Pro-Choice - because it's better to ruin your children in utero, I guess

Fascinating article in today's Washingon Post showing how Rubella (German Measels) has been eradicated in the US, and how it could eventually be eradicated in the world.

Rubella isn't much for someone who's already born, but apparently it's pretty much the natural version of thalidimyde for pregnant women; a mild case in mama means autistic, blind, heart-damaged, retarded infants (and more) if they don't outright miscarry. So I'm reading about how this has been completely eliminated in the US and thinking "this is so COOL!" and I suddenly get ambushed by this paragraph:

[The inventor of the vaccine] recalled last week that opponents of abortion briefly questioned whether it was ethical to use the vaccine, because it was developed with virus isolated from an infected fetus that had been legally aborted in Pennsylvania in 1965.

Because it's so much more ethical to let millions of children be deformed or die naturally? According to the article, In 1964 and 1965, rubella exploded. There were 12.5 million infections here, which gave rise to 20,000 cases of the congenital syndrome, about 6,200 stillbirths, and at least 5,000 abortions.

For all the anti-choice folks who argue "what if that kid could have cured cancer?" well, *that* "kid" DID cure rubella!

My $.02 on the Schiavo case

There's been a lot of outrage across my f-list over the Schiavo case today, pointing out how this blows away state's rights, individual rights, sanctity of marriage, et al. As far as I can tell, only the bloggers are picking up on how Bush is signing into law an attempt to keep a white woman alive while none of the newspapers discuss how he also signed into law the ability to yank a poor black baby off its respirator. (scottbateman summed that up nicely.)

Since everyone is is covering the highlights, I'm just going to say one piece of advice and ask one really grim question.

The Advice
Living Wills and Letters of Attorney (you need both forms; one to say that you want the plug pulled and one to give a specific person the right to pull it) are available in kit form at every office supply store in town. Go spend the $10 for piece of mind - and remember to put a series of names on that Letter of Attorney in case whatever incapacitates you also incapacitates them. As in: "In the event I cannot make decisions for myself, my spouse will make all decisions for me. In the event that my spouse is likewise incapacitated AND ONLY IN THAT EVENT, then the decisions will be made by..." etc. For example, my cascade goes brother-father-mother-cousin. That way, I don't need to go write a new one if something happens, and the odds of all of those people being injured at once are low. But in each case, each person named has sole right to decision making, so that there hopefully will be no fights between brother, parents, and cousin. And if there are... well, my wishes are known. They can be disregarded, but I've done what I can to not be a breathing football.

The Ugly Question
Are Terri's mother and sister really acting out of love for Terri or love of being a radical right media darling? And how trapped are they by that iconography - because if they give up now, won't their supporters turn on them like rabid dogs? This is not a country - and the radical right is not a group - that appreciates humanity in their icons. We turn on them fast when they don't hold up their end of the bargain. Jessie Lynch at least had the ability to say "I was never a famewhore, people did that to me, kindly knock it off now" and I'm sure she took her lumps for it. When people DO ask in the first place, I'm sure they end up riding a tiger.

Reviewing the Evidence

Two reviews at Reviewing the Evidence (link @ right in my LJ): The Dreaming Detective and Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye. Both worthwhile, one really delightful - go see which one I raved about!