We all know how wrong the right is on, well, just about everything. And many of us have witnessed the cognitive dissonance of a conservative crashing into the reality their ideology has created. But there are times, when a loved one or friend is involved, that a ray of sunlight can momentarily break through and shine a light on the effects of misguided ideology.
A friend of mine has recently experienced one of life's most horrible pains, a 2nd trimester miscarriage. I know personally how painful it is, as my wife has suffered through 3 miscarriages, at 10, 16, and 28 weeks. Despite the pain, we were lucky to have access to an excellent health care system which included many of the kindest, most understanding nurses and doctors we could have hoped for.
Our friend, on the other hand, lives in Georgia. Follow me bellow the orange squiggly acid flashback for a glimpse into her personal hell, courtesy of right wing conservatives ...
You see, when we had our miscarriages in New York, our doctor set up an appointment for a D&C at a hospital, performed by people we knew. For those not in the know, a D&C is kind of like an abortion, but the fetus is already dead. Carrying the dead, rotting fetus to term is not an option, unless you are a fan of the mother also dying from infection. When we arrived at the hospital we didn't have to navigate through a mob of angry protesters who called us murderers. We just walked in like it was any other medical procedure. How quaint.
Our friend, on the other hand, has had a slightly different experience. First, her own f'ing doctor refuses to perform the procedure because she doesn't "feel comfortable." Yes, thats right. A licensed OBGYN will not perform a medically necessary procedure because it violates her damn conscience. Instead, she suggested that my friend "go to an abortion clinic, cause they do those procedures all the time." Of course the so-called doctor was not kind enough to even suggest one or how to go about finding one. So my friend now must get her courage up to make her way through the masses, prepared to be called all kinds of evil names, in order to have a medically necessary procedure performed. As if the pain of a miscarriage wasn't enough.
Second, my fiend's family has been just GREAT. Her nut job sister has been texting her nonstop to make sure she understands just how evil abortion is and that she will be getting on the "down" elevator shortly after leaving this world. This, the same sister who is primed to bring her 4th child into poverty, but I digress.
Finally, since every sundae must have a cherry on top, my friend's insurance company has informed her that this procedure is in fact "elective", so they will not be covering the cost ($1,000). So just great, she gets to pay $1,000 to walk through hell to have an abortion performed on a dead fetus while her own God-damned family publicly shames her.
Nice.
Of course all of this is due entirely to ideology out of control. Most conservatives we've talked to are horrified that our friend is going through this ordeal. Their anti-abortion views of course do not explicitly extend to women with miscarriages. They wrongly assume the insurance problem has something to do with Obamacare, not realizing that more than likely it was the bitching and moaning from their own representatives which caused insurers to drop this particular medical procedure. My friend's ordeal is exactly the kind of "health of the mother" issue we liberals have been warning about for decades. if it wasn't so sad I might enjoy the look on conservative faces when they realize someone they know was a victim of conservative ideology gone wrong.
Of course I'm sure they'll forget all about it by Nov 4 when its time to pull that straight Republican lever.