Posted on 07/18/2004 4:35:00 PM PDT by vanderleun
THE REALLY AWFUL THING ABOUT AMY RICHARDS TALE AS TOLD TO AMY BARRETT in The New York Times Lives: When One Is Enough is that Amy Richards put her name on her shameful tale of selfishness.
"I found out I was having triplets when I went to my obstetrician. The doctor had just finished telling me I was going to have a low-risk pregnancy. She turned on the sonogram machine. There was a long pause, then she said, ''Are you sure you didn't take fertility drugs?'' I said, ''I'm positive.'' Peter and I were very shocked when she said there were three. ''You know, this changes everything,'' she said. ''You'll have to see a specialist.''The self-centered Ms. Richards who writes an advice column for, of course, feminist.com and has published a book called: Manifesta: Young Women Feminism and the Future, elects to undergo what is coyly titled "selective reduction." This is a nice term for the killing of one or more multiple babies in the womb. As the article puts it, "The obstetrician wasn't an expert in selective reduction, but she knew that with a shot of potassium chloride you could eliminate one or more."
"My immediate response was, I cannot have triplets. I was not married; I lived in a five-story walk-up in the East Village; I worked freelance; and I would have to go on bed rest in March. I lecture at colleges, and my biggest months are March and April. I would have to give up my main income for the rest of the year. There was a part of me that was sure I could work around that. But it was a matter of, Do I want to?"
When the time came to pick one, it was fraught with the pathetic little drama that so often overtakes these young members of our intellectual classes in urban areas:
The specialist called me back at 10 p.m. I had just finished watching a Boston Pops concert at Symphony Hall. As everybody burst into applause, I watched my cellphone vibrating, grabbed it and ran into the lobby. He told me that he does a detailed sonogram before doing a selective reduction to see if one fetus appears to be struggling. The procedure involves a shot of potassium chloride to the heart of the fetus. There are a lot more complications when a woman carries multiples. And so, from the doctor's perspective, it's a matter of trying to save the woman this trauma. After I talked to the specialist, I told Peter, ''That's what I'm going to do.'' He replied, ''What we're going to do.'' He respected what I was going through, but at a certain point, he felt that this was a decision we were making. I agreed.Hard to imagine if "Peter the Boyfriend" would have had much of a future with this woman if he'd piped up to say, "Maybe it isn't such a good idea to kill off two of my children." He'd be history and Amy would be wrapped in the arms of the sisterhood at feminist.com. But then again, if he was that kind of a man he wouldn't be with this kind of a woman.
The climax of this sordid little drama is delivered as casually as the rest of the entire episode:
When we saw the specialist, we found out that I was carrying identical twins and a stand alone. My doctors thought the stand alone was three days older. There was something psychologically comforting about that, since I wanted to have just one. Before the procedure, I was focused on relaxing. But Peter was staring at the sonogram screen thinking: Oh, my gosh, there are three heartbeats. I can't believe we're about to make two disappear. The doctor came in, and then Peter was asked to leave. I said, ''Can Peter stay?'' The doctor said no. I know Peter was offended by that.Offended? By being denied the right to be present at the execution of two of his children? Why should a man so lacking in manhood be offended? He probably made a face and then beat it to a bar, glad he'd gotten off easy, once again.
Then again, he missed the central life experience of "making two heartbeats disappear." Never a rose without a thorn.
The story, from Amy's point of view, has a happy, almost Hollywood ending, complete with a whiff of false remorse and guilt:
I went on to have a pretty seamless pregnancy. But I had a recurring feeling that this was going to come back and haunt me. Was I going to have a stillbirth or miscarry late in my pregnancy?
I had a boy, and everything is fine. But thinking about becoming pregnant again is terrifying. Am I going to have quintuplets? I would do the same thing if I had triplets again, but if I had twins, I would probably have twins. Then again, I don't know. Well, it certainly good to know that 'everything is fine' and that there is a boy survivor in the world. But it is not so good to know that Ms. Richards only took from this experience what she brought into it -- nihilism, selfishness, and an ego much bigger than her sense.
She's the very essence of the Modern Feminist of the Future, all me and no see. Triplets, no. Twins, maybe -- but maybe not.
Michelle Malkin who pointed this story out comments: " So she's terrified? I can only imagine how her surviving son will feel when he grows up and learns about the fate of his siblings."
I don't. There's nothing in Ms. Richards' character that makes me think she'll have the guts to tell him about it. I realize that means that I believe she'll finally develop a sense of shame about what she did, but I believe even the most vapid among us can grow a real moral sense. At least, that's my hope.
"Pro choice" means killing babies without mercy. "Moderately pro choice" means killing only two out of three.
Clear now?
Post #44 has her email addy.
Mom kills 2 kids and gets to write an article.
Teacher has affair with 14 year old, is scorned by media & general population and will do jail time.
Go figure...
Rice has said the following about abortion:
Anyone who calls herself a "pro-choice evangelical" is, at best, extremely confused.
Thank you for the link. I'm really surprised. She appears to be a very religious lady.
Could she have changed her mind during the past five years?
The story does have some holes in it. She did not mention any of the aftermath of killing the children. Odd. Even thought she desired it the outcome was probably not comfortable.
We will find out sooner or later if it is true.
I wish that was the case, but I don't think it is. If she has changed her mind, she hasn't made a public statement about it that I've seen, and I've looked all over the internet.
OK, I finally got the ping.
Jeeze, some days I feel dumber than a stump -- I didn't even see the fact you pinged me from the thread I wanted.
This is the thread I wanted to see. This is a thread that should be bumped and bumped and bumped.
This is the face of evil. This is the voice of evil. This is evil.
Folks, I cant fight this one alone.
We must fight together.
Since the story is in the public arena now, what will she later tell the surviving child? "I killed your brothers" or "I killed your sisters"? If she says nothing, someone in school will say something to the child and he/she will be plagued with guilt their entire lifetime. The child will probably feel in a way, as the survivor, that he/she was a killer as well.
Reduction = murder. As long as I live, I will never hear the word "reduction" again without a shudder.
I can't help but wonder what Ms. Richards thinks about the practice of gender selection through abortion in order to produce only male children. Isn't that done in some countries?
Sick, sick, sick tagline. I like it.
The banality of evil endures.
I think I'm going to puke.
For those of us who are not involved actively in letter to the editor writing; advocating for the pro-life cause by writing our senators and congressmen; working for pro-life candidates, may this be a wake-up call to GET INVOLVED and work for the unborn. Our votes matter, our advocacy matters. Think about forming a chapter of your state's right to life if it really is right to life, as well as forming a "Republicans for Life" coalition in your state - that will give you access to the podium at your state conventions. Dems have such a group too, but they don't seem very effective. Just some ideas to make changes. Glad to read of all of you who stand with the unborn.
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