I came across the blog of woman studying to be an OB\GYN who does abortions (calls herself an "abortioneer"-- How Orwellian).In the clinic she works in, the staff rotate the jobs. She sometimes works in pathology, where they examine aborted fetuses. She writes:
Because I have no limits when it comes to abortion comfort, I get excited when I do path. I've always been the type to watch surgery shows on TV and I loved dissection fetal pigs in college biology. Pathology, to me, is nine parts science, one part humanity. When I get home from a day in path, I sometimes have to get out my old-fashioned paper journal and write about what I saw and learned, since my friends and family, supportive as they are, don't want to hear about it. I'm fascinated by development and abnormalities and by the fact that tissue doesn't really smell bad. As for the humanity part, while I don't see the fetuses as "babies," I see it as an honor that I'm trusted with this most controversial and taboo element of choice. I'm one of the few people in the world who will ever see this fetus. And the clients who know enough or are curious enough to ask, trust me to treat it with respect.
Does anyone see the contradictions here?
She works in OB\GYN, but the fetus is not a "baby" to her.
How would that go over with the average pregnant woman? Hm...
She's excited about being one of the few people in this world who'll ever see this baby.
Does anyone get excited about being the only person who'll see this gall bladder or kidney?
And oh yes. They bury the fetus.
Why do you bury a fetus, if you don't believe it's a human life?
Anti-choicers hold up posters of what I see in pathology. Even though their photos are larger than life, I'm not bothered by them. But I know so many pro-choicers who are, and honestly, this rubs me the wrong way sometimes. On the one hand, I know fierce pro-choice advocates who would never watch open-heart surgery on the Discovery Channel, so why would they really want to see this other aspect of surgery? On the other hand, my stubborn brain wonders why they must yell at the protesters, "That's disgusting! Why would I want to see that!?" Because I'm pretty sure that's exactly what the antis are going for. They're all about discomfort and the wrong kind of "humanity."
We're about discomfort all right.
And the "wrong" kind of humanity? You mean treating all human beings are human is...the wrong kind of humanity?
Yeah, that makes sense.
The right kind of humanity is to treat helpless unborn children as inferior to the mother, and fit to be killed.
Even if you're not as comfortable around fetuses as I am, why advertise that the protesters' techniques might be working, on some level?
Yeah, don't admit the truth or anything.
Abortion isn't always pretty. I'm one of the few (I say that not self-righteously--sometimes, I wonder if I should force myself to be a little bit uncomfortable.) who is able to counsel AND to assist the doctor in the OR. The less glamorous side of choice is not for everyone, but freedom and an amazing clinic staff and empowered clients are beautiful.
Empowered by killing other human beings. Yeah, it's a beautiful thing.
Because the fetus looks like a human being, and because we've all been fetuses, abortion will always be uncomfortable, and the images will always be disturbing-- and not just because surgery is disgusting. It has to do with uncomfortable philosophical and anthropological issues those photos raise.
A commenter writes:
I've always had this same issue with fetus-photo protests. Yes, an abortion probably looks really gross. You know what else does?
CHILDBIRTH.
They don't get it. They really, really don't get it.
Abortion is gross and results in a DEAD child.
Childbirth is gross but results in a LIVE child.
They're really in denial about it, aren't they?
