You know, I think we all owe Katie Couric a big round of applause for this. She has conducted herself in a manner that not all of us would have been able to. In the face of abject stupidity, she has been professional, and yes - even courteous. Interviewing the Idiot on the Ticket, Sarah Palin, can’t have been easy, but she pulled it off with grace and dignity.
That said, Sarah Palin wants the deed and title to your womb, stat. No matter if you’re a grown woman or a teenage girl. From last night’s interview (above):
Katie Couric: If a 15-year-old is raped by her father, you believe it should be illegal for her to get an abortion.
Sarah Palin: I am pro-life, and I am unapologetic about my position….I would counsel her to choose life.
OK. So. I will say this. If you think abortion ends a life, that’s a pretty strong conviction, and I have to admit that I’ve wondered what happens when people with that conviction claim that abortion is wrong except in certain cases. Cause, really? If the life was conceived in a way that’s gruesome (i.e., rape or incest, that if you appear to condone you will look like the fascist that you are), then you’re suddenly OK with ending it?
If that’s not a political ploy, I don’t know what is. My guess is that if politicians who opposed abortion “except in certain scenarios” didn’t have to soften their stated beliefs to get elected, we’d have a lot of Sarah Palins on our hands. So kudos to her for not having been in the game long enough to know that she has to censor herself! And for thinking that she can just come on out and say that forced pregnancy is the best option for a 15-year-old who would then carry and bear her own sibling.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Lysa // Oct 2, 2008 at 3:50 pm
I like to think that posting here in my Libertarian voice provides a slightly different bent to your always wonderfully written essays.
My comments are less eloquent today because all I have to say is “ugh” and “yuck”.
2 David Alexander // Oct 28, 2008 at 11:59 am
Although I disagree with Palin’s position on abortion, if she believes a life and soul are created at inception, she is being consistent by not wanting that soul killed. Regardless of how that soul was created (by way of rape).
However, I believe that most, if not all abortions would become obsolete if the morning after pill was easily available to all women. Palin is against the morning after pill as well.
I do not support Palin’s religious beliefs on abortion, but if someone believes that a life is created at inception, whether by rape or not, then that life should not be allowed to be forcibly killed.
3 jessica // Nov 3, 2008 at 5:06 pm
yeah - i wholeheartedly agree with your disagreement with palin, david, and thanks for seconding my feelings about the strength of conviction that accompanies such a hardline belief like life beginning at fertilization (or inception). what i find unnerving is that because ideological, anti-abortion politicians likely have to censor beliefs that i’d guess come pretty close to palin’s, what we wind up fighting about is quite literally the minute details about how, when, and under what circumstances a woman may or may not make decisions about her own body.
the morning after pill being readily available would likely make a difference, and i certainly support that notion. but i believe that the most important thing we can do is provide comprehensive education. any kind of contraception is useless if people don’t know it’s out there, how to get it, when to get it, and how to properly use it.
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