The Coat Hanger

There is one problem with getting old ... and that is that you remember things.  And one thing I distinctly remember is that the big push to legalize abortions 40 years ago was that it would remove coat hangers and back alleys from this practice. Abortions would be performed in sanitary clinics by medical staff who would save countless women's lives.  This seemed sensible to me and I went along with this narrative.

Now, it seems that this practice, which was supposed to be safe, legal and rare (quoth Bill Clinton) has become much less rare and, although it is most often legal, it is becoming far less safe ... witness which recently went down in Philadelphia (see: USA Today Story)

So now to restore some sane, sanitary and safety standards to the practice of abortions, the state of Texas in particular, and other states have passed laws which restrict abortions after 20 weeks, require clinics to have admitting privileges in local hospitals, and mandate periodic sanitary inspections (see: Washington Post Story).  Suddenly, many of those militant women who marched in the streets demanding "women's reproductive health" seem to be changing their tune and are fighting these new abortion guidelines tooth and coat hanger.

I don't get it.