Pro-Lifers and the Invisible Woman

[Kishiria]

Because of shit like this:

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/why-i- ... -was-raped

Only one person in the comments calls Elise out on the fact that she never saw fit to ask her daughter's opinion. However, I particularly went nuts with the commenter who says to the person who criticized the author, saying, "Elise has been through hell!"

I could not help but see in this account and an interview linked to it that the entire scenario, in Elise's mind, is Elise, God, and the possible fetus. Her daughter? What daughter?

I am enraged about this. It really underscores for me the entire anti-abortion (I will NOT call it "pro-life") movement. It's all about the ones who are objecting to a woman making a decision. The woman effectively doesn't exist. She's a nonentity wrapped around a precious fetus. It makes me sick and I'm still upset about this story hours after reading it. :angry-fire: :angry-screaming:

[MadameX]

Welcome to totally justified, maddening, sometimes helpless, indignation.

It's never been about anything different than keeping women as non-entity incubators.

[Koala]

There are no words. I can't fathom that she is willing to force her mentally ill daughter (who has been raped) endure a pregnancy. That young woman needed an advocate of some kind. This is just unthinkable. And then she writes up an effing article so people can pat her on the back??? She's a monster!

[Kishiria]

And people DO pat her on the back, as if SHE is the one who went through the pain, and who would experience yet more.

[Maude]

This pisses me off. It's already disgusting to make a rape victim go through with a resulting pregnancy, but given this young woman's [mental] health issues, I just...I'm so angry right now. :angry-fire:

[Mama Mia]

Wow, that was all kinds of crazy ! I know the article states the daughter is cognitively challenged and functions at the level of an 8-10 year old ( in addition to being bi-polar ) ... but I couldn't find if the daughter is actually an adult, and did the mom even have the legal right to withhold Plan B from her ????? I saw in the follow-up article the daughter was supposedly glad that her mom hadn't given her "the abortion pill that kills the baby" .. but did anyone at the shelter or E.R. explain Plan B to her - and make sure she understood what they were saying ? Shouldn't there be some sort of obligation on the part of the medical workers and shelter worker to make sure she knows what is going on instead of just giving her mom the box of pills ? They probably had no reason to assume mom was going to bypass the pills, but still.....

[MadameX]

The rape itself is so traumatizing that it most often blocks the ovulation.

What. The. Ever. Loving. Fuck?

[Koala]

And people DO pat her on the back, as if SHE is the one who went through the pain, and who would experience yet more.

Because they don't give two shits about the woman who will have to actually have to carry the pregnancy. Hell, even the mother seems to feel sorrier for herself than she does for her daughter. I am telling you all, she absolutely should not have been allowed to make that choice.

Just think if she is pregnant. Then brave, heroic, Jesus loving grandma can step in a raise the baby. They'd really trip over themselves praising her then.

[Koala]

the daughter is cognitively challenged and functions at the level of an 8-10 year old ( in addition to being bi-polar )

This just says it all. Someone with the cognitive abilities of an 8 year old should not be forced to endure a pregnancy :( :( :(

I'm sorry guys. I know I keep commenting, but this one really gets to me.

[SamuraiKatz]

I am my developmentally disabled child's legal guardian. I am my child's caregiver. I am responsible for making sure she takes care of herself and she is in a safe situation. If I am not with her, she is with support staff from a local agency. When I become too disabled or die, one of her older sisters will take my place as her guardian. Where, how and why did this poor girl's care plan fail?

[Peas n carrots]

Angry,so angry. Because making your mentally ill developmentally challenged daughter give birth to a rspe baby, and not allow her to take part inn the decision...ugh, just ugh.

Is it just me or does Elise sound very condescending speaking about the staff and clinic that was attending to her daughter? This woman is beyond disgusting.

[Childless]

*sigh* Plan B is not an abortion pill. God, some people are just stupid.

[kb2]

After the police called me to tell me she’d been found, the officer asked me to meet him at the clinic and be reunited with my daughter. When I arrived, I was led to the Gloria Steinem Conference Room. I’m not kidding; that alone almost made me pass out.

Because what's important is that it was hard for her to be faced with people she disagreed with, not the suffering her daughter went through.

[MadameX]

*sigh* Plan B is not an abortion pill. God, some people are just stupid.

I followed their link that says it explains why they believe Plan B is an abortion pill, and it's the old "a fertilized egg is a person!!!!" argument, and some inconclusive studies that suggest Plan B might possibly think the uterine lining to prevent fertilized eggs from implanting, maybe, sometimes.

[emmiedahl]

This just says it all. Someone with the cognitive abilities of an 8 year old should not be forced to endure a pregnancy :( :( :(

I'm sorry guys. I know I keep commenting, but this one really gets to me.

Why did she leave the house alone in the first place, and why was it not reported to the police? I have a nine year old daughter and she is not mature enough to be out and about on her own. She plays in the backyard, but I would not let her just wander the neighborhood.

The handling of the disappearance combined with the way medical decisions are being handled--that is, NOT in the young lady's best interest--makes me think that a change in guardianship/conservatorship is needed here.

[crazyforkate]

Oh, my God, that is awful. That poor girl. I really hope she isn't pregnant, because with her health issues, that could really mess her up for a long time.

[VenusDaisy]

I will NEVER understand why some people believe that disposing of a few cells equates to murder, yet these same folks have no problem supporting capital punishment!

[Mama Mia]

I think she wandered off and was reported missing .. that is what it sounded like from the article.

At 9 I would have been able to walk to the store or to school or play in my general area ..and I allowed my kids to do the same..so maybe she had some general freedom, but not enough to be gone for hours.

[MadameX]

I will NEVER understand why some people believe that disposing of a few cells equates to murder, yet these same folks have no problem supporting capital punishment!

Well, I think they believe convicted criminals deserve their fate, but the ball of cells is innocent. (Probably because, you know, it isn't a sentient being with arms and legs and stuff, but whatevs...)

[BravaAmica]

What. The. Ever. Loving. Fuck?

Really? Because I fell pregnant as a result of rape. It was plenty traumatizing- yet I still ovulated.

[Three and Done]

As the mother of three daughters, I want to find this woman and bitch slap her.

:twisted:

[ellerigby]

Sometimes I read an article or watch a news program and I am pushed beyond anger. I end up just tired and so, so sad. This is one of those times. I just hope that someone who knows these people better than I do can help this young woman obtain a better life.

[debrand]

This woman's daughter might have to endure the pains of pregnancy without the mental ability to undertand why. She wont't be able to understand why her back aches, her feet sweel or she is tired. Afterwards, she will have to give birth and then recuperate. All without having the emotional or intellictual ability to really understand why.

Once she has given birth, the infant will be cared for by others. It won't matter to her mom whether her daughter has affection for her baby or wants to mother it. Other people will have to take care of the baby. This could be potentially heartbreaking to the victim.

The mother's decision is beyond cruel. It is almost betrayal. And it seems obvious that she is patting herself on the back for her courage.

If your child does not have the mental ability to decide such issues for themselves, then why subject them to pregnancy?

This needs to be said over and over again. The mass of cells has no brains and can feel no pain. The victim's life and well being should come before the brainless, unfeeling mass of cells.

[Austin]

What. The. Ever. Loving. Fuck?

An oldie-but-goodie from anti-choicers.

The obvious subtext is that if you do get pregnant from what you say was a rape, it really wasn't a rape because you obviously ovulated, meaning you weren't sufficiently traumatized.

[nokidsmom]

Read this article and it really pissed me off.

This poor young woman...she's been victimized twice, first by the rapist and then by her own mother.