In 1996, I talked about my medically necessary abortion on the floor, and a Republican colleague responded in a closed-door caucus afterward by commenting that “Jim Jones didn’t finish the job.” That was a particularly extreme, offensive case, but that kind of vitriol followed me. I’m not immune to the initial sting or shock of such comments, but having faced true disaster has made it easier to rebound from those petty comments and place naysayers and bullies in perspective.
Jackie was forced to have a D and C when it was determined that her baby had slipped from within the uterus prematurely and could not survive, despite intervention to save the pregnancy. The loss devastated her.
