On Abortion, Jail, Parental Responsibility & Bad Judgement

Jennifer Whalen, a 39 year old mother of three from rural Pennsylvania, is serving a 9-18 month jail sentence for purchasing and dispensing abortion-causing medications to help her teenage daughter abort an unplanned pregnancy. The case is being used as an example of the lengths that women will go to to end a pregnancy when abortion is not immediately and freely available. And perhaps it is. But it’s also an example of just how easy we expect everything to be, and how those expectations are leading us to do things that are really, really stupid. Because make no mistake. What Whalen did was stupid, irresponsible and dangerous. Abortion is legal in Pennsylvania. It was available to Whalen’s daughter with parental consent (which she clearly had) at a safe facility 75 miles away. That’s about an hour and 15 minute ride. Not the end of the world. Yes, Pennsylvania has an absolutely ridiculous law requiring a 24 hour waiting period, meaning Whalen might have had to take time off from work to get her daughter an abortion. Or not – because the abortion facility nearest them has Saturday hours. And yes, Whalen and her husband had just one car. And no health insurance for the $400 procedure. I get it. I really do. This was not going to be something easy. But this is an abortion. A medical procedure that, while exceedingly safe, needs to be done by someone who knows what they are doing. Whalen, while not a licensed RN as previously reported, works in a hea...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - Category: Primary Care Authors: Tags: Abortion daughter jennifer whalen Judge misoprostol online Pa Pennsylvania pill Prison RU486 Washingtonville Source Type: blogs