julie! How dare he! Especially on a day of remembrance. Ugh. I'd rather cut off my own hands before I'd use them to place a mark beside McCain/Palin on the ballot.
Agreed!!
I was absolutely furious when he went off about that last night. I was nearly ready to throw things at the TV - of course I was too lazy to actually do that, but the point is exactly as you stated it. He was condescending, and rude and ignorant. And I don't understand how anyone can think he's a good choice...
Thank you for voicing what many of us are thinking.
amen, julie. perfectly said.
watching that mccain clip threatens to make my head explode.
(thanks for the birthday wish yesterday. you are so sweet.)
I couldn't have been that concise, what with all the f-bombs, rolling my OWN eyes and throwing things at the television.
EXACTLY. Thank you so much.
Yes yes YES.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! For having the courage and willingness to actually say what you think in the current politically-charged atmosphere, and doing so in a way that potentially appeals to a bigger section of people than just the right-to-choose group (a group of which I am a fervent member).
I just didn’t quite get that from the speech. I also didn’t like how the video cut off before John McCain was able to finish his point. I think all McCain was trying to say is that liberals like to make their own definitions for terms like “health of the mother.” I think McCain would like that clearly defined. And I somewhat confused on the topic. If it was that late in the pregnancy, couldn’t they go ahead and induce labor and try to save the baby and mother?
Amen.
You are far more eloquent than I. I just kind of look at stuff like that and then start gibbering like an idiot, I'm so mad. Well said!
I couldn't agree more. COULD. NOT. AGREE. MORE.
Brava! Eloquently written.
Sing it Sister!
As a pregnant mother who would gladly lay her life down if there was a even a small chance my child could live, I have no problem voting for McCain. I very nearly did die with my last pregnancy. With my current pregnancy I have already made both my mom and my husband promise that if they had to choose they better damn well choose my child. By looking at the comments it appears I am in the very small minority. I'm not judging those of you who don't feel the same as me. Two of my very best friends in th world have had abortions and I still love them dearly. I just felt I had to state the opinion that not all of us with wombs have a problem voting for McCain in good conscience. There are a lot of other reasons why I am voting for him besides this one issue as well. I am fairly sure I even have a brain and I have thought very carefully about all of the issues at stake here.
@#16 Stacey - because sometimes "induction" or a c-section could kill (or severely injure) the mother. Her body simply cannot handle it. But I doubt that's the answer you were looking for.
You said it beautifully. That whole exchange made me sick at heart.
I watched this over at a friend's house. I'm pregnant, and I had to have an abortion last year for medical reasons (i.e., you die or your baby dies, possibly both of you die - what a choice) so that may account for the cuss words that started flowing out of my mouth. It wasn't even his words that made me that mad - it was those damn fingers doing their little air quote dance. I'm getting myself angry again... I think I feel a blog post coming on. ;)
Well said. I could not agree with you more. Why the government feels it should take control of this issue is a mystery to me. They can't handle the business of government, why would I want them to have a hand in making decisions involving my uterus?
I find it a little absurd that conservatives are so "We don't like 'big government' regulating everything," when they're perfectly fine with trying to regulate our own bodies.
I would have yelled at the TV but I was afraid I'd wake up the kids. Instead, I just snarled menacingly and renewed my vow to vote for Obama.
I think you miss my point, Someone. My point is that McCain pooh-poohs the notion that one might be faced with such a choice. I find that chilling. Don't you?
I happen to agree with you whole-heartedly, but I also think that what McCain is getting at here is that he believes women will extend the "health" thing into meaning their own mental health. As in, it would be bad for them emotionally to have an unwanted child. Not that this excuses his air-quote use or his position on the matter. Obama's got my vote for a multitude of reasons.
I thought I would post the rest of McCain's answer, because while it does seem that the video cuts him off, he does not retract or modify anything about the so-called "health".
(This is up on http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/10/debate-transcri.html.)
***
MCCAIN: Just again, the example of the eloquence of Senator Obama. He's health for the mother. You know, that's been stretched by the pro-abortion movement in America to mean almost anything.
That's the extreme pro-abortion position, quote, "health." But, look, Cindy and I are adoptive parents. We know what a treasure and joy it is to have an adopted child in our lives. We'll do everything we can to improve adoption in this country.
But that does not mean that we will cease to protect the rights of the unborn. Of course, we have to come together. Of course, we have to work together, and, of course, it's vital that we do so and help these young women who are facing such a difficult decision, with a compassion, that we'll help them with the adoptive services, with the courage to bring that child into this world and we'll help take care of it.
SCHIEFFER: Let's stop there...
***
Thank you for being vocal about this, Julie.
I have a question. I'm not voting for McCain, but am confused. I don't see "late term abortion" the same as having to induce or deliver a baby prematurely to save a mother's life. The goal is to save the mother and baby in the later, and to terminate a pregnancy in the former. Perhaps I am oversimplifying this.
I don't even have a uterus, and I definitely will not be voting for John McCain.
Amen, sister. I wanted to smack the crap out of him.
I don't think it's possible for "health of the mother" to be defined. Nor should it be. That's between a woman and her doctor. Some women are willing to take more risks with their lives, as #22 points out. But that doesn't mean everyone must do the same.
Talk about putting government between us and our doctors. How hypocritical of the McCain/Palin ticket to say that about universal health care coverage, when that's exactly what THEY want to do - second guess our judgments and decisions made with our doctors.
Kelly in #29, that may well be, but if so, it's a strawmannish way to distinguish himself, because apparently Obama doesn't support a mental health exception, either.
Feelings on abortion aside, it's the air quotes and the dismissiveness that got me. I think everyone is entitled to believe what they want, and if he believes that people have over-stretched the concept of health to suit their purposes, fine. But dude--the air quotes and the tone--I begin to feel that he doesn't think much of women generally if he can't at least empathize. That and the fact that he thinks Sarah Palin is a role model for women...gag me.
I had the TV on and was avidly listening, but I could not look at the man's facial expressions, so I missed the air quotes. The tone was clear without seeing them, that the man has no f'ing clue about high risk pregnancy. I opted for a tubal ligation after my second because I didn't want to be put in the position of 'your baby or your life'.
What also got me is how all of a sudden, Sarah Palin is an advocate for Autism? I'm sorry, my son is autistic-hers has Down Syndrome. That's like comparing apples and pork chops.
i think I need to volunteer more time at the Obama headquarters this week...
I agree with you 100% Julie, and to Someone: I can completely understand your desire to put your child's life before your own. But I don't feel that it is the place of government to force you to make that choice. Maybe I would make the same choice as you - or maybe, just maybe, I would want to live because I have other living children who need their mother. Wretched choice, yes - but that is just it. CHOICE.
Amen, sister.
I wasn't ill enough in my 1999-2000 pregnancy for my doctors to advise terminating, but another pregnancy would be decidedly terrible for my health. Or "health," with mocking air-quotes. My health is important to me, not least because I want to finish raising my child and living life. This issue is very real to me.
McCain and his ilk like to pretend that most women who obtain late-term abortions for reasons of health are fakers who just changed their mind and got a diagnosis of depression so that they could have an abortion. Anyone know one of those women? I think they're the same women who make false rape accusations for sport—you know, a tiny handful of real people who get inflated by asshats into representing the bulk of reality. I do not care for those asshats one bit.
Moira, see Mary's comment at #23.
I'm not pregnant, trying to get pregnant, or a mother already, but I am a woman with a uterus that I hope to put to work someday and I applaud everything you've said here.
I'll try and keep my personal story out of this one, but I've often remarked that my blogroll (and many others) would look remarkably different had some of those women not had this "choice" (and I hesitate to even call it that, because what kinda of choice is it when you're opting for one life over another? And one of them is yours?) -- that is, to put it bluntly, they would be dead. There would be no voices. And how McCain can think this is some drummed-up imaginary fairy tale is beyond me.
Thanks for dealing with this on a morning when no amount of coffee could clarify my anger on this point.
I always think of one other thing to say after posting (that was me, above, #36) -
What exactly do the air quotes around "health" mean? Isn't it my and my doctor's decision whether I am facing a health issue? Is this a jab at mental health? And if so - well yes, I'm chilled to the core if that's the direction we're heading.
@Stacey - go read Cecily's story over at UppercaseWoman.com for a very gripping description of the hows and whys of such a sad situation. It doesn't seem like "health of the mother" is going to be any easier to argue than "when life begins." What's acceptable - this woman will live, but she will be paralyzed because she had a stroke? She will live, but be unable to care for her own child?
He was so cavalier in his delivery that he made it sound as if pregnant women waddle in to their death-loving OBs and cry "Cold! Hangnail! Can't be pregnant any more!" I have never in real life met someone who did not agree about exceptions for health/rape/incest.
@Someone Being Me - the problem many of us have is not that someone would choose her baby's life over her own but that John McCain would preemptively make that choice FOR us. Your choice is between you and your spiritual guidance system and your family, as everyone's should be, and by all means should your wishes be honored. But honor mine and my husband's too.
I just can't wrap my head around the dichotomy that we're supposed to go out there and use our good judgment to pick a health plan (on 5k a year for a family plan, good luck with that), but then we're going to have federal or state interference to dictate what kind of medical care we may or may not receive?
I wish Republicans would figure out a way to stay out of my personal health choices, and instead figure out a way that I could afford to make them.
Helen, I loved the comment - stay the hell out of my uterus. I've got invitations extended to the universe for some pretty special people to spend some time there. No one in the Republican party is currently on the guest list.
It wasn't me in #36.... it was #37... sorry... I'll stop now. Comments coming too quickly
I'll admit it, I'm avidly pro-life, have 3 kids and have seen many of my friends through infertility, IVF, having babies that have made it through 25 week gestation deliveries.
I think what mcCain was getting at here were the amount (esp. in chicago) of Late term abortions that were given due to "depression". As one who has had life long struggles with severe depression and anxiety disorders... i know that is not a medical reason. Someone above said that obama doesn't support the mental health excuse. He should have said that last night.
I probably don't belong on this blog though because I think i really disagree with almost all of you and I don't want to make you angry. I just believe God is the author and taker of all life....
PS I wouldn't have even commented except that I'm a woman with a uterus and know many others that agree with me and will be voting mcCain / Palin
Amen, Julie, amen.
@Moira #31, sometimes the illness comes on before one could call it "inducing prematurely" with a straight face. It's ending the fetus's life to save your own.... a sad choice to have to make.
There's also the issue of fetal deformity. I have a friend who delivered a very wanted baby at 20 weeks because of this. The chance of a healthy baby were zero. The chance of dangerous complications should she continue the pregnancy were small, but greater than zero. The mantra in medicine is "do the benefits outweigh the risks?" That's why it has to be a conversation between women and their doctors, because no one is better equipped to evaluate benefits and risks.
And since when did mental and emotional health become unimportant? Even if that was the issue McCain was referring to - ending a pregnancy because of mental and emotional -fingerquote- health -fingerquote- ... well, isn't that bad, too?
Thank you. I am one of the "women who might get pregnant", and also, according to McCain, one of those "pro-abortion" radicals.
I was just struck by how little compassion McCain has for women who have made the choice to have an abortion. My mother made that choice as a teenager, and yes, she does regret it, but if she hadn't made that choice her life would have been radically altered. She would have been kicked out of her home at 16, with an infant, no money and no high school diploma. She would have never met my father. I would not be typing this sentence.
of Late term abortions that were given due to "depression"
Mommy Zabs, why does a politician get to decide what constitutes a valid medical reason? IMO, that should be up to the doctors. My family has a history of severe, crippling depression, and it seems so belittling to say, "Oh, DEPRESSION is so trivial! It's no reason at all! No woman has ever killed herself rather than face the prospect of caring for a child!"