I Write Letters

This is a letter I wrote in response to a letter to the editor   from my college newspaper.  Trigger Warning for mentions of rape and botched abortions.



Dear Ms. (name retracted),

First, congratulations on your privilege being published in both print and electronic form for people to gawk and marvel at your ignorance until the end of time. I hope your mother is proud.

But, seeing as how you are obviously an ignorant person speaking from a place of privilege and safety, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you are not a completely lost cause and that perhaps some education would be more beneficial to you rather than a long-winded, expletive-laden rant that usually occurs when I write to people like you about this sort of thing.

Firstly, let’s get one thing perfectly clear: defunding Planned Parenthood does not stop abortion.  Abortion is a result of an unwanted pregnancy for whatever reason.  It is not a result of the existence of Planned Parenthood.  Without places like PP abortion goes underground and becomes unsafe for the life of the woman.  I am assuming you care about the life of the woman.  If she dies, your point is moot, as the fetus cannot continue to thrive without the woman being alive. Have you seen a botched back-alley job?  I suggest you Google Gerri Santoro and see what happens to our sisters when places like Planned Parenthood don’t exist.

And I know your next argument, Ms. (name retracted).  I know it well.  You will next tell me that pregnancy is a punishment for sex outside of the pre-approved, patriarchal conventions.  Allow me to deconstruct this argument.  Firstly, lots of women who get abortions were taking precautionary measures.  Their birth control failed them. Nothing is 100%, but they did try to avoid getting pregnant because they knew that they were not ready to have a child and did everything within their power to prevent it, but the birth control failed. 

Second, many women get abortions because they already have children.  A single mother who looks at her four children and knows she cannot care for one more makes a choice that saves her family. 

Thirdly, some women get abortions to save their own lives.  They may be mothers and wives who, for whatever reason, have a fetus that is killing them slowly.  In these cases, the fetus is usually no longer viable anyway.  This woman has people who are already alive who depend on her.  Her responsibility is to take care of the family they already have.

Fourthly, what if that woman was raped?  What if she was drugged and forced against her will?  What if the thought of raising her rapist’s child causes her to have anxiety attacks and a case of post-traumatic stress disorder? What if her rapist is her father or brother or uncle?  Would you really force a woman to go through that, knowing she had no choice, not one ounce of say in her unintended pregnancy?

I know what the next response will be, Ms. (name retracted).  You say adoption.  I say bollocks.  Adoption in this country is one of the hardest things to do.  Adoption is only an option for pretty, clean, white girls who have pretty, clean, white babies for rich, white people to adopt.  Not many people want a black or brown baby.  Not many want a sick baby, or a baby addicted to meth.  Fewer still want a five year old, a seven year old, a fourteen year old.  These children are shuffled from foster home to foster home until they hit age eighteen and are no longer the state’s problem.  We put very little money into helping the overwhelmed foster system, and a cavalry of pro-life adopting Christians doesn’t seem to be on the horizon.

To finalize, Ms. (name retracted), if you care so much about the fetus you must become active.  Advocate for better access to birth control (a service provided by PP), demand sex education that is thorough and comprehensive (another service provided by PP), encourage your representatives to work to make the adoption and foster care system less racist and classist (yet another service provided by PP) and finally, have some compassion for women who are placed in a situation that is dreadful, embarrassing, heart-wrenching, expensive, and devastating but necessary choice.  Do not punish her, instead applaud her for doing the best she can do right now. Because that’s all we can do; make the best decisions we can with what we have right now at this moment.

Yours Most Sincerely,

Heather