The A-Word: I'm not trying to start another Roe debate, nor do I particularly want to talk about abortion. But I did note, sometime back, a line in one of Radley's rather sharp abortion posts. He spoke of the abortion lobby being not pro-choice but pro-abortion. Razor disputed. I spoke up for him, noting that while not all abortion-rights types think of each abortion as a victory, quite a few do.

Here's a picture that Meghan Keane noted from the weekend abortion rally in D.C. We'll cut the broad in the picture some slack on her spelling and focus instead on the message: "Menopausal Woman Nostalgic For Choice." What could this sign possibly mean?

It could mean that she is nostalgic for the choice (to have an abortion) that was taken away. But such a choice hasn't been taken away, so that's out. Instead, she must be nostaligic for the choice to have an abortion -- the choice taken away by nature, now that she is barren, now that she cannot conceive. Does that make sense? Menopausal women, who no longer have any need for abortions, support the legality of abortions. Fair enough. But that's not quite it either. She's nostalgic, see?

nostalgic adj. [Cf. F. nostalgique] Of or pertaining to nostalgia; affected with nostalgia

nostalgia n. A wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition

This woman's sign says that she wishes she could still have an abortion. You know, for the cause.

This is what Radley meant: the mentality that says, "Every legal abortion is a victory for our side."