Bill Napoli

[ikyrian]

Bill Napoli is why I've been thinking about abortion a lot recently. I mean, seriously, what the fuck?

Comments

Agreed.

[esthompson.livejournal.com]

The idea that the only rape victims that deserve to have abortions are virgins is absurd. If he has a wife, I wonder what he would do if they were trying to conceive, and she got raped...and they either didn't know whose baby it was, or DNA showed that it was the rapist's. I bet my bananas he'd send her to Canada or London to have an abortion, especially if he found the idea of his wife having her rapist's baby repulsive for other reasons. For example, since he is such a strong right-winger, and since extreme right-wingers are more likely to be racist (studies show), would he push his wife to have an abortion only if her attacker was a member of a racial minority group? Hmmm.

While I think that the rape of a virgin is an especially henious crime because it probably colors her perspective of sex for the rest of her life, and possibly because it might restrict her possibilities for marriage in a tight-knit religious community, I don't think that ONLY virgin rape victims deserve the right to an abortion.

Also, if lawmakers would only allow rape victims to get an abortion (which is not the case in the S.D. legislation), how would they determine who was raped? An absurdly tiny percentage of women who press charges are actually rewarded with a conviction, and the trial process often takes longer than nine months. So, obviously, we can't wait for a conviction to determine a woman has been raped. Would she have to pass a lie detector test? People who are nervous or emotional anyway fail lie dectector tests at higher rates, and I assume most women who were recently raped would fall into this category.

Would she have to submit for a physical examination in an ER? I'm going to speak for myself, but the LAST thing I would want if I were raped, particularly in light of the fact that there is such a small chance of sending the rapist to jail anyway, would be a pelvic (or, god forbid, rectal) exam. I'm touchy about doctors seeing me naked on a normal day. I definitely wouldn't want a doctor who is not my primary care physician examining me, particularly if the doctor on duty is male, and even more so if the doctor eerily resembles my rapist (say I just got raped by a redheaded guy, and the doctor is a redhead). I think I'd just run, screaming, for the exits. Aside from all psychological concerns, wouldn't it hurt like hell to have a medical exam in the aftermath of a violent rape? Anyway...

I guess what I'm saying is that I think the way to screen rape victims to allow abortions would just be to have the rape victim sign a statement at the clinic stating that she had been raped. I expect that a lot of desperate women who have not been raped but who want an abortion badly for whatever reason would lie. So, why restrict abortions to rape victims? Why not let the woman decide if ending the life in her womb would seal her damnation...or not?

Re: Agreed.

[ikyrian.livejournal.com]

While I agree with just about everything you said, I just think: why restrict abortions at all? Not just rape victims, but for any woman who feels she has to have an abortion for whatever reason. Though here he is just restricting it to raped virgins, but at the very very least all rape victims should be able to get an abortion if they feel the need to. At the very very best, I think all women should be able to get an abortion if they want. It really irks me that this country is trying to legislate exactly what a woman can do with her own body, as if it's any of the government's damn concern.

Right. Exactly.

[esthompson.livejournal.com]

It's none of the government's business what women do with their own bodies. I implied that conclusion, but didn't exactly state it, because I wanted readers to decide that for themselves.