The popular new blog “What to Expect When You’re Aborting” may be
the worst thing that’s happened to the choice movement since Sarah Palin. And,
in a shout-out that promises to make anti-choice Republicans proud, the writer thanks
her “lefty parents” for forming her beliefs.
The anonymous blogger is an anti-choice caricature of the
kind of woman who would choose to have an abortion. She is a financially stable
white woman in her early twenties; she has been on the pill since she was 13, though she has been "pretty f***ing lax" about it; she glorifies alcohol
consumption (beginning her description of the day of her abortion with the
headline, “Let’s get some cocktails and de-brief, shall we?”); and she takes
glee in parading her hatred for all religion. I don’t have a problem with any
of these things in and of themselves—I just don’t want this young woman to be
the spokesperson for reproductive rights.
When the blogger sees her fetus, which she refers to as “Tumor,”
in a sonogram, she writes, “This was not my Juno moment, where all of a
sudden I bit my lower lip and recognized the ‘life’ inside of me. If I could have
I would have ripped the f***ing thing our [sic] with my bear [sic] hands on the
spot.” She is only concerned that the “tumor’s
freakshow head” will mean she’ll be in more pain during the procedure.
The way a woman reacts to a pregnancy is entirely personal: she may feel nothing but relief to have an abortion, or she may decide, at 16, to become a mother. But I don’t want to hear a callous woman broadcasting her hatred of her
fetus as an example of why reproductive rights are important, any more than I want
to hear an evangelical teenage mom self-righteously defend her choice as heroic
or moral.
This blogger, not surprisingly, minces no words in
expressing her rather juvenile hatred for the “culture warriors.” She’s got no
time for intelligently discussing policy issues (though she does occasionally include
a meaningful quote from more nuanced thinkers); she just loathes the bastards
and she takes joy in making that perfectly clear, entirely unaware that she is
only giving anti-choice activists lots of grist for the self-righteous hatred
mill.
This blog epitomizes my concern about the attitude amongst
young people that it’s cool not to care too much about anything. If this is what teenage girls stumble upon on the
Internet as they try to navigate the very difficult questions surrounding sex and
relationships, parents need to work doubly hard to raise thoughtful, intelligent young women.
Photo: What to Expect When You're Aborting
