My colleague, Isaac Schorr, wrote about Democratic representative Cori Bush’s revelation to PBS’s Margaret Hoover that she was forced to complete an abortion against her will. From Isaac’s report:
“So I said ‘No, you know what, I’m not ready.’ And the nurse just, you know, wouldn’t listen to me. And I said ‘No, I’m not ready.’ And as I’m saying ‘No,’ they continue to pull the instruments and you know, get everything ready. And it was just like ‘No, calm down, no, you’re going to be okay,’” she continued.
“They absolutely ignored me, even to the point of, you know, like, ‘Calm down’ as if I was the problem,” recalled Bush, who said that she continued to tell the staff “no,” as they performed the procedure itself.
What’s strange is that Bush’s takeaway from this story is not the obvious affront to her pro-choice convictions. It’s not exactly a choice if it’s being forced on you, is it? It’s odd that she could experience something like this and still be vehemently pro-abortion.
Her takeaway, rather, is racism. As she sees it, the medical staff assumed that she couldn’t be taken seriously because she is black. She overlooks another possible scenario — that the abortion staff wanted her to complete the procedure they profit from. And didn’t particularly care about her feelings on the matter. Which, again, might make one less inclined to take the stand that Bush does on abortion.