Journal Of Applied Misanthropology

I used to believe that I had reached the point in my cynicism where nothing would seriously shock me. Outrage me, certainly, but not actually shock. Not actually reach the point where I’m left staring at the screen thinking “How could someone do that?” Even when I read about some of horrors and atrocities which continue to spread throughout the world, I am appalled and revolted and disgusted, but not really surprised. You expect brutal genocides in Africa, insane religious fanatics in the Middle East, people who think the Cultural Revolution was a good idea in Berkeley.

I am not sure if it’s a good or bad thing that I actually managed to be shocked today.

Specifically, this. Oklahoma — a state known for being bombed by a terrorist and trying to classify the Oscar winning film “The Tin Drum” as kiddie porn — has passed, overwhelmingly, despite the governor’s veto, a law which will prevent doctors from being sued if they lie, if they deliberately, willfully, and knowingly, withhold the results of tests indicating that a fetus may have genetic defects. Why? Because a woman might choose to abort the fetus if it will only live for a day, in agony. Or will most likely die in the 8th or 9th month of pregnancy. Or be born in such a state that it will never know or experience life in any way that can be called human. Or would require medical care amounting to millions of dollars for the few years it might be able to stay alive. Or simply be too difficult for the woman or her family to handle, or too risky, or too heartbreaking. There are many reasons why a woman might choose to abort, some sounder than others, but all deeply personal and absolutely no one’s business but hers.

This law basically grants doctors the right to lie if they feel the patient will do something they don’t like with the truth. (It does not, I presume, permit them to tell the woman her fetus DOES have a birth defect if it doesn’t, though I don’t see why not. If we accept that it’s moral for a doctor to lie to prevent an abortion, why shouldn’t he be permitted to lie to encourage one? I’m sure we can all think of a few people the world could do without — every politician who voted for this law, for example. Oh, for a time machine and some RU486. But I digress.)

It is almost… no, it is impossible for me to conceive of the kind of depraved mentality which could even propose this law, much less vote for it, much less do so in the confidence that it will win you praise, not a quick trip to the nearest oak tree via a stout piece of hemp rope. I make an effort, really I do, to understand the other guy’s point of view. This doesn’t mean I will agree with them or be kind to them or spout some hippie crap about how “all points of view are valid”. I do believe, or I did believe, that no one is evil in their own mind, that every sane person is motivated by a desire to do good. Their premises may be horribly flawed and thus their desire results in evil, but if you dig at them enough, you can see some sort of logic, however twisted.

This, though… no. There is nothing here which can be discussed, debated, considered, or evaluated. To pass a law of this kind, you must be a creature utterly without a conscience, and anyone who knows me might be a little slack jawed at what it would take to get me to say that.  To sit there and vote “Yes” for a law this depraved basically places you outside the pale of humanity.

There is vast national outrage over Arizona passing a law which says “If you’re committing a crime, you’ll be punished for that crime.” Where is the national outrage over this?

I completely oppose, obviously, laws banning abortion outright. But such a law, no matter how wrong it would be, does not come close to the depths of evil of this abomination. Under such a regime, a woman can at least trust her doctor to tell her the truth — even if she can’t abort a fetus which will be born deformed or dead, she can emotionally steel herself for it. She can find support among friends and family. If the defect in question is not lethal, she can research and prepare for what she will face. If she knows she cannot support the child, she can try to arrange for it to be cared for by private or public charities before the birth. But under the nightmare realm of Oklahoma, none of this is possible. Note that the decision is entirely in the mind of the doctor — he must decide, based on nothing but whim, if a woman “might” decide to abort based on the news, and then withhold it if he so wishes. Thus,even a woman who would be willing and able to care for a child with birth defects is denied any of the above tools. She will not find out until the moment of birth — if it survived to be born — what she is carrying. She will have been lied to by her own doctor, the man or woman she trusted to provide care for herself and her child. How could she ever trust that person, or any doctor, ever again?

“Madness” is too small a word. “Evil” is too broad. This is atrocity.