From: f_williams@ccsvax.sfasu.edu
Newsgroups: talk.abortion,alt.abortion.inequity
Subject: Rich Lee is an idiot   
Date: 29 Sep 92 15:23:44 CST
Organization: Stephen F. Austin State University

In article <Bv49L3.FtD@csugrad.cs.vt.edu>, rlee@csugrad.cs.vt.edu (Richard Lee) writes:K> 

> I'm a baby worshiper.  That may be but look.  We are talking about a
> life that will be born if we no NOTHING.  If the mother continues and
> has no abortion the baby will be born.  When you RIP it from her womb
> that is murder.  You are cutting it's throat for all intensive purposes. 
> So how can you justify 9 months of inconvience for the mother with a 
> humans life?

Nine months of inconvience [sic]?  Let me tell you about my "nine months
of inconvenience."  I was 25, had a challenging and enjoyable job, and
had just received a big promotion.  The baby was a surprise, albeit a
pleasant one (she was certainly not unwanted).  My first clue that I was
pregnant?  Overwhelming nausea.  BTW, I was practicing birth control.
The nausea continued and worsened over the next three months, by which 
time I had lost 15 pounds and my job.  Not unexpected, since I was almost
completely bedridden by the second month.  I literally crawled from my
bed to the bathroom every morning.  The sickness continued throughout 
the pregnancy, though fortunately it was far less debilitating after the
fourth month.  

So, there I was, at home and dependent on my husband's job, but still happy
about the baby in spite of it all.  Finally I went into labor two weeks late.
After 13 hours of labor, 4 hours of it hard labor, the baby went into fetal
distress.  I rode on a gurney to the operating room with the head OB nurse's
hand shoved far up the birth canal in an attempt to relieve pressure on the
umbilical cord -- agonizing pain, but I didn't even care because I thought
my baby, carried for nine months of physical misery, had died.  I woke up
after more than an hour and a half of surgery to the reassurances of a kind
nurse anesthesiologist, who began chanting "The baby is fine" as soon as
she saw that I was regaining consciousness.  Unfortunately, the surgery was
not yet over, so I had about ten minutes more of agony as the final sutures
were put in.  You see, saving the baby entailed a certain "slash and burn"
mentality on the part of the surgeon, so I was in bad shape.  Recovery
took about four months, since I had been torn open from navel to pubic bone
in the surgeon's haste to get the baby out.

Was it worth it?  You bet your life it was.  I loved and wanted my daughter
(still do, although she's now ten and *really* messy).  I count the physical
cost to myself as a small price to pay for something I wanted so much.

But how in the hell can this jerk Rich Lee say that pregnancy and birth
are a mere "9 months of inconvenience"?  Do my experiences sound like a 
trivial thing?  I lost my livelihood and my health during the pregnancy, and
believe me, neither of those is an "inconvenience".  How dare some creep
who will never face a pregnancy trivialize the amount of blood, sweat, and
tears that goes into creating a new life?

Wise up, Lee.  You've thoroughly alienated every woman in this discussion
group.

Leigh Williams
Stephen F. Austin State University
I speak only for myself.  
 
Newsgroups: talk.abortion