Abortion Soapbox

It is a common view among the anti-choice crowd that women seek abortions because pregnancy and parenthood are "inconvenient."

I recently had a discussion about this with a guy I know, as we were driving down the highway. He said, "I'll be fine with abortion when I am allowed to kill someone simply because they inconvenience me. That guy who just cut me off? He inconvenienced me. I should be allowed to kill him."

I tried to explain that women don't seek abortions on the basis of convenience: many don't have health insurance, are not psychologically or financially prepared to become a parent, are in abusive relationships, are in school. He said, "Inconvenience. Inconvenience. Inconvenience." You get the idea.

Losing your car keys is "inconvenient." Having your hot water heater die is "inconvenient." Having to go to three different stores in order to get the item you want is "inconvenient."

But a situation that requires you to alter your eating, sleeping, and movement habits for nearly a year, that requires you to face the very real risk of physical harm and possible risk of death, that permanently alters your body, and that irreversibly changes your life is a good bit more than "inconvenient." It's pretty damn momentous, and to suggest that it's anything less evidences a total disregard for the experience of childbearing, not to mention a chilling distain for women.