Compassion and the complete, utter lack thereof.

UPDATE: I didn't realize when I posted this that Warren Hern would be on Rachel Maddow tonight. Check MSNBC/Maddow website for the video.

Interview in Esquire with "the last abortion doctor," Warren Hern:

I've done some cases over thirty-six weeks, but very few.

For what cause?

For some catastrophic problems.

Like what?

Oh, anencephaly or lack of kidneys, you know. Lack of a brain.

I want everyone reading this to know that I, Blue Gal, had a sister with anencephaly. Wiki says that "A baby born with anencephaly is usually blind, deaf, unconscious, and unable to feel pain. Although some individuals with anencephaly may be born with a main brain stem, the lack of a functioning cerebrum permanently rules out the possibility of ever gaining consciousness."

If my mother had been able, in the 1960's, to end her pregnancy, it might have prevented the mental breakdown which she suffered as a result, and given her ten years of her life and a good chunk of my childhood back. Some, and granted, only some, anti-abortion forces care not at all about quality of life issues for those already here.

From Esquire:

The antiabortionists say that in those cases, the woman should just give birth naturally and let God take the baby.

The [doctor's] sharp tone comes back. Having a delivery is not a benign procedure. When you are trying to keep the baby alive, that increases the risk for the woman. And Reagan put in a bunch of rules about requiring to keep babies alive no matter how hopeless it is. You have people going to Europe to get away from that.

You mean the hospital requires them to save the baby?

The hospital requires full resuscitation measures, no matter what.

Esquire interviews a couple who wanted their baby but found it had such severe abnormalities it could not survive, and that giving birth would have injured the mother, probably preventing her from having more children:

Was it painful?

Yeah, it was painful physically and mentally.

You don't want to push it. So you ask if there's anything else they want to say. The husband answers.

It's important that people have a choice. At the end of the day, when things go bad, you know? I mean, God forbid something happens to Dr. Hern, where are we going to go next? Australia? China? It's important that people know that choice is very important when it comes to things like this.

Believe me, I completely understand the compassionate and natural human nature to want to protect the unborn. But anyone who thinks another human being should by some divine will, go through the birthing process of an anecephaly fetus, is either completely stupid or a hateful, vicious, uncompassionate freak.

And Sarah Palin for all her "experience" has no idea about parenting a special needs child. It has only begun for her. Little Trig may be mentally retarded, may have other emotional issues, may wind up inflicting pain on himself or others. For her to add the LIE of "special needs baby death panels" to the health care "debate" is atrocious.

By the way, corporate media: I vote we stop the 24-hour-news cycle and all go back to one hour per network of nightly news. You only get to talk about what is sane and real and factual. That will end "debates" about torture being evil and "whether" healthcare for everyone is a "good idea" and anything else that is really truly not debatable. You won't need to fill time with "the other side" of the whole "sky is blue" question.