houston chronicle | Across the country, abortion is being attacked by all sides. Legal arguments for the North Dakota abortion legislation start today. Texas continues its unnecessary and inexplicable funding attacks on Planned Parenthood
in the name of abortion prevention–even though the funding doesn’t even
cover pregnancy termination. Little by little, day by day, legal
precedent by legal maneuver, we’re chipping away at a woman’s right to
choose without thought of the consequences. And the stakes are huge.
Why didn’t government agencies crack down on Gosnell’s clinic
sooner? Because we don’t even want to talk about abortion in this
country. There is a culture of distaste when it comes to pregnancy
termination–despite the fact that it is still legal. We don’t want to
throw our tax dollars away on the oversight and regulation of clinics.
Who needs that? No one wants to listen when abuses are reported. If
you are getting an abortion, you deserve whatever you get. We want to
pretend that abortion isn’t there. We want to punish women who seek to
actually use their legal rights to terminate a pregnancy. And in this
way, we, as a country, as humans, have failed Gosnell’s patients almost
as much as he did.
Let’s not kid ourselves: abortion is not going to go away. Legal or
illegal, women will still get pregnant. Women will still seek to end
their pregnancies. One way or another, it’s going to happen.
Which is why Dr. Kermit Gosnell’s trial does not give ammunition to
the pro-life camp. On the contrary, it’s yet another reminder why it’s
so important to keep abortion safe, humane and legal. It’s a reason why
women everywhere, no matter their beliefs, should stand up and fight
for choice. Because once Roe vs. Wade is gone, “clinics” like Gosnell’s
will flourish. They will be the ones that will replace–yes, illegally,
but still–replace safe and humane providers like the Planned Parenthood
clinics that our own state is trying to discredit. And those horrifying
places will be women’s only option.
