Remember Dan Neil of LA Times Pontiac Infamy?

[Shantanu]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-...-opinion-center

This article just made me sick.

MY WIFE AND I just had an abortion. Two, actually. We walked into a doctor's office in downtown Los Angeles with four thriving fetuses — two girls and two boys — and walked out an hour later with just the girls, whom we will name, if we're lucky enough to keep them, Rosalind and Vivian. Rosalind is my mother's name.

We didn't want to. We didn't mean to. We didn't do anything wrong, which is to say, we did everything right. Four years ago, when Tina and I set out on this journey to have children, such a circumstance was unimaginable. And yet there I was, holding her hand, watching the ultrasound as a needle with potassium chloride found its mark, stopping the heart of one male fetus, then the other, hidden in my wife's suffering belly.

Wow, what a sick bastard. I wonder what he'll tell to his two daughters in the future.

"Yeah, we had to kill two of you. I wanted the boys, and your Mom wanted girls, so we flipped a coin. You won! Don't you love us!"

[balthazar]

Are we sure this is the same guy? This was in the opinion section, and says neil writes 'Rumbleseat' for 'Highway 1'.

I read the whole article... there were circumstances that pushed the decision, but the opening still comes off distasteful, callous & flippant.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

If they wanted an abortion, that's fine. It was their decision and I have no problem with that, I can respect that, and I can understand why, also as there were circumstances which yielded the decision to be made and carried through. But the opening is just not the way to carry out this type of article. The approach is received as distasteful and, ultimately, the article serves no purpose other than for people who find the horror in the situation, as a collective, to satisfy the hypocritical voyeur in their self, as it turns away the audience it is designed to speak to and educate.

Edited May 8, 2007 by YellowJacket894

[ocnblu]

Two utterly disgusting paragraphs. His mother made the wrong choice.

[Oracle of Delphi]

Hehehehehe, I was thinking the same thing, his mother and hers, both made the wrong choice!!!

[Northstar]

Abortion is dumb. I don't understand why people who get them don't understand there are thousands upon thousands of people willing to pay their medical bills (the cost of having the baby) if they let them adopt their child. Instead, people decide to stop a life from entering the world.

In addition, abortion is very painful from what I've heard and can cause permanent damage to the mother. Not worth the risk at all when again, you can just have your baby adopted. Even if you don't want your baby adopted, it has to be better than killing it.

[CSpec]

Abortion is dumb. I don't understand why people who get them don't understand there are thousands upon thousands of people willing to pay their medical bills (the cost of having the baby) if they let them adopt their child. Instead, people decide to stop a life from entering the world.

In addition, abortion is very painful from what I've heard and can cause permanent damage to the mother. Not worth the risk at all when again, you can just have your baby adopted. Even if you don't want your baby adopted, it has to be better than killing it.

True, but it's their choice.

[Oracle of Delphi]

Abortion is dumb. I don't understand why people who get them don't understand there are thousands upon thousands of people willing to pay their medical bills (the cost of having the baby) if they let them adopt their child. Instead, people decide to stop a life from entering the world.

In addition, abortion is very painful from what I've heard and can cause permanent damage to the mother. Not worth the risk at all when again, you can just have your baby adopted. Even if you don't want your baby adopted, it has to be better than killing it.

On this we agree!

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

Dan Neil is a bastard... Always has been and always will be... The typical selfish, asshole yuppie that gives EVERY american a bad name simply because he won't get a real job.

I'm not sure whether I agree with abortion or not. I think one should have the choice, especially if the child is going to have a hard life. However, I'm not sure it's our position as human beings to decide whether a life should cease to exist.

[the_yellow_dart]

Abortion is dumb. I don't understand why people who get them don't understand there are thousands upon thousands of people willing to pay their medical bills (the cost of having the baby) if they let them adopt their child. Instead, people decide to stop a life from entering the world.

In addition, abortion is very painful from what I've heard and can cause permanent damage to the mother. Not worth the risk at all when again, you can just have your baby adopted. Even if you don't want your baby adopted, it has to be better than killing it.

How can you even say this without going through the pain of childbirth?

I feel I have no right to oppose abortion, since I am male.

[ocnblu]

This is an explosive issue. I believe the time to prevent unwanted children resulting from consentual sex is before conception, with any number of inexpensive, effective birth control methods... including (hello?) condoms. Rape and health-threatening circumstances are a different story. This is my last comment in this thread just because it is one of the most controversial issues facing mankind.

[tmp]

It's pretty clear from the article that the doctors felt that if the "reduction" was not performed that there was likelyhood that all of the fetuses and the mother could die.

[loki]

This is an explosive issue. I believe the time to prevent unwanted children resulting from consentual sex is before conception, with any number of inexpensive, effective birth control methods... including (hello?) condoms. Rape and health-threatening circumstances are a different story. This is my last comment in this thread just because it is one of the most controversial issues facing mankind.

true...how can you chose to kill one person over the other and to factor in they haven't been born yet....euthanasia...and since it's been "legalized" back in roe v wade... one could think it's chosen genocide.

It's pretty clear from the article that the doctors felt that if the "reduction" was not performed that there was likelyhood that all of the fetuses and the mother could die.

true.... it's so rare for women to get 4 kids at 1 time.... i'd think she was on fertility drugs....they should've looked into adoption.

this is all i'm saying on this.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

I didn't know Dan Neil could father children... Judging solely on his musing, he doesn't seem to have the required equipment.

[Satty]

Thats a disturbing and rather tasteless article. Doesn't make me any less pro-choice.

[Cory Wolfe]

I don't agree with abortion, but I think it should remain a choice, especially under certain circumstances.

[regfootball]

well, this situation is certainly a kerfuffle and really does highlight why this stuff is sometimes not black and white.

Generally I am very against abortion not gonna spew why, but this might be one of those conditions that make you think hard about the net benefit.

It really does go to show that we humans are certainly not all that qualified to determine who lives and who dies and it really exposes our fallibility when we try to do things like that.

Thank goodness for random chance or divine intervention...take your pick.....things generally work out best in cases like this if we can avoid human involvement in the decision.

Edited May 9, 2007 by regfootball