Sunday, May 8, 2022

Metal coat hangers poised to make a comeback

Like everyone else in the country, I have been thinking about abortion and a woman's right to control her own body. It's kind of weird how all those men who are so vehement about not getting vaccinated ("My body, my choice!!") refuse to apply that same concept of personal autonomy to anyone with a functioning uterus. They're also too rigid (and brain dead) to grasp the simple truth that abortion rates remain pretty steady regardless of restrictions on access. The only thing that changes is the death rate when the abortion moves from a clinic office to the proverbial back alley. 

I am tempted to do a real rant about the women who claim to be 'pro-life' because so many of them  are the worst hypocrites. Men have a sort of excuse when it comes to being anti-abortion: they're usually remarkably ignorant about how the human body functions to begin with, and quite a few of them really do want to control women. Maybe not always on a conscious level, but nonetheless they're totally on board with the idea of barefoot, pregnant, and not competing with men for anything. They're not really pro-life. They're pro-control.

Women, on the other hand, do know how women's bodies work, they all know someone who's experienced sexual assault or an unexpected or unwanted pregnancy, so why any woman would ever be anti-abortion baffles me. Too many women are pro life/anti-abortion until it's their own body or their daughters with the unwanted pregnancy. They'll go from standing outside clinics harassing patients to slipping in to get the procedure themselves to right back on the protest line calling other women murderers. I know a few myself. They've had abortions for various reasons but to hear them talk now abortion is the ultimate evil. Privately they'll admit it was one of the smartest things they ever did; publicly they're right there sticking crosses on the church lawn* and referring to anyone who has an abortion as a baby killer. I'm not sure what would be an appropriate label. Hypocrite actually feels a bit mild.

But I'm not in a solid ranting mood at the moment. Too early in the morning, not enough caffeine to sustain a long coherent rant. Instead, given the odd way my mind functions, I've been wondering where desperate women are going to find the coat hangers. Have you guys checked your closets lately? Plastic, thick, totally useless as a surgical instrument plastic. Coat hangers for abortion purposes have to be the lightweight metal ones, the kind dry cleaners might still use -- which is debatable, given how few

people still use dry cleaners for anything. You know, the kind of coat hanger many millennials and younger folk have never seen, the kind that you could untwist to create something to use in trying to unlock a car door back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth and you could unlock the doors on your Edsel by slipping the hooked end of the hanger down in the door to snag the lock release. The kind Joan Crawford could beat her daughter with when she violated the no wire coat hangers rule in the Crawford household. Of course, that's another thing younger folk have probably never seen: Mommy Dearest.

*Why only crosses? Why no Stars of  David or Hindu symbols? Are all terminated embryos automatically Christian?