Welcome To Our World, PZ.
I lied. So shoot me. I know I just said that that last was my only post today, but then I saw a post at Pharyngula, in which the good professor puts himself in the place of a pregnant teen in his home town.
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We’re All Dakotans
Just a thought?but you know, my town isn’t far from the South Dakota border, and there really isn’t that much difference between my neighborhood and that of some small South Dakota town 50 miles away. I think the piggish prigs who are pushing the legislation to criminalize abortion are contemptible, but does that mean we people of the progressive state of Minnesota are any better? That got me wondering?I’m a fully entitled, blissfully unaware, card-carrying member of the Patriarchy, after all, so I’ve never had to consider what it would be like to be female, 17, and worried that I might be pregnant.
I tried to imagine it.
I can get a pregnancy test kit from the Pamida down the road. I’d feel a bit weird about it, though: this is a small town. We know everyone and they know us, and those are high school and college kids working the cash registers there. Everyone is going to know about it if I buy one?I suppose I could try shoplifting it, but jeez, if I got caught shoplifting a pregnancy test, I might as well just die.
If I somehow got the test and it were positive, the next step would be difficult. There is a sign on the edge of town here that purports to be helpful? it says “Pregnant? Need advice?” with a phone number on it?but it’s put up by some of the local religious wackos, and all they’ll do is tell you to keep the baby and slap you upside the head with a Bible, so they certainly aren’t to be trusted.
The phone book isn’t much help. I wouldn’t trust the Morris hospital either?locals again, and they have a reputation for being very conservative. They don’t do abortions anyway. The nearest Planned Parenthood clinic is 45 minutes away, they don’t do abortions either, but they do provide emergency contraception?except that they’re only open on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons. WTF? Do a lot of people get knocked up on Monday and Tuesday nights or something?
As it turns out, the only abortion providers in Minnesota are all in Minneapolis. Three hours away, by car; to get there by bus requires a shuttle to Alexandria, then taking Greyhound the rest of the way. It isn’t easy, and it isn’t cheap. Once there, though, there’s more. Minnesota has a parental notification law, so at least one parent has to come along, and the other has to send along a notarized letter granting permission. Then there is a state-mandated 24 hour waiting period: at the first appointment, they have to counsel the person against getting an abortion, and can only do the procedure the following day?as if a young lady who has had to struggle that much just to get there hasn’t already thought things through thoroughly. Spending a night in the Big City is going to cost.
Did I mention that the procedure itself is going to cost $500+?
In other news : Cheated At Birth – the Real Gender Gap. Women are discriminated against from the start, you say? Well, fancy that.
Tags: US politics Pharyngula Abortion Feminism Novelty Soap
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