Speaking of women’s rights, Janice Wolly writes for The Atlantic about her and her husband’s decision to terminate her first pregnancy. The story is deeply personal, deeply sad… but for public policy debate, here is the most important thing Janice Wolly says:
Despite having been through this experience—a termination of a wanted pregnancy at 18 weeks and five days, not knowing for sure whether it was the right decision—I have no idea what I would do if I were in the same position again. And I have no idea what I would have decided if, say, this had happened two years earlier, or two years later; or if there had been a five- or 10-point shift in the percentages; or if I had been some number of days more or less pregnant; or if it hadn’t been my first pregnancy; or if my husband and I hadn’t already been through two other traumas in the preceding year.
I guess that’s my purpose in writing this. I’m trying to say that no one truly knows what they would do in one of the countless situations that might lead them to consider having an abortion. You may think you know, but you don’t. And if you can’t know for yourself, you can’t know for anyone else… [Janice Wolly, “My First Pregnancy,” The Atlantic, 2021.10.05].
Gov. Kristi Noem pretends she knows what’s best for every woman in every pregnancy and pretends (on the basis of fake science and moralizing) that she has the right to make that decision for every woman by the force of law. Gov. Kristi Noem is wrong.
So true. A number of years ago, a woman in our office was pregnant with her first child. More than halfway through the pregnancy, she and her husband learned the infant lacked a brain stem and was nonviable. At the time, South Dakota allowed abortions in these situations and they were offered the option. She was a devout Catholic and decided to carry the baby to term. As anticipated, it died shortly after birth.
Would my wife and I make the same decision? Doesn’t matter. The key is she and her husband had a CHOICE, the right to decide what was best for them.
Before you judge a woman, walk a mile in her shoes. This expression applies to most everything.
Nature isn’t always right, or beneficent, or even natural. Terrible things happen. Choices have to be made. And the best thing we can do is pray for all who have to make those choices, and get out of their way.
You know people like Kristi Noem seem to believe they know what’s best for everyone. She wouldn’t even be Governor without decades of liberal women fighting for women, but thats another matter. If Roe gets overturned it will be interesting to see just how much further blue states will zoom even farther above red states economically. You notice the intelligent minds in the pub party are really quiet on this issue, they have been fine with getting the votes from the anti aborts but now that it may become a much bigger issue their really worried.
Yeah, but Mark, if those liberal women move away in greater numbers than now, the SDGOP will just make up for it by recruiting lots of lady trust lawyers. ;-)
Good, hopeful news for all women in South Dakota and nationwide as federal judge puts a strong, if temporary hold on new abortion restrictions in Texas. As eloquently ‘splained by Ms Lathwick and Mr Joseph Stern….
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/10/texas-judge-blocks-abortion-ban-in-rebuke-to-supreme-court.html