Another pathetic anti-abortionist sensationalist attempt

Granted, this is an old video (late 2006, to be precise), but it still highlights a reality that's very much present in these days as well. It's a young woman who appeared on The O'Reilly Factor with the supposedly heart-wrenching story of her abortion at the hands of Dr. George Tiller. After hearing this interview, you'll likely understand why I'm feeling absolutely no empathy for her and her miserable little mishap. (And do forgive me for the horrible audio quality and scratchiness; it's the only one I could find.)

Okay. First of all: she was knocked up at thirteen years old, and only brought up her desire for having an abortion after passing 20 weeks of pregnancy? Forgive me for not crying crocodile tears here, but if you wait five freakin months before finally deciding to have the pregnancy terminated, then really, it's your damned fault if you don't like the results of a late-term abortion for waiting so damn long in the first place. Make up your damn mind.

Then, she comments on how, "on the third or fourth day" (of the five-day late-term abortion process during which the cervix is slowly dilated to allow the fetus to pass through), a doctor (later acknowledged as Dr. Tiller himself) injected her with a solution that "suffocated and burned [her] baby to death". Notice the typical heartstrings-tugging phrasing there. It's ridiculous. The infant does not feel pain or fear or torment of any kind, and it is not suffocated (and much less burned) to death. It's simply a solution that stops its heart, quickly and painlessly. The fetus knows nothing about what happened; its life just ends, with neither a bang nor a whimper, but in ignominious silence.

She then proceeds to complain and whine about it's all "very graphic" and disturbing and whatnot. I'm sorry if your little child's eyes were offended, but – *ahem* – if you AGREED TO IT, it means you knew what was coming. Don't play that "but I didn't know!" bullshit, especially to those who know how to recognize said bullshit. And – especially – don't fucking lie about "not knowing what was gonna happen". That is a purely baldfaced lie. You knew every fucking step of the way. It's called "informed consent", and it's 100% guaranteed you were briefed on everything that was going to happen to you. Not doing so would've been totally illegal to begin with, so it's a certainty that you knew exactly what was going to happen before you went in. Don't try to create a reaction when we knew what was to happen as well as you did. Dishonest fool.

Not to mention that, of course, seeing as you did know what was to happen, the fact that you agreed to it, and proceeded with it, further voids your right to be all crying and bitching about it. You knew it was coming. If you didn't like it, you shouldn't have gone through with it. You could've walked away at any time without intervention.

"It's important to know that this is going on in our country". Yes, it is indeed important. Women need to know they have a chance at terminating their unwanted and dangerous pregnancies instead of suffering through it with the very real risk of serious or permanent physical or psychological trauma.

But I suppose that's now how she meant it, right? No, she meant that it's important that women know they can sign up for a relatively low-cost abortion, be guided through the whole process with care and compassion and understanding and support, go through it completely painlessly, be fully aware of what's to happen as to avoid surprises or shocks, whilst of course retaining the full right to end the procedure at any point in time should they change their minds. Right ... 'cause that's bad.

And then, the most memorable (and, to me, pathetically disingenuous) part of all: when O'Reilly asks her what happened to her afterwards, she goes on and on about how she was "traumatized", and how she became "promiscuous", fell into drugs, was depressed, had very low self-esteem, etc, etc.

... Is it really cruel of me if I laugh in derisory irony at this point? Not to be cruel – I'm not laughing at her having been depressed or addicted to drugs, or slutty, or even "traumatized" (not that I believe that last one though) – but rather, at the implication that it was the abortion that caused all that. First of all: if she fell pregnant at 13 years old, I think it's safe to assume she was already well along down that path. The abortion really didn't count for much at all.

Second, numerous studies have shown that most women having undergone abortions actually have very few negative psychological (and/or psychosomatic) effects following the procedure, especially long-term. Many do feel some amount of guilt or numbness, but that's just due to the fact that "it's finally over", and they generally rebound quite quickly. Of course, "Kelly" could be in the small percentile of women who do suffer psychological setbacks, but it's fairly unlikely. So all in all: unless further evidence is uncovered, this was, again, a disingenuous lie about abortion "traumatizing" her. Especially since – once again – she knew perfectly well what she was getting herself into.

So all in all: yet another dishonest attempt by an idiot to smear abortions, and particularly, the late Dr. George Tiller (rest in peace).

But then, what else can you expect from anything that's broadcast on the Fox News channel?