The Supreme Court Will Overturn Roe v Wade, Then What?

The following article appeared in The NYT on June 8, 2019. In response I wrote the comment below. It was a NYT's pick and many readers echoed my sentiments.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/08/upshot/politicians-draw-clear-lines-on-abortion-their-parties-are-not-so-unified.html 

Shadi Mir

NYCJune 8, 2019

Times Pick

Mr. Cohn is absolutely correct in stating that the choice issue is quite complex. I believe that life begins when an egg and a sperm form a zygote. I also have had two early-term abortions, flanking the two planned pregnancies that I carried to term. They were by no means easy choices, but being a mother, I know how difficult it is to raise children properly, and therefore, I am soundly pro-choice. Was I careless to get pregnant when I was too young, or too poor to parent a healthy and happy child? Yes. But it doesn't mean that a mistake should have resulted in life-long misery for all involved. I know people who have had several abortions because they use the procedure as birth control, which is wrong. Do I condone late term abortion after "quickening" when the mother can feel her baby inside her, usually between 4 to 5 months? No. However, no one has the right to tell another person how to live. In this day and age of human overpopulation, and the tweaking of creation of life in myriad labs all over the world, it seems anachronistic to concern ourselves with "sacredness" of life. Perhaps we should think more about quality of life, not only that of women and children, but of all living beings.

1 REPLY

former therapist commented June 8, 2019

F

former therapist

WashingtonJune 8, 2019

@Shadi Mir, I think you raise excellent points. Historically, quickening was the determining cut-off point for legal abortion in this country prior to the women's suffrage movement (when suddenly abortion became a political issue). However, as a healthcare professional, I know there are humanitarian issues for late term abortion: mental illness, late-stage cancer, anencephaly (no brain development in the fetus leading to suffering and inevitable death), and a host of other disasters make a late-term abortion a humane choice. Every woman I've seen who chooses it knows it is a Sophie's Choice, and the day she has to make that choice is the worst day of her life.