To say that abortion is birth control is a controversial statement.
It is also controversial to say that men and women are different. Following this, it is also controversial to say that it is a misogynistic culture/country that thinks that women getting pregnant with random men they meet at Stampede and then getting abortions as the fix is AOK and unworthy of discussion. (The men never land in a clinic for a surgery–wondering what they are doing–some weeks/months down the road.)
These musing are sparked by this post from We Need A Law, about the post-Stampede increase in abortions.
byOur former classmate began by telling me about the time she lived in Calgary and worked at a downtown medical lab. This particular lab was located near the Kensington Clinic, a private, for-profit abortion facility. Her lab handled the majority of the clinic’s blood work. My classmate explained that the month of September was always extremely busy and was known as “Stampede Month” to healthcare workers. She must have sensed my confusion so she spelled it out for me: between eight and twelve weeks after the Calgary Stampede, a large number of women come in to abort the unexpected pregnancies resulting from sexual trysts during the Stampede.
Melissa says
Is 8-12 weeks the most common time to abort a pregnancy? I would have thought that most women would abort more quickly than that.
Abortion is the price we have to pay for having a society where casual sex is not frowned upon. It’s alot to ask of a woman–to raise the baby of a man she barely knows (I know, I know there’s adoption, but realistically that is not an option that many women seriously consider). The question I think we should be asking is this: is the fun of a couple minutes of sex worth the pain of an abortion?
Julie Culshaw says
I have heard that 9-10 weeks is the most common time for abortion. Clinics won’t do abortions too early (under 6 weeks) and tell women to return in a few weeks time. At 9-10 weeks, they can confirm the pregnancy, size of fetus, and can still use the vacuum method. After 13 weeks, the bones are getting too firm for vacuum aspiration.
Melissa says
And here is where I always get confused, because a 9-10 week pregnancy doesn’t mean the child is 9-10 weeks old. Gestational age is calculated from the date of the last menstrual period, not from conception. So a 9-10 week pregnancy (I think) would be 7-8 weeks from conception.
The Calgary Stampede is the beginning of July. 7-8 weeks from that puts you at the end of August, beginning of September. I guess that’s about right.
Incidentally, is that the reason that prochoicers are all excited about Ru 486 pending approval from Health Canada? I would think that the earlier an abortion is done, the easier it is (both physically and emotionally) on a woman.
Andrea Mrozek says
I believe 8-12 weeks is the most common time. Will look it up.
Of course abortion is not worth the fun. (I know you asked that rhetorically) The sad part is, I don’t believe it actually was that fun for the women, because in all probability loads of these cases are alcohol fuelled and she likely can’t remember the details.