We're pretty spotty at this brainwashing thing...

HT: After Abortion

So, the pro-life meeting, blogs I'm Not a Feminist. She laments the "brainwashing" of post-abortion women by the nasty right-to-lifers.

Now, I've heard this before: The only reason women experience negative feelings after abortion, so goes the abortion advocacy cant, is that them mean old right-to-lifers have brainwashed them.

If we're so good at brainwashing that we've managed to create the whole problem of post-abortion trauma (which even effects prochoice women!), how come we suck at brainwashing in other contexts? We're not able to brainwash legislators into passing legislation that protects women and children. We're not able to brainwash judges into upholding the few pro-women and pro-life laws that do get passed. We're not able to brainwash the abortion staff into putting away their canulas. We're not able to brainwash the activists on the abortion-rights side to abandon their cause. We're not able to brainwash the mainstream media into giving us a little favorable press once in a while. We're not even able to brainwash the women contemplating abortion. But once the woman gets off that abortion table, she's like putty in our hands! She switches to our side faster than Patty Hearst joined the SLA!

Now, how can this be? How can we be so skilled at brainwashing, but only with this one population?

It staggers the mind. Maybe somebody can write a doctoral thesis on this.