Stupid People and Abortion

I can't help myself from going over to the ABC News website and particularly the comments sections of controversial articles, even after the last bout of stupidity shown by some of the members (not to mention the moderator or whoever it is that manipulates.... I mean, MANAGES these posts).

Not long ago I felt guilty, of what I'm not exactly sure, but kind of like I was rubbernecking at a fatal car wreck. Now I realize that I am witnessing not an automobile collision but bona fide train wreck: The United States of America. More on that later.

So, I'm reading this article about a woman who forged a consent form for his son's 16-year-old girlfriend to get an abortion and was sentenced to a year, but what she did in and of itself is not what got me on my soapbox tonight. I could really give a shit less that she did something so ignorant (I do think it took one HUGE set of balls - if there's one lesson we should have learned from so many of our Congressional and Presidential leaders over the past few decades, it would have to be NEVER PUT IT IN WRITING!) or even that she violated the parent-child relationship of another family.

No, what bothers me is this:

• The woman did NOT accompany the girl to the clinic to have the abortion, merely (illegally) signed a statement that she was the girl's mother and knew the girl was having it done. Interestingly, though, she has been accused of "coercing" the girl into having the abortion done against her will. Mysteriously, I find no mention of her forcibly dragging the girl to the clinic and, in fact, was proven by evidence at trial not to have even been present.
  
• The girl is being presented as terribly aggrieved, coerced into doing something she did not want to do. If she didn't want the abortion, why did she go, especially considering the fact that the one "coercing" her was not even there to make sure it was done? If she didn't want the abortion, why did she go so far as to obtain an illegal consent from her boyfriend's mother? If she didn't want the abortion, why didn't she tell her parents she was pregnant and being forced to do something that is just OBVIOUSLY so against her moral fiber BEFORE having it done, when it could have made a difference, instead of waiting to tell them a month after the fact?

Then, of course, we get to my favorite part: The comments board. I think I find it so fascinating because where else in the world will you find such blatant stupidity intermixed with interesting little nuggets of wisdom. Part of me, though, still finds it shocking that this stupidity is so proudly offered up in black and white, for the entire world to see. This one in particular, though, was by far my favorite:

I do not know how the mother of the daughter played a role in this, but there are many daughters who feel they cannot speak to their own parents especially on situations like this. I believe if a girl is old enough to have sex she is old enough to make her own decisions. All teenagers make mistakes so I am 100% pro-choice, and the girl would not have had a great oppurtinity to really explore her life. Teenager mothers are more likely to drop out of high school and not complete college. The settlers came to America for freedom so why should our government oppress women like this. If McCain does pass the law where abortion is illegial women will resort back to using clothes hangers and could more then likely bleed to death. I am proud of this mother for doing this, and she has given the young girl a chance to live her life.

She got knocked up. It happens. It's not like our society's not SATURATED with information about birth control (argued on the message boards because it's not 100% effective, even though they persist in "forgetting" that there is, in fact, one form of birth control that is 100% effective: Abstinence. Don't spread your legs, don't stick your member where it doesn't need to be, and you won't get pregnant - 100 PERCENT OF THE TIME. Just like the premise "ignorance of the law is no excuse," ignorance and/or failing to educate yourself (or your children) about the consequences of their actions is no excuse. Have sex = Get pregnant (or diseased, again, a story for another time). My position: This girl is just plain stupid, and she tried to cover her stupidity (proof she's a politician-in-waiting) with more stupidity and assigning the blame to someone else.

As for not wanting to talk to her parents, if *I* were being forced into doing something like this and I didn't want it, short of hog-tying and gagging me, throwing me in a lake with a cement block attached to my leg, you can bet your ass I'd be crowing from every rooftop, knowing the consequences for my silence would be far worse than those of what got me there in the first place.

How can someone be 100% Pro-Choice just because "all teenagers make mistakes"? What the FUCK does that have to do with not accepting responsibility for your actions and dealing with your guilt in a manner that does little more than punish a third party for your choices? This woman sitting in jail will NOT alleviate the girl's guilt feelings and now, by her own and her parent's actions, she has probably lost the support of her boyfriend - the father of the baby - who will have his own grief issues at the loss of his child, compounded by the betrayal by his girlfriend. Allowing teenagers to have an abortion because they "made a mistake" does not instill in them a sense of responsibility. It only opens the door to a lifelong commitment to lack of personal responsibility. "I fucked up, I want a do-over." Since when does "REAL" life allow do-overs?

"The settlers came to America for freedom so why should our government oppress women like this." Where the hell did that come from? How is the government oppressing women like "this"? Like what? Why should the Nazifems oppress MEN like this, "this" being stripping from the man, without whom that child and hence the woman's "right" to choose would never have existed, any "right" to have a say in what happens to HIS child?

Finally, my favoritest part of all, "If McCain does pass the law where abortion is illegial women will resort back to using clothes hangers and could more then likely bleed to death." First of all, McCain can't "pass" any law without it having first been approved by the Congress and presented to him to pass it. Why are so many people SO FUCKING STUPID when it comes to the workings of the government? Why are so people SO FUCKING STUPID that they need to start looking for a scapegoat before there's anything concrete to hang on the goat's head before sending him off into the wilderness? Why are people SO FUCKING STUPID that they feel they can't accept responsibility for their choices and actions that they will have to "resort" to anything?

If women can't accept responsibility for their actions and decisions and use good judgement, I say LET them "resort back to using clothes hangers." Let them bleed to death. It's just one less stupid, useless person consuming valuable oxygen.