Money and connections

1. Conventional wisdom is that, even when abortion is illegal, rich people can always get abortions.

 

I have no doubt that money facilitates things, but it seems like this conventional wisdom disregards the fact that illegality is a barrier - not just because of the actual law, but because not everyone has the knowledge or connections to circumvent the law. 

 

As an analogy, I'm sure I can afford illegal drugs. However, I have no clue where to buy them. I have no clue how reliable the internet might be on this question. (Would I google my way to a honeypot or a scam or poisoned supply?)

I can think of no more than three people I know who might possibly have a lead on where to buy illegal drugs (and possibly zero of them actually do). I've heard that sneakers on wires might mean there's a drug dealer around, but I have no idea how to determine who they are. And if I found a drug dealer and walked up to them attempting to buy drugs, I have no idea what the script would sound like. I'm sure they'd think I'm a cop.

Now, abortion is much more important than illegal drugs, and involves much more desperation. So if it were an abortion I was after and legal means weren't available, I'd try every internet honeypot. I'd ask every promising person. I'd make it my full-time job to find the connection I need.

But that may or may not work, and it wouldn't be money that helps me find the connection. (In fact, money might even get in the way - the causes and effects of my money also make me come across as someone who'd call the cops.

And it's not just finding the connection that's a problem. If you live with controlling family members or otherwise don't have individual and private freedom of moment or freedom of communication, the people around you could be a barrier. Imagine the minor child of a reigning monarch wants to get an abortion - they'd need to have either their family or their security detail onside with, at a minimum, a private medical appointment, and (if their family isn't onside) would have to make sure the doctor and the security detail wouldn't report back to their family. 

On top of all this, think back to the olden days before the internet. How would you find an abortion then?

In Downton Abbey, Lady Edith found an abortionist from an ad in the back of a women's magazine. But what if you didn't read that particular magazine, or look at the ads on the basis that they (like many classified ads) wouldn't be relevant?

I've read (on the internet!) that, in the olden days, abortion products and services were advertised obliquely, with language about restoring menstrual regularity or something similar. But what if you didn't know the code? If abortion suddenly became illegal, my 40-year-old self would certainly have the savvy to obliquely inquire about things I should avoid so I don't inadvertently lose the pregnancy, but my 20-year-old self would never have thought of this.

In short, while money would, of course, smooth the way to an abortion - and lack of money could easily be a barrier to an abortion - it is still quite possible that, in a context where abortion is illegal, a rich person would be unable to get an abortion because they lack the ability to navigate the relevant segment of the underworld.

2. Conventional wisdom is that posh universities are for networking

 

There have been some stories in the news recently where parents have apparently donated or bribed their kids' way into big-name universities. My immediate response was "What do they expect to happen once they get admitted to the universities without being qualified?" to which people have replied that the intention is for them to network rather than to be academically successful.

Which makes me wonder how networking works among rich/fancy people.

If you aren't actually qualified to be admitted to your fancy university, and you start trying to network to people who are qualified, it seems to me that they'd see that you're unqualified. So any attempts at network, i.e. at making them aware of your existence, would only backfire - they'd become increasingly aware of your incompetence.

But, since conventional wisdom is that unqualified fancy university admission provides networking opportunities, does that mean that networking among rich/fancy people is simply a matter of being aware of each other's existence?

But, at the same time, some of the people at the rich/fancy universities must be qualified to be there. Are they not gaining the attention of the networking targets? Or are the networking targets in the market for so many networkees that the only prerequisite is "I am aware of your existence"?

Or maybe these people are particularly charming? And therefore mere proximity will be enough to build them connections? But, even then, it surprises me that bribing them into fancy universities would be the optimal approach. It seems to me that, surely, it would be more efficient to cut out the middleman and bribe them into some prestigious entry-level job or some sinecure, so they're already in a useful role rather than being dependent on their charms to get them there. And, if they are in fact so charming, surely they could do more with those charms in an established position rather than as an unqualified student in a university full of qualified students?