I know, right??? We are getting closer and closer to a Margaret Atwood-style dystopia.

These exceptions are precisely the reason why parental consent laws are harmful.

“Parental consent would allow a parent to withhold an abortion.” This is exactly the point; the Supreme Court has ruled that women have a constitutional right to legal abortion, and parents should not be able to deny their daughters this constitutional right.

Yes, that too. Parents already have so much power over their children’s lives and decisions; when they hold deeply regressive beliefs, they can screw up their daughters’ lives completely.

The ratings pertain only to senate votes. Presumably he didn’t vote for any of the things you mentioned while serving as a senator.

Exactly. If a young girl is trying to hide her pregnancy/abortion from her parents, she likely has a very good reason. Sexual abuse is an obvious one, but even in less extreme circumstances, she may know that her parents will kick her out/disown her, or that they will force her to carry to term against her will.

Oh lord. “Our greatest presidents have all been men.” That has to have been a joke, right?

This is easier said than done, but try not to be too hard on yourself. It sounds like you are handling a shitty situation gracefully and rationally, and most importantly, are doing what’s right for you and your life. Also, thanks for sharing your story.

The OP says this was their first thought, not that they still believe this after reading the story.

“You have to squint to find a gendered angle in the original comment.” That’s what I said and it holds true. If you have a problem with the other comments that actually mention gender, take your outrage there, but your indignation is misplaced here. Nobody here implied that the man’s gender was relevant except for you…

You have to squint to find a gendered angle in the original comment. It seems pretty obvious that bagofletters was expressing a general exasperation with people who don’t have patience or respect for personal space. The pronoun “he” was used because, according to the article, the woman was making way for a “gentleman”…

First, sorry for this very late reply; I’ve been without internet access for a while.

NFP works for some people, but certainly not for everyone; given that you understand that not everyone shares your religious beliefs, you might be better served by advocating that we increase accessibility to all forms of birth control, particularly forms like the IUD or implant, which are far less subject to human…

Seconded! Can we have some photos from the March for Women’s Lives? A pro-Planned Parenthood counter-protest? I’d love for pro-woman activists to grace these articles.

I already replied to another comment of yours but wanted to address what you’ve said here.

I’m glad you oppose the death penalty. Some similar moral consistency among the lawmakers who claim to be pro-life would be refreshing. I hope you are also an active supporter of welfare programs, effective sex ed, and widespread access to cheap contraceptives, and that you have at least considered adopting a child or…

Beautiful.

It would be really great if people could recognize their personal experiences are not universal.

Yes, thank you, this drives me insane. Watching the anti-choice community implode when Donald Trump said women who have abortions should be punished was incredibly amusing. I understand why they do it; when roughly 1 of every 3 American women will have an abortion in her lifetime, you don’t want to alienate them all…

I love both of these. Unfortunately, I have actually had the opportunity to bring up the second one - that you can’t claim abortion is murder while advocating for rape exceptions - in real life, to an anti-choicer, and he somehow managed to admit his own cognitive dissonance and defend the inconsistency at the same…