Heavens! Confrontation!

Imagine you're pregnant. Imagine that you discover the fetus is doomed by serious birth defects, and is going to be stillborn no matter what. Imagine that you weepily go to the local reproductive services to have the futile pregnancy terminated. Imagine (and this is probably the easiest part) that you get there and discover a fervent group of fanatical, close-minded Christians waving signs with aborted fetuses on them, telling you that you're damned for going into that clinic.

What would you do?

Well, obviously, you should find common cause with the protestors and tell them that you respect their opinions and really appreciate their input into your personal, and in this case tragically necessary, decisions. Maybe you should go to church with them and discover the richness of their spiritual life, and watch them bloom into awareness of your beliefs and values. Yeah, maybe.

Or you could march right up to them and let them know exactly how despicable their behavior is.

I don't know. I kind of like the second option. It seems a little more realistic and honest. It also has the bonus of revealing how cowardly your opposition actually is — they're not used to people standing up for their rights.

More like this

This is kicking a man when he's down, but the iPod popped this up to me last night, and I thought how appropriate it is to the election outcome:
Orac note: While Orac is on vacation (fear not, he'll be returning on Monday!), he's rerunning some of the "best of" the blog (if you can call it that). Actually, he's rerunning whatever strikes his fancy.
It's that time of year again. Actually, it's well over a month past that time of year.
Are you new to this parenting gig? About to give birth or adopt or take on a foster placement? Or maybe you've had one easy kid, and are about to go to two and sense that things are about to change radically.