Like many, I was sickened and horrified by the facts presented. I didn't post on it... I went and held my kids instead, a little bit of love therapy to hold against the heartbreak of what I'd seen. I remember thinking that no one -- not even the most staunch supporters of abortion -- could defend this monster.
Well, I was right... And wrong.
I forgot about the feminists.
They're all over this. I'm not going to get into each example (RSM has a great roundup). I learned the hard way that feminism is an echo chamber, where they aren't interested in hearing any side but their own. You simply can't have an argument, a debate, or even an exchange of ideas with someone who has their fingers in their ears going "Neener neener! I can't hear you!" But, never the less, they are jumping on the topic like fleas on a dog.
Amanda Marcotte, feminist ninny, has a piece up today about it. Actually, she's got a few posts on it around the innerwebs, but I'm referring specifically to this one: Philly Illegal Abortionist Exposes Anti-Choice Irresponsibility.
She's offering up a typical feminist bit of nonsense to explain what happened. You see, the dead mothers and babies aren't Gosnell's fault. Oh, noes! Perish the thought!
Responsibility for the women killed, sterilized, infected with VD or otherwise injured rests with the conservative anti-abortion movement. (Which, being a feminist, Marcotte cutely refers to as "anti-choice".) In a stunning example of intellectual dishonesty, she writes that when the report was released:
"The initial anti-choice reaction was elation."
That's nothing more than a disgusting lie.
I was afraid to read the damn Grand Jury report based solely on responses I'd read at conservative blogs. While the pieces I read around the web each urged me to "read the whole thing", it took me a day or so past the original stories to force myself to actually take their advice. (I'm both glad and sorry that I did. Sorry because those murdered babies will remain in my thoughts... Glad because I've long been ambivalent on the topic, falling into the "legal, safe and rare" trap that so many of us wish were the reality.)
What I can say is that, despite reading posts on many conservative sites, I did not see a single instance of elation. I saw pain, horror, folks who admitted being moved to tears, and prayers for the lost.
I defy Ms. Marcotte to provide a single example of elation. I challenge this woman - who purports to stand for the rights of other women - to prove her claim.
She won't. She can't. Nobody celebrated the discovery of a monster as a means to further their cause.
But that's to be expected from someone who has raised disingenuous statements to an art form. Try this one on for size:
"The politically mature response to this is to accept responsibility."
Now stop a minute. Make sure you've truly absorbed that little dab of feminist double-think.
For the conservative anti-abortion movement, it would be mature to accept responsibility.
Frankly, I'm astounded that Marcotte is familiar with the term "responsibility". It's certainly not something she generally supports or promotes as part of her feminist agenda.
Indeed, like most feminists, Marcotte is known for denying outright the concept of personal responsibility. Whether it be the responsibility to not get pregnant in the first place, or the responsibility of women to think before they get into a potentially dangerous situation, feminists absolve women entirely.
Pregnant with your fourth child (second to be aborted)? It's the responsibility of the state to provide you a little fetal-removal service. Victim of an avoidable assault because you used no common sense whatsoever before allowing a stranger into your locked apartment? It's the responsibility of a societal "rape culture", and your actions must never be questioned. Never mind that the next woman may learn something from your mistake and keep herself safer.
How about... wrote a scathing column about a rape that wasn't (Ahem... DUKE LACROSSE)? Insulted innocent men and everyone who defended them? Faced with a woman who demonstrably lied to authorities? Took a side based on genitalia, only to be proven wrong, wrong, wrong? Personal responsibility nuthin'. Ms. Marcotte was once assaulted and responded strangely, not only taking time to decide whether she wanted the "baggage" of reporting it but admitting that if she'd been confronted with her attacker's presence she "probably would have acted normally". Therefore, it's reasonable to extrapolate that other women behaving strangely after a purported rape should be believed without question.
It's stomach turning that Marcotte would attempt to use this Little Abortion Shop of Horrors as a stick with which to beat the anti-abortion crowd. Her blatant lie that there was elation at the news tells you everything you need to know about a person who is, at base, dishonest and more than willing to twist the narrative.
I stand by what I said before...
Feminists -- and Marcotte is just one of the loudest and snarkiest -- are a grave danger to women.
Go ahead. Push the idea that conservatives should remember responsibility. (Ironic, since conservatives are the group generally advocating personal responsibility for all Americans...) But absolve women of any responsibility whatsoever.
Pregnant (again) when you can't afford it? Not your fault. Choose to stay and be treated in a clinic full of moaning, doped patients with cat boxes in the corners and blood on the floors? Not your fault. Wait until your baby has every chance of surviving birth to get your procedure? Not your fault.
But the conservative anti-abortion folks?! Y'all better get some by-gawd responsibility going over there! Cuz it doesn't matter that abortion is legal despite your best efforts. This is your fault! And it doesn't matter that Gosnell broke every rule that other clinics manage to follow. This is your fault! And it's surely irrelevant that rules in PA were specifically set up to coddle abortion providers, which allowed someone like Gosnell to slip through the cracks. This is your fault!
(Heh. Oh wait. That's actually the fault of people just like Marcotte, who feel that too much oversight might make women feel icky about going into an abortion clinic.)
As long as the Gosnells among us have people like Marcotte to deflect their guilt, such atrocities will continue.
She can try to pin the responsibility on conservatism all she likes. Thankfully, most women aren't as weak and stupid as the feminists would have us believe. They know the monster in this story is Gosnell.
Marcotte is an accomplice.
And a liar.
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