I’ve been digesting Mr. Obama’s comments on late term abortions for some time now, and I finally feel prepared to talk about them. First, I had to get through my initial phase of incandescent rage and fury, and then I had to move through the sadness until I could reach a state of neutrality which would allow me to comment without excessive rancor and bile.

Just so we’re all clear, he’s what he said, in response to a question from an interviewer for a Christian magazine who asked him to clarify his position on late term abortions:

Obama: I absolutely can, so please don’t believe the emails. I have repeatedly said that I think it’s entirely appropriate for states to restrict or even prohibit late-term abortions as long as there is a strict, well-defined exception for the health of the mother. Now, I don’t think that “mental distress” qualifies as the health of the mother. I think it has to be a serious physical issue that arises in pregnancy, where there are real, significant problems to the mother carrying that child to term. Otherwise, as long as there is such a medical exception in place, I think we can prohibit late-term abortions.

And, let me say right off the top, props to Obama for calling a late term abortion a late term abortion, rather than using the entirely invented term “partial birth abortion” developed by the Republicans specifically for the purpose of making it controversial.

Just to clarify, he added:

“…it’s not just a matter of feeling blue” when discussing “mental health” for pregnant women.

Yeah, because women who get late term abortions are just feeling blue. Oh, or maybe they’re just tired of feeling pregnant, so they figure, what the heck, let’s just get an abortion and start over again. Or they were lazy, and they didn’t realize they were pregnant until it was too late.

Now, I’ve never been pregnant, so I am treading on thin ground here, but I would venture a guess that many women who have been pregnant would agree with me when I say that Obama’s comments demonstrate shocking ignorance and unbelievable callousness.

Women do not get late term abortions because they are feeling blue, although depression in pregnancy does happen, and it can be debilitating. It might come as a shock to Mr. Obama to learn this, but getting an abortion to treat depression would, uhm, not actually solve the problem. In fact, it would probably make it worse. Women who struggle with depression in pregnancy do indeed need medical attention and care, but for some reason, “abortion” isn’t on the list of treatment options. And to dismiss the very serious mental health problems associated with pregnancy for some women is rather shortsighted.

The vast majority of women who get late term abortions get them because medical testing reveals that the fetus has birth defects which are “incompatible with life,” which is a nice way of saying that the fetus doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of living. And yeah, that information would make pretty much anyone “feel blue,” but that’s not why those women choose to get abortions. Instead, they terminate the pregnancy because they recognize that carrying the pregnancy to term is pointless, and it would be emotionally grueling. And that decision is not taken lightly, and it is not enjoyable.

When a fetus has severe birth defects, they don’t always show up on early scans. And, sometimes, they can cause the fetus to die, potentially creating an infection in the mother which could, yes, threaten her life, qualifying her for the “health exception” holy grail.

Over the last week, I have read a lot of very sad and personal stories by women who have received late term abortions. They weren’t “feeling blue.” They weren’t tired of being pregnant. On the contrary, they were really excited to be pregnant, and looking forward to the births of their children. The decision to abort was not casual, and the experience was not pleasant.

I think that Mr. Obama could benefit from some compassion and education before he runs his mouth off on a topic he is clearly ill-informed about. Hey, you can’t expect people to know everything, and that’s ok. But when you’re running for President, it’s a good idea to learn some statistics*, and to talk with your constituency. If Mr. Obama reads any of these stories, I think he will come away with a very different perspective on the late term abortion issue.

The proposed health exception is dangerous, as are laws which require multiple medical opinions. All of these laws require pregnant women to jump through hoops during a very emotional and fragile time. Yes, by all means, women should see genetic counselors before getting a late term abortion, and they should be encouraged to seek out a second opinion from an experienced ob/gyn, and in fact most do, because their doctors refer them to experts because they aren’t equipped to deal with the situation. But women should not be forced to give birth to children which are going to die within minutes of birth, because that is just messed up. A hard choice should not be made harder to satisfy some obscure mental block in the mind of a politician who will never be forced to make that choice.

At least, I think so.

*According to our good friends at Wikipedia, 1.4% of abortions are performed after 21 weeks, which would qualify them as “late.” Of those, a little over a thousand abortions each year are carried out after 24 weeks, when the fetus could potentially be viable.