FURIOUS

Last night, we got a robocall that I wasn't able to pick up because I was putting Z to bed. They left a message on my answering machine. It said that Barack Obama:

"pledged to relegalize tax-funded partial birth abortion, which pierces the skulls of pain-sensitive late-term babies during childbirth."

It went on to spout some nonsense about parental notification for abortions for minors (yeah, the teenaged girl who's raped by her father should have to get his permission before she aborts his baby; it's only fair, right?)

HOW DARE THEY? Does B need to hear that? Should I have to explain what abortion is to a four year-old? I.AM.OUTRAGED. They have no right to leave such a graphic message on my answering machine. No right.

The call came from the National Pro-Life Alliance (please see sub-rant below about the term "pro-life"). I think I'm going to call a local news station about this, because it is so totally inappropriate to be leaving these sorts of messages on family answering machines. I'm also going to write the Alliance, and call them too. Join me if you'd like --

Martin E. Fox
President
National Pro-Life Alliance
4521 Windsor Arms Court
Annandale, VA 22003
(703)321-9200

Now let's talk about the content of this ridiculous and infuriating phone call.

1. "Partial-birth abortion" -- the medical term is actually intact dilation and extraction (D&X). It was renamed "partial birth abortion" by abortion opponents because that sounds scarier. I prefer the less judgment-laden term "late-term abortion." Let's just call it LTA for short, OK? So why would a woman have an LTA, and why would a doctor perform one? The procedure is rarely used -- it accounts for less than half a percent of all abortions performed. It is also most often performed "postviability" -- in other words, when it is too late to save the baby anyway. Something has gone so terribly wrong that the baby would not survive. In other cases, the mother's life is so severely at risk that she would not survive the pregnancy. Sometimes both are true. Bottom line: it's rarely performed, and it's a desperate life-saving measure. NOBODY wants a late-term abortion. Nobody does it just because they don't want to be pregnant. Nobody. Prohibiting it would cost some women their lives, and would force others to carry a baby they know to be dying for weeks or months. What an awful thing to do to women.

2. Barack Obama on LTA -- He thinks that LTA should be available, but properly restricted. Obama is not pro-abortion. His stance is much like my own: abortion is a sad but often necessary choice, and instead of prohibiting abortion, our society should do a better job of making sure it's less needed than it is today by reducing the number of unplanned pregnancies. The bottom line: He thinks women should be trusted to make the appropriate choice for themselves in conjunction with their doctors, their families and their clergy.

3. On the term "pro-life" -- It's a load of bullshit. How many of those people do you think are opposed to the death penalty? Not many, I'll bet. How can you be pro-life, yet support the death penalty? And why do so many "pro-life" politicians and citizens oppose government-funded health care for poor children? Or food stamps? School lunch? Head start? They're "pro-life" for fetuses, but think kids need to get it together and earn their own way, pull themselves up by their bootstraps, or maybe go shopping for better parents.

I'm pro-life. I love life. I love being alive. I'm also anti-abortion. I cannot imagine many circumstances in my own life when I would choose an abortion. If I had to, it would be devastating. I'd mourn it for the rest of my life. But I'm also pro-choice. I don't believe anyone should tell me I can't choose a particular medical procedure for my own body, and I certainly don't want to force any other women to live by my moral values instead of their own.

Can you tell I'm done being bipartisan? I can't do it anymore. The stakes are too high, and it's gotten too ugly. The other side is spouting lies about Obama and leaving hateful messages on my answering machine. The McCain website is making me sick -- it's all anti-Obama crap, empty Republican talking points, and minimal useful content. Sarah Palin is a mean, vindictive woman who was ill-prepared to take the role she's been given. She has succeeded in setting women back at least a decade in our hopes to someday occupy the White House.

I simply do not understand the other side in this election. Usually I'm pretty good at seeing both sides, but this year, I just don't. There is only one choice. Obama.