Life and Times of AlieMalie

I hate depression.

That’s about all I can articulate at the moment.

I just want the depression to end.

Part of my daily responsibility with this job is to scan the state papers to find articles, editorials and letters to the editor that are pertinent to the legislation that my organization is advocating for – be the news pieces for or against, it doesn’t matter. This helps up keep a finger on the pulse of what the citizens of the state feel in addition to our normal outreach to our members. If we have our membership lined up behind us and no one else, well, we won’t get very far, so it’s key for us to know what the community as a whole is discussing.

There’s no better place to find this than on the editorial pages of the local papers.

In addition to reading what is related to my legislative priorities, I see a lot of other, shall we say, interesting points of view. Being just north of the state with the most restrictive abortion laws on the books in the entire nation, North Dakota has some people who are extremely passionate about where they fall on the continuum that is public opinion regarding abortion.

With the recent murder of Dr Tiller, the OBGYN in Wichita, KS who was shot in the face supposedly by a man with a long history of ties to an organization that has spent decades vociferously fighting against any and all abortions – at times even against pill-form contraception, the editorial pages across the state have exploded with letters and opinions on the matter.

One thing I’ll never understand is how people can say in one breath, that they’re against the usage of violence against people who’s actions they oppose (the abortion provider’s murder) and in the next breath say something along the lines that their prayers have been answered as fewer babies will be tossed into the garbage. Now, I learned something in school that went along these lines: when you make a statement that is followed up with “but, …” you’ve just invalidated you’re initial statement. Are you really against the murder of Dr Tiller? Or do you just feel obligated to say that before you state your joy at knowing that no more babies will die at the hands of “an abortionist?”

It sickens me. What also bothers me, and this is an editorial decision, is that on so many of these opinion pieces, the news paper opens comments on them where people can spew their opinions that have no basis in anything even remotely resembling fact. And the names and insults they hurl are despicable.

I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve seen people who are part of the pro-choice movement be called pro-abortion, as if we want abortions to take place. As if we are encouraged each and every time a woman has to make the decision to abort a baby – for whatever reason. Seeing that people honestly think that doctors who perform abortions are only in it for the money since it’s a “multi-million dollar business” makes me want to vomit.

Whatever people want to call me, the only thing I’ll stand for is that I’m for a woman to choose what sort of medical care she receives. Anything else is an outright fabrication and ridiculous. Calling me pro-abortion would be tantamount to me calling people who are anti-choice/anti-abortion/whatever they want to be identified as “pro-murder” which I know is far from the truth as I have friends who stand on the other side of this debate from me who are staunchly opposed to any sort of violence as a means to an end – especially murder.