Sallie Tisdale's View Of Abortion

Author is dealing with a very controversial and touchy subject, which is abortion. Although she is writing about this topic, she is very open when it comes describing it, as written later in the story, “Quickly he grabs and crushes the fetus in several places, and the room is filled with a low clatter and snap of forceps” (Tisdale 383). Sallie Tisdale is describing a scene in gruesome detail of an abortion of a five-month pregnant woman. As the story goes on Tisdale goes through her nightmares that come with profession she has, “I woke from this dream barely able to breathe and thought of kitchen tables and coat hangers, knitting needles striped with blood, and women all alone clutching a pillow in their teeth to keep the screams from piercing the apartment-house walls” (Tisdale 383). Unlike many professions, once she is “out of the office” her work world does not leave, in the form of nightmares or negative thoughts

She also tries to convey that abortion is very complex topic, that is very specific to each situation and still is not necessarily all good, or all bad. Tisdale brilliant states her thoughts as, “Abortion is the narrowest edge between kindness and cruelty” (Tisdale 383). As mentioned above, she doesn’t take a black and white stance as to whether abortion is good or bad. She doesn’t seem to believe that it is as simple as that. Throughout the story she sympathizes while also having her heart broken after seeing unborn fetus after unborn fetus. Earlier in the text, Tisdale explains the reasons why women get abortions, “Women have abortions because they are too old, too young, too poor, and too rich, too stupid, and too smart” (Tisdale 382). As the quote suggests, there is conflicting reasons for abortions. Once again suggesting that abortion is a very complex topic, that must be looked at without such a black and white