NBC News covered the recall of two Pfizer brands of birth control pills on Wednesday’s NBC Today by suggesting a “termination kit.”
Co-host Ann Curry worried that women “may suffer unintended pregnancies” because of it. Suffer a pregnancy? Almost sounds like “punished with a baby,” doesn’t it?
Dr. Keri Peterson responded that women who “may be now vulnerable to being pregnant” had options including, of course, killing the baby: “You’re going to want to use condoms immediately…there are also over-the-counter termination kits available that you can take right away.”
Termination kits. What diabolical nomenclature. And, of course, Curry had no reaction to this.
Newsbusters grabbed the vid:
February 2, 2012 at 6:19 pm
That makes me sick to my stomach!
February 2, 2012 at 6:58 pm
No wonder the birthrate is falling through the floor, when we talk about babies as if they were head lice.
No worries, though. The Muslims are picking up the slack.
February 2, 2012 at 10:19 pm
I strongly and steadfastly oppose the message that termination is a solution to an unintended pregnancy. Killing a young human being is never an ethical or acceptable approach to personal difficulties.
However, I can empathize with the phrase, "suffer an unintended pregnancy." I have experienced two "surprise" pregnancies – both method failures of two different forms of NFP, and both during the difficult breastfeeding transition to fertility.
Both times I was distraught, because my pregnancies are difficult, we live well below the poverty line, reliant on friends and government to support us (which is an uncomfortable situation to be in, to say the least.) My pregnancies result in me being ill for the entire duration, and incapable of working, and unable to care entirely for my born children. I have very limited family support, my own blood relatives living on another continent, and my husband's relatives not situated to help much. I am new to this area and having been pregnant-and-sick or at-home-with-little-babies for the four years I've lived here, have no close friends nearby.
One of these surprise pregnancies I suffered through (and I did suffer, although suffering is redeemable, yay!) resulted in the birth of a darling little girl after a 55 hour difficult labor, for which I had to go to hospital for a blood transfusion and manual removal of the placenta, which had adhered to the uterine wall and would not expel naturally, risking a hemorrhage and possible hysterectomy (this placental problem was due to conceiving so soon after my last emergency c-section.) The other surprise pregnancy miscarried at just 10 weeks gestation, which left me distraught once again. It didn't help to be told by numerous people that breastfeeding my 4 month old may have increased the risk of that miscarriage. (It's a claim I can find no peer-reviewed evidence for, btw.)
I don't use contraception, I use an NFP that has a similar or better efficacy rate as the oral contraceptive pill. I am more open to life than many women, probably more than most who are on contraceptives, but I can sympathise with the shock and fear that women can suffer due to an unexpected pregnancy.
"Suffer a pregnancy" does not sound like "punished with a baby" to me.
If you can't admit that not everyone is in a position to welcome a pregnancy joy, perhaps you need to take a blogging break for a while. Every baby is a blessing. But not every woman is in a good position to *experience* pregnancy as a blessing, rather than a time of suffering.
It's possible to affirm their sense of suffering, while offering hope for the future for them and their baby.
If you need to dismiss the phrase "suffering a pregnancy" in order to posit a pro-life position, something's wrong.
February 2, 2012 at 10:22 pm
typo fix: "…welcome a pregnancy *with* joy."
typo fix: "I use an NFP *method* that has…"
Sorry. I should proof before I post.
February 2, 2012 at 10:25 pm
Punished with a baby is exactly right if you can't have children for various reasons. Your health, your income, your military service for examples.
Since you don't believe in any reproducive freedom, this is all foreign to you.
February 2, 2012 at 10:27 pm
Viatrix: Beautiful story, I hope you and your children are in good health now. Thanks.
February 2, 2012 at 11:33 pm
Viatrix, thank you for your story. I pray you find the support and friendship you need. God bless.
As woman who once considered abortion and did not follow through, I can say there is NO such thing as an unintended pregnancy unless you did not intend to have sex – period. I knew very well – all the way back in the early 1980's at the age of 18 – that "protected" sex had a risk of pregnancy. If I was having sex, then I could get pregnant. The language of "unintended pregnancy" needs to be thrown in the trash bin.
February 9, 2012 at 1:58 am
I found Ann Curry's comment regarding suffering from a pregnancy extremely offensive and further proof of the sad state of our country. I don't believe anything will be right in our country until we stop killing (sacrificing) our babies.