Sometimes I spot ironies in the newspaper and wonder if the stories are put close by design or accident. Here’s an example: Abortion clinic will be first to open. A district court judge ruled it unnecessary for an Austin, Texas abortion clinic to meet hospital surgical standards. Right below this short NewsWatch story, in the same column was Giant panda likely to give birth soon. The National Zoo in Washington, D.C. is excited to have spotted a developing fetus inside female panda, Mei Xiang. Mei Xiang will be well cared for and her fetus protected. This expected baby (panda) is celebrated.
The Supreme Court is deeply divided over Texas law limiting clinic numbers. More than 200 women are hospitalized each year as a result of botched procedures in Texas abortion clinics, yet pro-choice advocates are battling to “protect” women’s health by fighting against rules that would require abortion clinics to have admitting privileges to nearby hospitals or have hospital standards in abortion clinics. (I may be cynical, but I think the real worry is rules would cut into their bottom line.) Almost half of the abortion clinics have closed, but there are still 70,000 abortions a year in Texas.
Thankfully, abortion rates are going down. In my home state of California, only 181,730 babies were aborted (2011). It grieves my soul that human babies are considered so expendable.
Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California claim “Decisions about childbearing should be made by women, their families, and their doctors – not politicians.”
I see irony in this statement. If pro-choice advocates don’t want politicians involved, why are there so many pro-choice lobbyists in the corridors of Washington, D.C.? What kind of machinations had to go on behind the scenes to shut down inquiries into the sale of fetuses? How many deals had to be made to keep the money stream going into the clinics that already make plenty off the abortions they provide? Abortion is BIG business. Of course, providers don’t want it regulated in any way. Of course, they don’t want anyone outside their special group to investigate what goes on behind closed doors. All they care about is women’s health, they say. Oh, the irony.
It’s safer to be a fetus inside a panda in a zoo than in the womb of an American woman.