As human beings we crave comfortability. When something disrupts our comfort, it is in our nature to scramble for a solution, to seek immediate relief from the chaos that has disrupted our lives. Sometimes, we are fortunate enough that the solution is clear, and easy. But, sometimes there is no easy solution. Sometimes, we have to search through thick fog, only to find an answer that is difficult to accept. Unintended pregnancy disrupts the comfort in the lives of women across the globe, and abortion is a solution that many cling to in an attempt of relief. Abortion. The word by itself is enough to light a fire inside. It’s mere existence is enough to create outrage rooted in hate and disgust. Just hearing it spoken out loud can shatter someone’s heart into more than one thousand tiny pieces. Some feel abortion is ethically and morally wrong. Some believe access to safe and legal abortions is a human right. Everyone seems to have a fervent opinion on the matter. However, very few of us have ever stepped foot inside of an abortion clinic. How is it fair to speak so fiercely to a matter that we truly know nothing about? This essay could be plagiarized. Get your custom essay “Dirty Pretty Things” Acts of Desperation: The State of Being Desperate 125 writers ready to help you now Get Original Paper Without paying upfront Sallie Tisdale aims to give her readers an inside look at abortion through her personal account of working as a nurse in an abortion clinic. In her writing she plays into the paradox that is abortion, intentionally drawing an emotional response from the reader without ever disclosing her own position on the procedure, thus allowing the reader to make a decision for themselves. I believe her writing is incredibly effective for this very reason. No matter which side of the abortion debate you fall on, you could use her piece to support your stance, proving that abortion is both a light and the dark, or as Tisdale puts it, “the narrowest edge between kindness and cruelty”. Tisdale aims to prove that abortion is not subjected to a small demographic of women but rather various groups that all women can relate to. She states that, “Women have abortions because they are too old, and too young, too poor, and too rich, too stupid, and too smart.” She recounts both a “twenty three year old mother of two having her seventh abortion” as well as a sixteen year old girl who was raped. By telling these stories she plays into both sides of the abortion debate. Reading about the twenty three year old women, having her seventh abortion, made me feel sick to my stomach. This is why people have a pro-life stance. This is why people stand outside of Planned Parenthood clinics across the nation screaming about the murder of innocent babies. But then, just a few sentences later she talks about the sixteen year old victim of rape, who has contracted gonorrhea, and clearly, to me at least, is not mentally stable enough to care for herself let alone another human life. My heart hurt for this young girl, I felt compassion for her and wished her nothing but relief from the horrible circumstance she has found herself in. This is why the federal government made abortion legal in 1973. This is why doctors are trained in the procedure. Telling the stories of her patients, not only allows the reader to understand the sympathy Tisdale herself feels for these women, but also forces the reader, no matter their personal stance, to feel for them as well. In feeling sympathy for these women, it allows for the kindness that is abortion to be understood.