If you are pro-life, please read this
Are you pro life or pro choice? Think about that question. An anonymous friend was called today by an automated telephone poll and asked that question. Most of my friends, when pressed, will have a really hard time answering that question. Some will choose a side, but then have a very hard time with their choice.
You see, most of us sit somewhere in the middle and we really struggle with the debate that is raging in this country. Some of us respond to our gut feeling or the teachings of the church. Many of us respond to what the media has sold. We may not do so knowingly, but we do. Countless dramas on TV seem to sell the idea of early viability, the rightness of choosing life, the idea that promiscuity leads to pregnancy and that those who end up wanting an abortion are there solely because of bad choices.
The realities are very different. As I have researched this book and shared my findings with friends, I have been surprised at the number of women who have told me that they had abortions. They had them for many reasons; all of them compelling. All of these women went on to be wonderful loving mothers. Some of the best mothers I have ever met. They are intelligent, educated women who were faced with a decision that was bigger than any many of us will ever have to face. Certainly bigger than any I ever had to face. None of the women I spoke to felt that the choice was the wrong one. This doesn't mean they don't regret having had to make that choice just that they didn't regret the choice they made. This doesn't mean that these women are not haunted by the choice they had to make. It doesn't mean that they made the choice and then forgot about it completely because they were happy with this choice. It just means that it was the right choice for them and their family.
But is it really a choice? I don't believe that a woman chooses abortion unless she feels that it is the only real choice she has. It's not like choosing beer. It's not like deciding whether you want steak or fish at a fancy restaurant. It's a choice between economic devastation or the possibility of waiting a bit longer and being able to provide a future for a child. For some women, it's the choice between life and death.
We have seen that the frequencies of abortions have gone down since roe v. wade. So it seems to me that to try to overturn roe v. wade is not really in support of pro-life. And that's not even taking into consideration the number of lives that were lost due to botched abortions when abortion was illegal.
See, the point of the phone survey today was to find people who would classify themselves as pro-life and then let them know that we are on the verge of being able to overturn roe v. wade and we should galvanize this year to make that happen.
But in fact, overturning roe v. wade would not be in support of pro-life. It's in support of anti sex. Because the legalization of abortion has in fact reduced the number of abortions performed in this country by 1) taking away the novelty of doing something illegal and 2) forcing pro-lifers to make the choice of abortion a lesser choice for more women by making it possible economically to have an unplanned child and 3) putting greater pressure on insurance carriers and the governments to make contraception both available and economically feasible.
There are those who believe that God is calling them to stop abortion by illegalizing it. Personally, I don't believe that God has ever asked us to use politics to solve moral issues. I think He expects more of us. He has given us free will and asked us to take care of each other. The problem of abortion can only be solved by taking away the need. Some of those needs are economic. We can solve those. Some of those needs are medical. Those are harder to solve. Some of those needs are societal. We don't like to change those.
So it seems that to be truly pro-life, one must spend tireless hours fighting for pay parity and job security for women, fighting for protections against child abandonment by men, reducing the stigma faced by single mothers, providing good government supported child care and health care for all families, making contraception available to all and educating on its responsible use, determining core factors in teen pregnancy, and most of all acknowledging equal responsibility between a man and a woman in the creation of a child.
You see, I don't know a single person who would not be tickled pink if there were no more need for abortion. So everyone I know if pro-life. But I really hope they don't do anything to overturn roe v. wade.
You see, most of us sit somewhere in the middle and we really struggle with the debate that is raging in this country. Some of us respond to our gut feeling or the teachings of the church. Many of us respond to what the media has sold. We may not do so knowingly, but we do. Countless dramas on TV seem to sell the idea of early viability, the rightness of choosing life, the idea that promiscuity leads to pregnancy and that those who end up wanting an abortion are there solely because of bad choices.
The realities are very different. As I have researched this book and shared my findings with friends, I have been surprised at the number of women who have told me that they had abortions. They had them for many reasons; all of them compelling. All of these women went on to be wonderful loving mothers. Some of the best mothers I have ever met. They are intelligent, educated women who were faced with a decision that was bigger than any many of us will ever have to face. Certainly bigger than any I ever had to face. None of the women I spoke to felt that the choice was the wrong one. This doesn't mean they don't regret having had to make that choice just that they didn't regret the choice they made. This doesn't mean that these women are not haunted by the choice they had to make. It doesn't mean that they made the choice and then forgot about it completely because they were happy with this choice. It just means that it was the right choice for them and their family.
But is it really a choice? I don't believe that a woman chooses abortion unless she feels that it is the only real choice she has. It's not like choosing beer. It's not like deciding whether you want steak or fish at a fancy restaurant. It's a choice between economic devastation or the possibility of waiting a bit longer and being able to provide a future for a child. For some women, it's the choice between life and death.
We have seen that the frequencies of abortions have gone down since roe v. wade. So it seems to me that to try to overturn roe v. wade is not really in support of pro-life. And that's not even taking into consideration the number of lives that were lost due to botched abortions when abortion was illegal.
See, the point of the phone survey today was to find people who would classify themselves as pro-life and then let them know that we are on the verge of being able to overturn roe v. wade and we should galvanize this year to make that happen.
But in fact, overturning roe v. wade would not be in support of pro-life. It's in support of anti sex. Because the legalization of abortion has in fact reduced the number of abortions performed in this country by 1) taking away the novelty of doing something illegal and 2) forcing pro-lifers to make the choice of abortion a lesser choice for more women by making it possible economically to have an unplanned child and 3) putting greater pressure on insurance carriers and the governments to make contraception both available and economically feasible.
There are those who believe that God is calling them to stop abortion by illegalizing it. Personally, I don't believe that God has ever asked us to use politics to solve moral issues. I think He expects more of us. He has given us free will and asked us to take care of each other. The problem of abortion can only be solved by taking away the need. Some of those needs are economic. We can solve those. Some of those needs are medical. Those are harder to solve. Some of those needs are societal. We don't like to change those.
So it seems that to be truly pro-life, one must spend tireless hours fighting for pay parity and job security for women, fighting for protections against child abandonment by men, reducing the stigma faced by single mothers, providing good government supported child care and health care for all families, making contraception available to all and educating on its responsible use, determining core factors in teen pregnancy, and most of all acknowledging equal responsibility between a man and a woman in the creation of a child.
You see, I don't know a single person who would not be tickled pink if there were no more need for abortion. So everyone I know if pro-life. But I really hope they don't do anything to overturn roe v. wade.
posted by dsimom @ 12:59 PM
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