Abortion providers now become the new enemy, the new communists. Seeing women as victims of money-hungry abortionists is so much more palatable to the conservative mind. The politicians and professors are not there to hear the women talk about the need to end their pregnancies, witness their reactions to the sonogram pictures, share their knowledge of the level of sacrifice and necessity. Back in 1982 when ketchup was a vegetable, I published the results of a survey I had done about the main reasons my patients gave for having abortions. Women were sacrificing their desire for children, and they knew just what they were doing and why.
Abortion is ultimately a survival decision.
A repeat of '82 is what many people fear will be the result if Republican Presidential candidate Phil Gramm and others get their way and cut welfare benefits to mothers with more than one child. The bishops fear that denying needed benefits to poor, young, unmarried women with children may pressure mothers towards more abortions and sterilization, while pro-choice forces oppose any type of government intrusion or coercion in reproductive decisions. As the politicians debate, the street struggle escalates. Right to Life March on Washington. Since Brookline, three more clinics have been firebombed in California, and anti-choice leaders have predicted more violence and killing if abortion is not stopped.