More on abortion, sort of

Well, this is not really about abortion. It's about having things done abroad in general. It's just that it comes up more often in abortion conversation.

When I need something done and can't have it done where I am, I automatically think of doing it elsewhere. A lot of people don't, and it surprises me. My friend Anu has once told me that it's because I was raised that way, and a lot of people weren't. I take her word for it, but I still find it impossible to understand on an emotional level.

There is a newsgroup where I sometimes hang out with my fellow child-haters. Most of them are American and understandably paranoid about the possibility of Roe v. Wade being overturned. I am paranoid too, in the sense that I think it would be a very bad thing in general, but I don't feel personally threatened by it, and didn't even when I used to live in the US. Apart from the obvious fact that not all states would ban abortion and Massachusetts would be one of those that won't, I simply can afford to go elsewhere to have an abortion. Canada, Europe, you name it. An unexpected abortion trip would make a dent in my budget, but I'll survive. Too bad about all those poor teenage girls who'd kill themselves with homemade coathanger abortions in North Carolina of somewhere else beyond the boundaries of civilization, their death would sadden me and piss me off, but it's not a personal threat to me. It is, however, considered a personal threat by many people, including people who live within one hour of the Canadian border and can well afford to go to Montreal - simply because the idea does not occur to them. That's what I find strange.

The phenomenon is not quite unknown in Finland either. I've heard of several people who were over the 12-week limit for abortion, really did not want the child, but had it anyway because they were denied abortion here. Hello? There is a country with a 20-week abortion limit right across the gulf, and it doesn't take a lot of money to get there, and their language is taught in all Finnish schools so you can even talk to them. Then there is UK, US...

I think that if I ever find myself over 12 weeks pregnant in Finland I won't even try to get an abortion out of the local bureaucracy but will go straight to Sweden or US.