Did you catch the Washington Post op-ed in which a woman blames George W. Bush for her abortion? The forty-two-year-old mother/child killer concedes that "in a sudden rush of passion, I failed to insert my diaphragm." Nevertheless, because the Federal Drug Administration hasn't approved for over-the-counter sale something called "Plan B" that is designed to kill a fertilized egg prior to implantation, the woman contends that "this administration gave me practically no choice but to have an unwanted abortion." Practically no choice, huh?

The writer, identified only as "Dana L.," catalogues the inconveniences that befell her after the inconvenience of her pregnancy. In addition to the difficulty of obtaining "Plan B," Dana L. had to take a day off work, endure a 24-hour waiting period, and walk through a gauntlet of protestors to get to the abortuary. And while surfing "the Internet, most of what I found was political in nature or otherwise unhelpful: pictures of what your baby looks like in the womb from week one, and so on." Yeah, I see how that could be "unhelpful."

Is it surprising that a grown woman capable of ending her baby's life would also be incredibly callous and selfish regarding what she endured? Astounding that euphemisms for abortion, like "Plan B," suddenly become something other than abortion in the newspeak delivered by pro-choice activists? Shocking that someone who won't take responsibility for the results of sex would project the responsibility of her abortion on some distant boogeyman, in this case, the president of the United States? Astonishing, at all, that the writer refused to put her name on her article? No, no, no, and no.

"And to think that, all these years after Roe v. Wade became the law of the land," the piece concludes, "this is what our children have to look forward to as they approach their reproductive years." Yes, that's what our children have to look forward to--the ones who lived.

Welcome to the world of the Boomers and their spawn where it's always somebody else's fault.

No personal responsibility here.

And who are we going to blame when we don't have GW to kick around anymore?

As this lady's internet surfing experience shows, our culture is really cognitively dissonant about pre-born human life. Depending on how the mother feels on a given day, either baby is 'now growing fingernails and soon you will feel a few kicks' or 'those fascists are trying to control what a woman does with the most intimate parts of her body.' Something's gotta give... no?

BTW: Isn't it unbecoming of a serious journalistic institution to publish advocates of public policy positions who won't publish their last names? Couldn't they find a woman to say the same thing who actually had the courage of her convictions?

Skeptic,

I have a very lively suspicion that Dana L.'s article was fiction. It reminded me of the kind of television commercial that unconvincingly dramatizes a personal tale of some malady like "the heartbreak of psoriasis."

Our heroine wrote about the difficulty she had in finding Plan B and eventually in finding an abortionist. Well, I've heard that she could have gone to Planned Parenthood and had her fix in a matter of hours. Why didn't she do that? Because it never happened.

The story really isn't about abortion at all. The really weak political punch line is the only reason for her recounting the pathetic story of her wholly unselfconscious selfishness. It's fiction, purer and simple.

And - here's the clincher - that would explain why the newspaper can't name the writer.

Best, Sean O'

Sean-- yes, of course. Now, rethinking all the details of the story, it's obviously confabulated, isn't it? She suffered every possible thing that legally pro-lifers are allowed to do-- e.g., down to her two doctors refusing to give prescriptions for the abortion pill for "political reasons."

And what intelligent 42 year old, politically interested, prochoice American woman has to check their website to find out whether Planned Parenthood clinics perform abortions. That's a little strange.

The Post should be ashamed of publishing this.