When I read this story I was in tears at the end. Not tears of sadness for the unfortunate pregnant woman, but tears of laughter from the stupidity of her conclusions.

For those who didn't read it. She is a young 40 something attorney in N. Virginia. She and her husband got amorous and, in the heat of the moment, she didn't insert her diaphragm.

She couldn't get the Plan B drug over the counter, it was a weekend, the doctors offices were closed, and presto you guessed it, she is knocked up.

The woman already has children and her family is "complete" so she goes to get an abortion. There are not enough abortion providers she complains (are they supposed to be ubiquitous like Subway sandwich shops or what?) so she ends up at an abortion clinic and has to wait a reeealllllly long time, I think around six entire hours, while her husband and her other kids that were spared being murdered in utero are out shopping.

My favorite part is the conclusion. She blames the govt. and even Bush personally for the whole mess because Plan B is not readily available over the counter!!

Have unprotected sex, get pregnant, no Plan B, get an abortion, Bush's fault. Typical of many Americans these days, take no responsibility for negative consequences of your actions and blame someone else.

Actually when I think about it maybe my tears were of sadness. One one hand for the murdered baby, second for the fact that a newspaper would print this pathetic lack of logic.

BTW, this story reminded me of a client I met in Nashville a few weeks ago. She is in her late 30's and has a husband and two children. She switched birth control pill prescriptions and ended up pregnant. Instead of looking in the yellow pages for an abortion provider or suing the doctor who prescribed the pills, she and her husband will be getting the baby clothes out of the attic and setting up the nursery again.

Dan, your Tn. client reminds me of good friends of mine in Fl. Both 44 years old, successful, 3 kid already, the youngest is 12 years old. They're having an oops baby in the fall and after the intial shock upon finding out are doing quite well adapting to the thought of diapers again.

Personal responsibility. Now, that's a laugh. I don't want to even get into the whole abortion debate, but anybody who's going to blame anybody else for their getting pregnant during consensual sex is a moron.

If these folks are through having kids and they know it, might I suggest one of the following options:

Snip him, snip her, or get an IUD.

I think the name "Plan B" is a misnomer. After-the-fact birth control is really no plan at all.

Dan, I agree that it is sad that there are so many unwanted pregancies out there when there are so many options available. But I guess it is pretty logical that once you've blamed the husband, the drug-store, the doctor's office, and the dog, the next step would be to blame Bush.

The LTE did not mention Bush, did the original article?

I'm not going to try to defend this woman 'cause I know you guys will rip me to shreds and I'm not in the mood today. I will, however, make two points:

1. The author stated she takes medications that could cause birth defects. So, perhaps her concerns were more than just having an already "complete" family.

2. If you believe life begins at fertilization, an IUD is the same as an abortion. The egg is fertilized but the IUD prevents it from implanting in the uterus.

3. A pregnancy could certainly have resulted even if she had been "responsible" and used her diaphragm.

Kel,
You are the only post here that truly is a "thinking" person's post. Thank you.

(Other than Carol pointing out that the letter did NOT mention Bush)

Kel,

I won't rip you to shreds. You make two really good points and one really good observation.

I'll address them one by one.

1) I missed the part about the medications causing birth defects. Just one more reason the author should have been careful. The fact is, she was not. She used NOTHING for birth control.

2) From the fertility aspect, an IUD would be similar to an abortion. I guess everyone has their own opinion as to when life begins. I've also heard the argument that a condom is like an abortion because it kills potential life. The one thing I don't like about IUD's is the potential side-affects of using them. That and they used to have these little wires that hung down and could jab a fellow at some inopportune times!

3) You are correct that sometimes pregnancy can occur EVEN when protection is used. Very few forms of birth control are 100% effective. And the ones that are pretty close (snip snip) are permanent and not everyone is ready for that yet.

But the issue here is that this couple used absolutely NOTHING. This isn't a case where they were being responsible and still got pregnant. They were just being irresponsible.

I feel for them because I know what they went through was a difficult choice to face and an ordeal to go through. I just think when people start playing the blame game they rarely want to look at the usual suspect first.

Just one more thing...the author did not blame anyone for her pregnancy. She did, however, take issue with our government blocking over-the-counter sales of emergency contraception which, BTW, prevents pregnancy (does not terminate an existing pregnancy) against the recommendation of the FDA.

Kel,
You are so right and you stated the obvious (to most of us anyway!) very succinctly.
Thank you.

"The LTE did not mention Bush, did the original article?"

As I recall, yes. The whole point was that it was "all Bush's fault" she got pregnant, havibg to do with laws and regulations.

It was a VERY lame premise to begin with.

Here is her actual letter from Dana L.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/02/AR2006060201405.html

The very first line blames Bush, here it is:

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

Of course she claims "not literally" but the intent is there plain as day. If she didn't blame Bush she wouldn't have said it in the first place and then inserted the disclaimer.

So the letter DOES mention Bush. Not the LTE, but the actual letter from Dana L. I know that went over your head DD, but the original letter is what we were referring to.

True, she was using meds as Kel states, but she and her husband alone are to blame for the pregnancy and subsequent abortion, NO ONE ELSE!!

As YD already stated, if you don't want any more children, then "snip it in the bud", either him/her or both.

The lame thing Bubba is that illogical nonsense like this actually gets published in the first place.

Easy on Carol there Dan. I believe that she was only asking a question for clarity.

Personally, why does no one deal with the ending of sentenct one in "Dana L.'s" article? That would be a good starting point, rather than automatically jumping to the politics of the article.

Any takers?

Shalom

..."in a sudden rush of passion, I failed to insert my diaphragm"....

Is she blaming the Bush administration for her "sudden rush of passion" or for the president not being there to "insert her diaphragm" for her?

Perhaps we need a new government agency to oversee the diaphragm insertion into people caught up in the "moment of passion"... Maybe the 'DODI'...?

I agree neocon!

We need more conservative government intervention into the everday lives of its citizens!

Shalom