Letter to the Future Ex-Governor
*Warning: Triggers and politics ahead.*
Dear Governor Walker,
I was very disappointed to hear about the new legislation requiring women seeking abortions to 1) get an ultrasound first and 2) be forced to look at the ultrasound images. I understand that, from your perspective, this is being done to provide women with "more information" on which to base their life-altering decisions. I'd like to tell you why I think that is, to put it lightly, a misguided perception.
Imagine being a pro-life woman who desperately wants a child, who has to have an abortion for medical reasons - if she doesn't, she, the child, or both of them will die. Being forced to look at that ultrasound would be a torturous reminder of what you can't have.
Without that torture, would her decision be uninformed?
Perhaps you are a woman who never would have considered abortion before being raped. A month or two have passed, and you are still traumatized by the event, having frequent nightmares and an inability to resume a physical relationship with your significant other, because physical intimacy gives you flashbacks. After this violent crime committed upon you, you discover that the man who raped you - the subject of your abject loathing and shame - has gotten you pregnant. When you try to have an abortion performed, you discover that you will first need to have this inserted by a complete stranger.
Dear Governor Walker,
I was very disappointed to hear about the new legislation requiring women seeking abortions to 1) get an ultrasound first and 2) be forced to look at the ultrasound images. I understand that, from your perspective, this is being done to provide women with "more information" on which to base their life-altering decisions. I'd like to tell you why I think that is, to put it lightly, a misguided perception.
Imagine being a pro-life woman who desperately wants a child, who has to have an abortion for medical reasons - if she doesn't, she, the child, or both of them will die. Being forced to look at that ultrasound would be a torturous reminder of what you can't have.
Without that torture, would her decision be uninformed?
Perhaps you are a woman who never would have considered abortion before being raped. A month or two have passed, and you are still traumatized by the event, having frequent nightmares and an inability to resume a physical relationship with your significant other, because physical intimacy gives you flashbacks. After this violent crime committed upon you, you discover that the man who raped you - the subject of your abject loathing and shame - has gotten you pregnant. When you try to have an abortion performed, you discover that you will first need to have this inserted by a complete stranger.
Is a rape victim more informed by this painful, humiliating procedure?
These are not mere examples; these women exist and have to go make these awful decisions daily. To me, suggesting that a woman does not have all the necessary information to make a difficult decision like this is simply condescending, insulting, and degrading. What more does a woman need to know, other than that a fetus is growing inside her and that, one way or another, it could, will, and already has changed her life? Being forced into an invasive ultrasound only makes a difficult decision more traumatic.
Women understand what they're getting into, Governor. Do you?
Sincerely,
Your adversary in the upcoming elections,
Allison
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