M2RB: The Cranberries, Paris 1999
There's a place for the baby that died,
And there's time for the mother who cried.
And she will hold him in her arms sometime,
'Cause nine months is too long, too long, too long...
How, how could you hurt the child,
How could you hurt the child?
Now, does this make you satisfied,
Satisfied, satisfied?
And there's time for the mother who cried.
And she will hold him in her arms sometime,
'Cause nine months is too long, too long, too long...
How, how could you hurt the child,
How could you hurt the child?
Now, does this make you satisfied,
Satisfied, satisfied?
Hence the dangerous (for liberals) question lurking beneath the surface of the Akin controversy. If the Republican nominee for Senate in Missouri is an extremist on abortion, what does that make the president of the United States?
By ROSS DOUTHAT
IN 1971, two years before Roe v. Wade, the philosopher Judith Jarvis Thomson used an arresting thought experiment to make the case for legalized abortion.
Imagine, wrote Thomson, that you awoke to find yourself lashed to a
famous violinist. The violinist suffers from a lethal kidney disease,
and because only your blood type can save his life, his admirers have
kidnapped you and looped your circulatory systems together. If you
consent to remain thus entangled for nine months, he will make a full
recovery. Disentangle yourself, however, and he dies.
Thomson suggested that a woman facing an unintended pregnancy is in a
similar position. Her body is effectively being held hostage, and while
carrying the unborn life to term might be a heroic act, it cannot be
required of her, any more than you could be required to meekly accept
your fate as a prisoner of the violinist.
Provocative as it is, there are obvious problems with this analogy. It
implies that there’s no difference between declining to provide medical
treatment and taking a life directly, and no difference between the
moral obligations owed a stranger and the obligations owed one’s own
child.
The biggest difficulty, though, is that most women considering an
abortion were not kidnapped and impregnated against their will. They
freely chose the act that brought the fetus into being, and analogizing
their situation to a kidnap victim implies a peculiar, almost
infantilizing attitude toward female moral agency.
There is, however, one case where Thomson’s famous thought experiment
has a real and gripping power: pregnancies that result from rape. Then
the woman’s body has in a sense been kidnapped by her assailant, and the
life inside her is the consequence of a violation rather than a choice.
From a rigorous anti-abortion perspective, that life has the same
inalienable rights as any other innocent. But even the most rigorous
abortion foe recognizes the unique agony — and perhaps, the political
impossibility — involved in asking a woman to bear her rapist’s child.
It’s the desire to escape from this dilemma, no doubt, that explains the
Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin’s instantly infamous claim that
there’s actually no problem at all, because “legitimate” rape victims
don’t get pregnant in the first place.
Blending superstition, sexism and stupidity, his comments have been a
boon to the Democratic Party not only in Missouri but nationally as
well. In an election season where the Democratic incumbent has been
transparently eager to change the subject from the economy to social
issues, Akin handed the president and his party a great and unexpected
gift.
But great gifts are also great temptations. Having Akin front and center
is clearly helpful to the Democrats. Having liberal politicians harping
incessantly on the issue — accusing Mitt Romney (falsely) of favoring banning abortion in cases of rape, headlining abortion rights at the Democratic Convention, and so on — is a riskier maneuver.
As the Republican Party has discovered in the past, when voters want to
talk about the economy and you can’t stop talking about the culture war,
it’s easy to seem out of touch even when the public agrees with what
you’re saying.
On the abortion issue, too, Democrats have a tendency to forget that the public doesn’t necessarily agree with them. Only 22 percent of Americans
would ban abortion in cases of rape or incest, according to Gallup. But
that’s an exceptional number for exceptional circumstances. The broader polling
shows a country persistently divided, with women roughly as likely to
take the anti-abortion view as men. (Indeed, the small minority that
opposes abortion in cases of rape includes more women than men.)
The polling also shows plenty of cases where public opinion cuts
strongly against the pro-choice side. Large majorities support bans on second- and third-trimester abortion, on sex-selective abortion and on the controversial “partial birth” procedure.
These are issues where many Democratic politicians have something in
common with Akin: They have abortion positions well outside the American
mainstream.
Because the press is reliably sympathetic to the cause of abortion
rights, and because pro-choice extremism tends to be the province of
sophisticates and tastemakers, this reality does not always get the
attention it deserves. But it’s crucial to understanding the risk that
the Democrats are taking if they set out to make this election a
referendum on abortion.
That’s because in Barack Obama, they have a nominee who occupies the far leftward pole of the abortion debate, with a long and reliable record of voting against
even modest regulations on the practice — including a vote he cast as
an Illinois lawmaker against regulations intended to protect infants
born accidentally as a result of a botched abortion. President Obama
rarely bothers with Bill Clinton’s “safe, legal and rare” formulation:
he’s pro-choice with almost no limitations or exceptions.
Hence the dangerous (for liberals) question lurking beneath the surface
of the Akin controversy. If the Republican nominee for Senate in
Missouri is an extremist on abortion, what does that make the president
of the United States?
The Icicle Melts - The Cranberries
When, when will the icicle melt,
The icicle, icicle?
And when, when will the picture show end,
The picture show, picture show?
I should not have read the paper today,
'Cause a child, child, child, child he was taken away.
There's a place for the baby that died,
And there's time for the mother who cried.
And she will hold him in her arms sometime,
'Cause nine months is too long, too long, too long...
How, how could you hurt the child,
How could you hurt the child?
Now, does this make you satisfied,
Satisfied, satisfied?
I don't know what's happ'ning to people today,
When a child, child, child, child, he was taken away.
There's a place for the baby that died,
And there's time for the mother who cried.
And she will hold him in her arms sometime,
'Cause nine months is too long, too long, too long...
There's a place for the baby that died,
And there's time for the mother who cried.
And you will hold him in your arms sometime,
'Cause nine months is too long, too long, too long,
Too long.
The icicle, icicle?
And when, when will the picture show end,
The picture show, picture show?
I should not have read the paper today,
'Cause a child, child, child, child he was taken away.
There's a place for the baby that died,
And there's time for the mother who cried.
And she will hold him in her arms sometime,
'Cause nine months is too long, too long, too long...
How, how could you hurt the child,
How could you hurt the child?
Now, does this make you satisfied,
Satisfied, satisfied?
I don't know what's happ'ning to people today,
When a child, child, child, child, he was taken away.
There's a place for the baby that died,
And there's time for the mother who cried.
And she will hold him in her arms sometime,
'Cause nine months is too long, too long, too long...
There's a place for the baby that died,
And there's time for the mother who cried.
And you will hold him in your arms sometime,
'Cause nine months is too long, too long, too long,
Too long.
1 comment:
Resist
I see one problem with only allowing abortion in the case of rape or incest, how many innocent men would go to prison because the woman says she was raped just to abort the child? That's a scary thought for men. I think it shouldn't be illegal, but no government money should ever be paid for any abortion at any time.
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