Why Is This Abortion Different from All Other Abortions?

Amy Richard's recent abortion has attracted so much criticism because it threatens to drive a wedge between the two groups that keep abortion legal. In addition to the fervent feminists there's also a wishy-washy group that approves of some abortions but not others. They require two conditions to accept an abortion:

• First, the details of the abortion must be kept at arm's length. Actually making a decision about which fetus to keep is inexcusable. It would have been far more acceptable to scrape out all three or let the “doctor” make the decision.

• Second, the purpose of the abortion should be either acquiring or keeping a more normal lifestyle. For example, raising a handicapped kid is abnormal so it's acceptable to do them in. It's abnormal to either give birth at twenty or remain a virgin at twenty so an occasional abortion is needed to reconcile those. On the other hand, an abortion for the purpose of not shopping at Costco is right out.

  There's the additional complication that, in our society, we're not supposed to be obsessed with being normal so objections to abnormal behavior must be disguised.