Apparently abortion wait times in Ottawa are six weeks.
So how do we fix this?
They say we're complacent about our abortion rights. I'm not sure if that's the case. I think it's just that, like with anything, we tend to assume the situation's the same unless given further information. I know about the Morgentaler clinic, I have a family doctor, I could go to the Bay Centre or Planned Parenthood or Hassle-Free, and if all else fails Telehealth could probably refer me. I have a plan and a series of backup plans, my elected representatives are all pro-choice, so what else would they have me do? I don't think having fully processed all available information and made an action plan = being complacent. Now I know that there's waiting times, so now I start following up after I miss one period (which I never actually have) instead of waiting to see if I miss the second. But aside from that, what?
They also say people are hesitant to speak out because of the stigma of having an abortion. I'm totally willing to represent as a potential abortion patient, but I don't know how much that would count since I'm not pregnant and not in Ottawa. But yeah, because people are afraid to speak out, I'm going to out myself here: Until I reach menopause or get a tubal, I consider myself a potential abortion patient. I'm just not sure what I'm meant to do with that.
Unfortunately, I made the mistake of reading the comments page. I don't recommend it. It's full of assholes and will just make your blood pressure go up. But I do have two productive comments arising from all those assholes (in addition to all my usual comments, which we'll take as read because they are in the archives and in everything I've said in my life.)
1. A lot of people in the comments seem to take great personal offence that anyone would ever get an abortion. I'm not sure why. However, for those types of people, I'm offering you a fabulous once in a lifetime opportunity. You, yes you, can stop me from ever getting an abortion! All you have to do is get me a tubal ligation! Just one successful tubal, and I can promise you I will never get an abortion ever in my life! The tricky part: I'm 26, never married, no children, never been pregnant. Because botched surgery can result in incontinence, I require an experienced surgeon in the top quintile who has never once performed an operation that resulted in incontinence. Hook me up, and you'll have removed one person from the pool of people who might possibly have abortions.
2. If you think about it, it's mind-boggling how many times you ovulate in your lifetime. Do the math - it's close to 500 times! I, personally, have been through nearly 200 menstrual cycles. Two hundred! That's 200 times I have successfully avoided getting pregnant. So if I found I needed to have an abortion next time around, that would be one abortion I did have, and 200 abortions I didn't have. People should really do this math before condescendingly assuming that people who need abortions don't know how to prevent pregnancy. I'm sure if you do the math, you'll find an astounding success rate in almost everyyone in the world.
3 comments:
Thanks for this excellent post.
I haven't written about the abortion wait-time thing because I haven't been able to process it yet.
With my background, it's hard for me to see this as complacency, or an attack on reproductive rights.
People should really do this math before condescendingly assuming that people who need abortions don't know how to prevent pregnancy. I'm sure if you do the math, you'll find an astounding success rate in almost everyyone in the world.
I would guess, for many, the first (or two or three) dozen successes have more to do with abstinence or dumb luck than "know(ing) how" to prevent pregnancy.
Meh, abstinence is a perfectly legitimate way of preventing pregnancy
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