In an effort to write more, I’ve decided to once again throw my hat into the ring and write every day for the month of November. Wish me luck!
In an effort to write more, I’ve decided to once again throw my hat into the ring and write every day for the month of November. Wish me luck!
I try not to be very open about my politics. I do this for many reasons–mainly to avoid arguing with very conservative branches of my family, because I end up wanting to thrust my head through a brick wall. Also because I feel that the old adage is true: Don’t talk about religion, money or politics in mixed company.
Of course there’s been blood on my mouth because I’ve been biting my tongue for months. I get email after email, bulletin after bulletin, just throwing all sorts of things I don’t agree with in my face and the only one I vent to is my husband, because we have the same views and we always seem to have really awesome discussions about it. I figure, the folks who send the emails, bulletins, postings, etc. have made up their mind and me flinging an impassioned email back at them with facts or findings will not do anything but strain a friendship, and I like my friends–even if they don’t believe the same things I do.
However, I decided to use my blog to write about being pro-choice, because this is a blog about children and family and my life, and it is something I feel strongly about. I am sure that many people will disagree, I could anger some folks, but I feel that maybe I could also help someone understand a different perspective without having to yell, be interrupted or any of the other things that can happen when you discuss something in person. Also: I’m not clogging your inbox, or your other social networking sites by writing this. You came to me, remember?
Yes, I am pro-choice. I am a woman who has had two, beautiful, healthy children (so far!). I have been so truly blessed it sometimes makes me weep. Thankfully, I have never suffered a miscarriage, nor have I ever had an abortion. I do know many woman who have had miscarriages and those who have had abortions. I am pro-choice, because I do not feel that my body (or anyone else’s) is up for debate. My body is MY BODY and no one has the right to tell me what I can or cannot do with it.
I have carried two children: it is the hardest, most exhilarating thing I have ever done in my life. Some women were not made to carry children. I don’t mean “some woman shouldn’t be mothers”, but some women PHYSICALLY cannot do this. It could kill them. There could be a myriad of reasons why a woman wouldn’t be able to carry a pregnancy to term. Or, shouldn’t. Everyone should be able to make a decision in regards to their own health-whether it be popular or not. I feel that it is a slippery slope from banning abortions. What’s next? Banning birth control? It’s closer than you think.
I support the Freedom of Choice Act. Do I think abortions should be used as a form of birth control? Of course not, HOWEVER, in certain situations, abortions (even late-term ones) could be necessary in order to save a woman’s life or because a child will not survive if carried full term. When I say “Late Term Abortions” most people think of women having abortions when their child is fully developed and could live outside of the womb. This is not the case. Doctors are not aborting fetuses able to survive outside of the womb (typically 24 weeks gestation–however this is up for debate), there are not serial killers going around getting pregnant just so they can kill babies. This is not some widespread thing, this is not someone “changing their mind”. Late Term Abortions (at or around 21 weeks) are rare, accounting for less than 1.4% of all abortions performed in the US (according to a 2003 Centers for Disease Control study, via Wikipedia).
If I had been in the same situation as the woman who wrote this powerfully poignant article, I can’t say I would have done it any differently. I applaud her for having the strength and courage to do something I can’t fathom, and then having the courage to write about it.
Because of the convoluted language of the “Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act” of 2003, some doctors have stopped providing surgical procedures to women, even if it could save their life, or if the life of the child is not viable, because they are afraid of being fined or jailed (or both). So–hypothetically speaking, if the health of the mother is less important than the child: if I were to become pregnant and the child could possibly kill me, I would not be able to save my own life. I would leave my current children motherless, my husband a single parent–because I was not able to save myself. This scares me. Of course I would be devastated to be put in that situation, to have to make that choice. I have always said I would die for my children. And I would. But is it right for me to die for a child who couldn’t survive on his or her own if I were dead and leave those who are already here? That breaks my heart, but as a mother I have to think about those two lives I have already brought into this world. They deserve to have me around.
Lots of people argue “how do you know if the life is not viable, doesn’t it deserve a chance?” We could all go back and forth for hours on this. It tugs at my heart like nothing else, but we have laws against “cruel and unusual punishment” for criminals, yet we are willing to force a woman to carry a child and allow said child to endure excruciatingly painful operations only to die in the end? All of the pro-lifers are (usually) believers in the afterlife, so why not alleviate the pain, misery and psychological damage this may cause all parties and allow this child (for lack of a better phrase) to return to his or her maker?
Of course there are always exceptions to every rule. That is why I feel this is entirely too grey an area to legislate one way. That’s why I am PRO-CHOICE. Give a woman her options, inform her of every avenue that she may take. Believe in a woman enough to know that she will make the right decision for her and her baby. Popular or not. Otherwise the suicide rates will go up, back-alley and homespun abortions will start making a comeback.
I’m not a monster, so why do all the pro-life (or anti-abortion, whichever you prefer) folks insist on making me feel like one?