Let me begin with a truly shocking true story.

Nearly a decade ago, I had a 18-year-old high school senior inform me that her current (THIRD!) pregnancy was the fault of the state of Texas. After all, she had wanted her tubes tied following the birth of her second child (at age 16)-- but Medicaid wouldn't cover it for a female under 21 unless she had three children. It wasn't like she was going to quit having sex with her boyfriend (they lived together at his parent's house, along with their child and her child by another guy, born when she was 14) -- so it was clearly the state's fault.

I couldn't help but think of this young woman when I read this opinion piece from the Washington Post by the anonymous "Dana L.".

The conservative politics of the Bush administration forced me to have an abortion I didn't want. Well, not literally, but let me explain.

I am a 42-year-old happily married mother of two elementary-schoolers. My husband and I both work, and like many couples, we're starved for time together. One Thursday evening this past March, we managed to snag some rare couple time and, in a sudden rush of passion, I failed to insert my diaphragm.

The next morning, after getting my kids off to school, I called my ob/gyn to get a prescription for Plan B, the emergency contraceptive pill that can prevent a pregnancy -- but only if taken within 72 hours of intercourse. As we're both in our forties, my husband and I had considered our family complete, and we weren't planning to have another child, which is why, as a rule, we use contraception. I wanted to make sure that our momentary lapse didn't result in a pregnancy.

The receptionist, however, informed me that my doctor did not prescribe Plan B. No reason given. Neither did my internist. The midwifery practice I had used could prescribe it, but not over the phone, and there were no more open appointments for the day. The weekend -- and the end of the 72-hour window -- was approaching.

But I needed to meet my kids' school bus and, as I was pretty much out of options -- short of soliciting random Virginia doctors out of the phone book -- I figured I'd take my chances and hope for the best. After all, I'm 42. Isn't it likely my eggs are overripe, anyway? I thought so, especially since my best friend from college has been experiencing agonizing infertility problems at this age.

Weeks later, the two drugstore pregnancy tests I took told a different story. Positive. I couldn't believe it.

Got that. Dana was not responsible enough to use her birth control and was too busy to to bother looking for another doctor or -- lest we put too fine a point on it -- go slumming at the ER, so she made a choice to take risk a pregnancy. So the resulting pregnancy was the fault of. . . the Bush administration!

We then get all the ranting about right-wingers, religion seeping into American politics and government and the difficulty in procuring a feticide. This highly-educated professional woman (she's a lawyer) who made a number of choices that resulted in a pregnancy, like my former student, simply refuses to take responsibility for those choices. She has to find someone else to blame so that she can be the victim in the story.

A decade ago, I responded to my student by telling her that unless she could truthfully claim that a team of Texas Rangers kicked open her door and held her in place while then-Gov george W. Bush personally impregnated her, it was not the state of Texas fault that she was pregnant.

I offer the same response to Dana L. -- unless you can claim that the Secret Service held you down while President George W. Bush personally impregnated you, it is not the Bush administration's fault that you got pregnant and needed to have your unborn child killed.

And remember, Dana, Plan B in your case still would have been an abortion -- so don't kid yourself about what you were seeking.

You just wanted it to be earlier, neater, and easier on your conscience -- the ultimate rejection of responsibility.

UPDATE: I've gotten a couple of emails wanting to know what happened to my former student. About six weeks after our conversation, she delivered a healthy baby boy -- her third child delivered at expense of the taxpayers of the state of texas. And true to its policies, Medicaid paid for her tubes to be immediately tied. I'll let you decide if that was a net loss or net gain for the taxpayers.

Others writing on this piece include Maryland Conservatarian, appletree, Creature of Mad Enthusiasms, Villainous Company, jonquil, Suburban Guerrilla, The Reality-Based Community, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler

OPEN TRACKBACKING TO Conservative Cat, Samantha Burns, Stuck on Stupid, Bacon Bits, Adam's Blog, Lil Duck Duck, Third World County, Passionate American, Blue Star Chronicle, 7 Deadly Sins (twice), Uncooperative Blogger, Stop the ACLU, Wizbang!

Posted by: Greg at 02:56 AM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
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