Body of evidence

If ever a piece ought to convince anybody that women should have the right to choose, it's this open letter to U.S vice presidential annointee Sarah Palin. Here's an excerpt:

According to the press reports, instead of going straight to a hospital you chose to get on a long airplane flight back to Alaska.

When Pamela Rae Stewart, allegedly, didn't get to the hospital quickly enough on the day of her delivery, she was arrested in California on the theory that she had violated the rights of her fetus.

When Laura Pemberton chose to give birth at home in Florida, a Sheriff came to her house. Doctors believed that she was posing a risk to the life of her unborn child by having a vaginal birth after having had a previous c-section and were in the process of getting a court order to force her to have a c-section. The sheriff took her into custody during active labor, strapped her legs together and forced her to go to a hospital where an emergency hearing was taking place to determine the rights of her fetus. She was "allowed" to represent herself. A lawyer was appointed for the fetus. This woman, who vehemently opposes abortion, nevertheless believed in her right to evaluate medical risks and benefits to herself and her unborn child. She was forced to have the unnecessary surgery and when she later sued for violations of her civil rights, was told fetal rights outweighed hers.

Read it all because it says it all.

Comments

[sooey]

Women DO have the right to choose. What the Pro-Life movement is trying to do is criminalize that right.

[karol karolak]

Antonia thanks for a link, here is one of the comments on the letter you quoted,

A Slight Correction...
[Report this comment] Posted by: Lily H. on Sep 6, 2008 3:24 AM

I reside in the same area where the infamous Pamela
Rae Stewart case occurred. Pamela Rae was a known
meth-using mom who was ordered by her doctors to
avoid having sex during the waning weeks of her preg-
nancy, but apparently her husband didn't bother
listening to the warning and had his way with her
anyway. She was already being monitored for her ongoing meth use, and was a trainwreck waiting to
happen. She avoided seeing doctors because she
was trying to cover up her drug use.

[...pat.]

I sit here, jaw agape, having read the full letter.
We must prevent Canada from becoming more like the USA in its fetus fetish. I am truly shocked that fetus rights come before the mother's rights, especially when those standing up for the fetus are making ill-informed decisions on its part. These weren't even issues of abortion: they were all issues of women giving birth.

As for Karol's comment: a quick scan of results when googling "sex in final weeks of pregnancy" debunks the myth. She may have been using drugs, which is one issue, but I see yet another medicalizing of a natural situation in doctors ordering her not to have sex.

[hysperia]

Antonia, Karol Karolak is a very well-known TROLL. I'm sure you wouldn't believe what he said just because he said it in any case, but with this guy, there are very good reasons to assume this is NOT true. In any case, women who use drugs still have civil rights. Though the state has been trying to figure out how to get hands on them for a long time.

My issue with this open letter is that so many people have criticised Palin for getting on that plane and supposedly risking the life of her fetus. All I can say is, "we" can't have it both ways. My choice would be for Palin's choice; and on the side of the women who were so horridly "manhandled" in the cases described by the letter.

[Antonia]

Thanks Hysperia. I am very well aware of KKs online activities as he has been a frequent emailer for over a year now. I allow some of his comments -- not those that I deem to be libelous, or hateful as defined by law, or those that are just plain cut'n'paste tedious -- to stand because they reveal what pro-choicers are up against.
That said, about Pamela Rae Stewart ...

1. What's next, prosecuting pregnant women for drinking and/or smoking?

2. Do KK and others of his mindset see women as nothing more than vessels, incubators, semen receptacles? How biblical of them. Keep your religion off my body.

[sooey]

Their religion is all about keeping you a second class citizen.