Abortion has always made me uncomfortable, but I've grown weary of the debate every four years when a presidential election rolls around. When Justice Harry Blackmun convinced Justice Anthony Kennedy to switch his vote in the 1992 Casey decision, the last chance for states to decide for themselves went up in flames. It would have been the perfect compromise and it would have taken the issue out of Federal elections. Instead, Roe v. Wade is here to stay.
Since Roe is a fact of life, I favor outlawing late-term abortions and I favor parental notification and waiting periods. It's one thing for an adult to have an early term abortion, but it's quite another to allow it willy nilly regardless of the harm it does. It seems that most Americans have some sort of squeamishness when it comes to the act of abortions. Even Bill Clinton said he wanted them to be safe but rare. His sentiments were tapping into the American psyche of abortions being unfortunate realities that allow disadvantaged women an opportunity to not be trapped in single motherhood.
What Americans don't want to hear about are social climbers that abort babies for convenience. Birth control isn't exactly a new fangled idea. And yet here is some lady in The New York Times Magazine that was tired of taking the pill and figured she might just have a kid if she got pregnant.
I found out I was having triplets when I went to my obstetrician.
My immediate response was, I cannot have triplets. I was not married; I lived in a five-story walk-up in the East Village; I worked freelance; and I would have to go on bed rest in March. I lecture at colleges, and my biggest months are March and April. I would have to give up my main income for the rest of the year. There was a part of me that was sure I could work around that. But it was a matter of, Do I want to?
I looked at Peter and asked the doctor: ''Is it possible to get rid of one of them? Or two of them?'' The obstetrician wasn't an expert in selective reduction, but she knew that with a shot of potassium chloride you could eliminate one or more.
On the subway, Peter asked, ''Shouldn't we consider having triplets?'' And I had this adverse reaction: ''This is why they say it's the woman's choice, because you think I could just carry triplets. That's easy for you to say, but I'd have to give up my life.'' Not only would I have to be on bed rest at 20 weeks, I wouldn't be able to fly after 15. I was already at eight weeks. When I found out about the triplets, I felt like: It's not the back of a pickup at 16, but now I'm going to have to move to Staten Island. I'll never leave my house because I'll have to care for these children. I'll have to start shopping only at Costco and buying big jars of mayonnaise.
When we saw the specialist, we found out that I was carrying identical twins and a stand alone. My doctors thought the stand alone was three days older. There was something psychologically comforting about that, since I wanted to have just one. Before the procedure, I was focused on relaxing. But Peter was staring at the sonogram screen thinking: Oh, my gosh, there are three heartbeats. I can't believe we're about to make two disappear. The doctor came in, and then Peter was asked to leave. I said, ''Can Peter stay?'' The doctor said no. I know Peter was offended by that.
I went on to have a pretty seamless pregnancy. But I had a recurring feeling that this was going to come back and haunt me. Was I going to have a stillbirth or miscarry late in my pregnancy?
I had a boy, and everything is fine. But thinking about becoming pregnant again is terrifying. Am I going to have quintuplets? I would do the same thing if I had triplets again, but if I had twins, I would probably have twins. Then again, I don't know.
The article may be the worst example of nihilism I've ever read. What's haunting about the story is the detachment this lady has from her own children. All she can think about is how she'll have to live on Staten Island and shop at a Wholesale Club. What would it do to the surviving kid psychologically to learn that two-thirds of the litter were tied up in a bag and thrown into the river? The last paragraph about how she'd abort the triplets again in the same situation but maybe keep the twins is just batty.
This is just one weirdo, but the people who celebrate this kind of choice fight against the myriad of other personal choices they’d rather see the government control. Where are people's priorities?
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