I'm against abortion until my mistress needs one

[Aroura]

Could it be that politicians have political stances that correspond to what their lobbyists pay them for and that they don't have to correspond to those in their private life?

As much as politicians often say one thing, then do another, this particular behavior goes right down to the commonest of common folk. A pretty big chunk of abortions are had by women who label themselves as pro life.

Excerpt from article:

If you've ever interviewed women who work at abortion clinics (as I did for my thesis), especially those who see their work as an outgrowth of a feminist mission, these women will tell you point blank that they've had people come to their clinic and get an abortion, yet identify themselves as "pro-life" the whole time. I've even heard anecdotes where a woman would get an abortion at a clinic on one day, then go back to protesting against the same clinic on the next day. Another woman I interviewed told me, "Most pro-life women oppose abortion with four exceptions: rape, incest, the life of the mother, and me."

The sociologist Wendi Simons described this phenomenon in her book, Abortion at Work: Ideology and Practice in a Feminist Clinic.

Many workers spoke of dealing with clients who felt conflicted about abortion rights or who even declared that they were against abortion (on the phone, in group sessions, or while waiting in the exam rooms). Yvette said, "I've had a lot of people [clients] tell me lately, 'I used to be pro-choice, but now I'm not.' And that one really bothers me." Health workers sometimes confronted clients by asking them how they could have an abortion if they were anti-choice, as Janice described: "I get mad, but I ... just present the opposite side view, 'Well, you know, if you are anti-abortion, then maybe this isn't the decision that you want to make," you know, and just try to present it in a way that, well, that it's not really compatible to be anti-abortion and to have an abortion. 'Well, my situation's different.' 'Okay, right!'" Janice laughed, using sarcasm to dismiss a client's claim to a unique route to abortion.

Clients would attempt to justify their own abortions as necessary compared with the frivolous abortions of other women. Many health workers said, as Janice did, that they often assured such clients that their situations were not unusual. This recurring conversation frustrated staff members, who often found it easiest to simply ignore clients' anti-abortion remarks. Carrie, a health worker, said, for instance, that she rarely felt she had the energy or desire to argue with clients and that she worried she might not argue politely. She believed that what she would like to say expressed too much anger to maintain the nurturing stance she had been taught. "It makes me really angry--it really frustrates me--that you're coming in here to have an abortion and telling me that you don't believe in it! That you would deny other women the choice, the option that you have now to come in here and do this!"