{"id":240205,"date":"2021-02-18T11:49:47","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T17:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=240205"},"modified":"2021-02-19T19:23:24","modified_gmt":"2021-02-20T01:23:24","slug":"angry-fetal-models-shatter-illusions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/angry-fetal-models-shatter-illusions\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do some get angry over fetal models? Because they shatter their illusions."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Last week, New Mexico\u2019s Senate debated<\/span> SB 10<\/a>, which would repeal a 1969 law that made abortion a felony. During the debates, Right to Life of New Mexico distributed models of 12-week-old fetuses to the senators, some of whom had rather extreme<\/span> reactions<\/span><\/a>: \u201cI got that same prop from Right to Life of wherever. I threw it away. Threw it right in the trash, right in the trash,\u201d said Senator Jacob Candelaria (D). \u201cWhy? It\u2019s offensive!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Other politicians<\/a> have called the models “repulsive,” “shocking,” and “unsettling.” Still others have called<\/a> the distribution of such models “obscene,” “disgusting,” and even “terrifying.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Really?<\/em><\/p>\n

\"fetal

Fetal model, 12 weeks<\/p><\/div>\n

Many may have scratched their heads and wondered how a simple, scientifically accurate plastic model of something that actually exists and harms no one could possibly be \u201coffensive\u201d or “repulsive” or even “terrifying.” After all, similar yet more detailed models are often used during childbirth education classes, and are even present in the offices of obstetrician\/gynecologists.\u00a0<\/span>But I know the real reason why Senator Candelaria and others are offended by fetal models… because 27 years ago, I had a similar reaction.<\/span><\/p>\n

I had my first abortion when I was 16. A friend drove my boyfriend and me three hours to a bordering state. We\u2019d been advised to go there by Planned Parenthood in order to circumvent my state\u2019s parental notification laws. When we arrived at the facility, it was surrounded by protestors, and as we pulled into the parking lot, two of them approached our car.<\/span><\/p>\n

I still don\u2019t know how the man who spoke to me knew that I, and not my female friend, was the \u201cpatient,\u201d but he pegged me right away. \u201cThis is what your baby looks like right now,\u201d he said, placing something small and made of hard plastic into my right hand.<\/span><\/p>\n

Everything was moving so quickly \u2014 my friend and boyfriend had surrounded me and were herding me as quickly as possible through the crowd toward the front door of the abortion facility \u2014 and I was so dazed already. I had spent the previous night talking to the growing baby inside of me, begging for forgiveness for what I was about to do, and trying to explain my reasons for doing it \u2014 which was really more of an attempt to justify things to myself and quiet my nagging, numerous doubts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0After a miscarriage, Rachel realized what her two previous abortions had done: \u2018I was traumatized\u2019<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the end, the only way I had been able to get some peace and quiet in my own mind and conscience was by repeatedly reminding myself of what I had been told over and over by the trusted adults in my life: it wasn\u2019t a baby yet, it was just a clump of cells, it wasn\u2019t like I was killing a human being or anything like that.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

And then I looked down at what the man had placed in my hand. It was a small fetal model.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was like a demon that had been splashed with holy water.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I was enraged. I threw the model on the ground and had to be restrained from punching the man who had put it into my hand. I believe I spat some choice profane words at him while my friends essentially dragged me away. It was ugly. <\/span>I<\/span><\/i> was ugly.<\/span><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until many years later that I understood why.<\/span><\/p>\n