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.
over the last 30 yrs, while women were being "liberated" stats will show women working longer, harder, leaving children at day care, drinking more, smoking more, probably going to church less....
For what?....
for having to leave your babies home, for married couples having to pay more taxes than singles and having a distressed household and whiny children to boot....
I'd say we pretty much got suckered in...
in my work life, I can tell you that I know many women who are the only ones that work in the household....husbands stay home and do not earn a living, and still can't be counted on to put dinner on the table...
but I saw all this years and years ago....
Why? The sooner she dies, the sooner she'll face the music for this.
wouldn't it be more Christian to pray for her conversion rather than hoping for her slow death? some of the comments seem rather evil also.
Selective reduction sounds positively Hitleresque. She tries to make it sound clinical, but to me it sounds criminal.
AskAmy would not like the question I would ask her(it)...
She won't have to worry next time around if she keeps the extra kids till they're four or five years old, then kills them when she's sure the first one has taken.
Rush just highlighted the NY Times article. How simply terrible. I came straight out of my chair. I told the story to the two young ladies who also work in the office. The first said that the two should have been put up for adoption, and the second commented that God would have something to say about this. I'm sure my reaction is the same as many across the country.
My thoughts exactly. Die b**ch.
I agree to some extent, but women have ALL the choices.
cry rape, dump him keep all 3 and get child support for
all of them. or (even against his wishes) abort all 3.
It's all up to her.
what the man wants in these situations is highly irrelevant.
notice the article mentions her opinion only."Peter's" probably not allowed to stay in the room...I doubt he's allowed to have much say in anything.
just remember, all sex is rape.
Hilarious-----and perfectly apt. This kind of thing gets the full endorsement of Kerry.
The genetic relatives of the murdered twins will always, always feel the shadow of their dead relations hanging over them. No partnering abortionist doctor can relieve them of that. God gave mankind a conscience for a reason.
What will the parents say when they stand before God and He is standing with the twins they murdered? What will those twins say to their murderers as they stand, sheltered and finally untouchable, in God's care?
May God give the parents, doctor, and other medical staff repentance before they draw their last breath.
I think praying for her, yes. Jesus said that anyone who says to his brother 'you fool' is just as much a murderer than someone who takes a life. In other words, none of us are guiltless. (We've all been unjustly angry -- selfishly angry).
That said, so many of us don't want her to have the ability to do this again and feel the injustice of her killing those defenseless unborn children. The babies were independent creatures with their own DNA. It is frustrating. 'Just a shot of potassium chloride to the heart' indeed.
I heard this on Rush today. This woman's one sick, sick hillary.
How is it selfish exactly?
How is not creating two children you don't want or can't take care of, make her selfish?
Wouldn't people asking her to create children just to hand them over to strangers make those demanding it selfish?
They don't care about what she wants, her feelings or the best interest of children, just what they want. That's pretty selfish if you ask me. None of yall even know this woman. If a group of people think a dna blueprint means a baby has been created, that is their problem or Michelle's problem not hers. She can't control other people's beliefs about the evilness of eating animal meat either, but I doubt she is going to stop eating meat if she likes meat.
Well, if you can't see that having two out of three children killed so you can go on living your pleasant, comfortable life isn't selfish, I can't help you.
Her "motivations" are quite clearly stated in her own words in the article and they have nothing to do with taking care of babies and everything to do with making her life just better than it otherwise would be.
Googling this woman will bring you all you need to know about her and her motivations.
As for the use of "DNA blueprint' as some kind of pseudoscientific bit of limp language for 'baby' -- well, I can't help you there either. I'm just not a professional in those sorts of mental problems.
But you can probably find a social worker to help you get a grant.
You're not going to like this Song of Death.
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