Life in a pro-life theocracy

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Life in a Pro-Life Theocracy

Finally the fanatics won. The constitutional amendment gave fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses the same rights as you and I. It was now written in stone: “…from the moment of conception…” and conception was defined from the “moment” the sperm entered the egg. The Amendment turned the clock back overnight. Not only was the clock turned back but also we saw an ushering of an era worse than the worst of times. Pro-choice organizations were outlawed and their leaders arrested. Women came out in protest about the new laws – hundreds of thousands of them and abortion went under ground almost overnight.

Practitioners are targeted by the -“Protection of Life and Promotion of Morality” PLPM - police and are sent to prison. In states that have the death penalty, some have been executed [1] , others are hunted down and killed by the anti-abortion vigilantes – God’s Army. There is an exception in the law for when the pregnancy is a direct risk to the woman’s life, but most doctors are too afraid to perform an abortion even then. Priests hound them and those who are known to support abortion receive death threats.

It isn’t just the complete ban on abortion, pills and IUDs are also banned, diaphragms and condoms are very difficult to obtain [2], and they are only available for married women and then only with the permission of the husband. They tell us this is for the protection of families. Rape victims are not given ECs and if they end up pregnant that’s just too bad. [3]

Before the changes we had protesters outside every clinic, now we have no clinics. Instead, we have the PLPM police spying on women and doctors. Now these mob are untouchable and have unlimited powers. They can enter you home at any time and search for banned contraceptives and books with information about birth control, abortion, sex ed… They also have the power to access women’s medical records - under the Amendment, Pro Life legislation overrides patient confidentiality and privacy laws.

Every district has a pregnancy centre where it is mandatory for all women and girls who had begun to menstruate to register and undergo a pregnancy test once every three months, in the early days it was once a month but that ended up blowing the state’s health budget so they made it every three months [5]. Some of us would get around that by using someone else’s urine, I would get my daughter to urinate in a small container which I would keep next to my body to keep warm and at the “clinic’s” toilet I would empty it in the container given to me by the nurse. Eventually they woke up to our tricks and now we’re made to urinate in the presence of a nurse. The Amendment took away every shred of dignity we had!

Government nursing staff and pro-life volunteers staffs the pregnancy centers. Those who are found to be pregnant are registered and monitored. If they fail to produce a baby at the proper time they would be interrogated by the PLPM. [5] In fact, it is mandatory for women to report miscarriages within 24 hours and any doctor who suspects that a woman did something to herself is obligated by law to report her to the PLPM. Most of us avoid going to the doctor as much as possible. [4]

However, not everybody took the new laws lying down. Women with money can still get pills on the black market and many bribe doctors to perform abortions. Any woman leaving the country has to undergo a mandatory pregnancy test, if the test is positive, upon her return; she is made to repeat the test in order to ensure that there has been no tampering with the pregnancy. Women coming in from other countries are randomly inspected by customs for contraceptive pills and other drugs that have the potential to end pregnancy. Medical customs officers also inspect women for IUDs and if any are found they are promptly removed and the offender charged under the crimes against human life section. [2]

I heard that underground women’s groups is experimenting with different methods, there have been stories of suburban homes turned into laboratories and the use of homemade pumps… Even though the Internet is censored, information still gets out thanks to many dedicated individuals. It seems that under the new laws the majority of women have gone from law- abiding citizens to criminals.

Women who miscarry and are suspected of inducing an abortion are targeted with impunity. Many are convicted and sent to prison. The state women’s penitentiary had undergone massive expansion to accommodate all the new inmates. Others are made to attend Pro Life education camps. My sister ended up in one of those, she said they were made to watch films of abortions and were given pictures of Jesus holding a bloodied fetus to take home with them – I think she threw hers in the rubbish. In addition, there were religious sermons to listen to and mandatory praying. There have been a few cases in the media where dead newborn infants were found in rubbish bins and abandoned, derelict buildings.

I’ l never forget the day that the PLPM police knocked on my door, just a few months after the Amendment. They must have accessed my medical records and discovered that I had an IUD inserted two years before the new laws. I knew it was futile to resist them; they arrested me and took me to the hospital. They strapped me down and my legs were tied to the stirrups. The doctor just stared at me as if I was a piece of rubbish in the gutter. She said nothing to me and used no anesthetic. She used a scissors-like instrument, grabbed hold of the IUD’s string and pulled it out in one fluid motion, I screamed from the pain. After my ordeal, I was told that I had to attend mandatory Pro Life education.

That was eight years ago and I had four more children since then and five abortions. My husband Ray is unemployed and we are living on welfare. This pregnancy is the last draw, I missed a second period and I feel sick all the time. My last-born is teething and has kept me up all night with a high temperature. I can’t remember when I had a good nights sleep. Dora, the woman who did my abortions in the past, is no use to me now, as I do not have the money to pay her. I heard that in the big cities there are women’s groups who help women for little or no charge – if one knows where to go. I have tried various concoctions of herbal staff, some of them made me sick, all were useless. I am so tired, I do not want any more babies. Don’t get me wrong, I love all my children but my 42-year-old body has no energy left. There is no way I’m having another one. I must do something…

Suddenly, I remember the sewing basket on top of the closet. I get it down, put it on the bed and rummage through it for the crotchet needle. I recall the diagrams in biology class and think to myself “I could probably pull this off”. I put the crotchet needle in my apron pocket and decide to wait till night when all the children are gone to bed. [6]

Ray is asleep on the couch with the TV still on. I go in the bathroom and lock the door from the inside so that I won’t be disturbed. I wash my hands really well and soak the crotchet needle in a glass of chlorine and water mixture for about twenty minutes… I kick my slippers off and put one foot on the toilet bowl. I fumble till I find my cervix and with all the courage I can master I slowly insert the crotchet needle in, it hurts like a really bad cramp. I push the needle a little further and bite my teeth hard so that I won’t scream and wake up my family. The pain is sharp and I feel a warm liquid covering my hand. I look down and see my hand covered with blood, thinking about what to do next. I could call out to Ray to take me to the hospital but I immediately perish the thought. If I go to the hospital the PLPM would investigate and I would end up being charged with murder and sent to prison….

There’s more blood now and I begin to feel dizzy so I sit on the floor. The tiles are icy cold and the whole room feels chilly. I think about the hardships my family and I went through the last few years. I think about my first born, Madeline, she is almost a woman, would she have to go through what I have gone through? Would her strong healthy body be worn out like mine?

I can still hear the TV in the living room, it’s the nightly sermon. There’s more blood on the floor now, I am literary sitting in a pool of blood! I feel panicky but I know I can’t do anything.

I feel dizzy and weak so I lay down on the cold floor. It’s as if everything has gone fuzzy…the floor is so cold…

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The above story is fictitious. The information at the following links is not:

1.   http://www.bushvchoice.com/archives/2005/08/scariest%5Fthing.html

2.   http://www.all.org/activism/ab01.htm

3.   http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/2408/context/ourdailylives

4. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/6/194434/1328

5. http://www.ceausescu.org/ceausescu_texts/overplanned_parenthood.htm and
http://www.pandagon.net/archives/2005/06/girl_forced_by.html

6. http://www.safemotherhood.org/facts_and_figures/unsafe_abortion_fact.htm

by Voula Papas   November 2005

See also: Illegal Abortion