Choices

It is always nice to be given a choice.

Isn't it?

Like in UK elections for instance which version of the Conservative Party do you want, as the Labour Party these days can hardly be distinguished from the Conservatives.

Meanwhile following yesterday's posting I was once more for no particular reason checking out the latest bit of American news on the theme of ultrasound probes and pregnant women who want abortions - this time in Alabama (OK, I am not American, I do not live in Alabama, I know that!).

There the legislation offers the women in question a choice. Except that the quality of the choice is pretty similar to being asked if you want being hit on the head with a hammer, or being hit on the head with a brick! Or, for the more simple among you, it is no choice at all. A real choice would be to avoid the procedure entirely, which is not available!

And as for the outrageously draconian penalties that doctors face if they do not cooperate in this procedure - frankly they would have no place in any democracy in which I would choose to live. It is one thing to force them to face delisting for incompetence, it is another thing entirely to tie their medical professionalism, judgement and independence to one strict set of politically imposed "moral principles"!

Fortunately I do not have to live with that situation, but my sympathy goes very positively to the people who do.