Letter to Salon - Abortion

[bobquasit]

There was an interesting article in Salon this morning about the last abortion clinic in Mississippi. Apparently it's on the verge of being driven out of existence by new state laws, deliberately promulgated for that very reason.

"Mississippi: last clinic standing under attack" (registration or an ad-watch are probably required).

I felt that the article was incomplete, so I wrote this letter:

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Subject: Where Are The Consequences?

It would have been very helpful to know what the consequences have been (if any information is available) of the effective elimination of abortion as a right for Mississippians.

Have the number of back-alley abortions gone up? Are more women dying from botched amateur abortions? Are damaged children being born?

On a more subtle level, the article mentions that Mississippi has the highest number of teen births in the United States. Have those numbers gone up as access to abortions has decreased? If so, by how much, compared to state-wide population growth or shrinkage?

Has the number of children living in poverty gone up? On welfare? Using food stamps? Suffering malnutrition? How about the number of families with children living in poverty, or lacking health care?

We need to know these things.

The loss of abortion rights will have consequences, presumably. Consequences that the government and the religious right will want to keep out of the mainstream media, which is all too likely to cooperate in a tacit conspiracy of silence.

Photographs of dead and bloody cheerleaders don't sell newspapers, after all. And they're a lousy lead-in for a commercial break, as any perky morning-news anchorperson can tell you.

On the other hand, if there ARE no negative results from the loss of abortion rights, we need to know that, too.

Please complete the story, or at the least stay with the issue and provide follow-up information.

Comments

[unquietsoul5.livejournal.com]

Overall I think that is indeed a good response to the piece - they really do need a followup. I suspect that they though the fact that Mississippi has the highest teen pregnancy rate was sufficient evidence, but the really need to beat it over folks heads with a lot more details.

This is often a problem with Salon - not enought content or depth to their articles. I have the same problem with Wired Magazine as well.

[rob-w.livejournal.com]

To be honest the American attitude to abortion baffles me as a bloke from the UK.

It's a very good reason why politics should be separate from one single religion.

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

American politics are a constant source of amazement, disgust, and stunned disbelief to me too - and I have a degree in political science.

On the other hand, I also don't understand why Tony Blair hasn't been tossed out on his ass. His toadying to Bush is going to kill Labour.

I should have majored in computer science, instead.