Abortion: What I Believe
There are few subjects that occasion such heated debate as abortion. You have all these people throwing slogans around and using labels that don't say much, like "right-to-life" and "pro choice."
Personally, I have absolutely no doubt that Katie was a person before she was actually born. It isn't logical or rational, and I don't honestly care if anyone believes me or not. Even before I had her, I didn't think I'd ever be able to have an abortion. Now I know that I couldn't.
I don't, however, presume to be able to make that determination for anyone else. I've never been hungry because of not being able to get anything to eat. I've never been without a home to live in, and have a supportive immediate and extended family that would help me any time I asked, and long-time friends in addition to my family. I can rest fairly well assured that no child of mine will ever want for material things or love as long as I have any family or friends left in this world. I've never even tried any illicit drugs. I've never been a heavy drinker. I'm healthy enough to carry a child to term safely. I have access to good medical care. I've only had one pregnancy, and while it was a surprise it was the most wonderful surprise I've ever had. I was already married to her father--and if I hadn't been married and quite able to deal with any children we conceived, I would have been using birth control despite being told I was infertile! I know, though, that I am very, very fortunate compared to all to many women and children, and many of them don't have the advantages I've enjoyed.
In too many cases children are conceived by women who aren't in good health, who are abusing their bodies and thus the body of the child with drugs and alcohol, who don't have access to medical care or simple good food and shelter. They may not have supportive friends and family, or simply be alienated from their families. They may have been born into a cycle of abuse from which they haven't escaped, and may never escape. They may still be children themselves--there are plenty of 11 and 12 year children who've gotten pregnant. In short, there are many pregnant females who have no business having children.
If they bear those children, who will care for them? Who will pay for the health care, food, shelter and other things that child needs and deserves? Who will love and cherish that child, teach him or her to survive and thrive in our world? You? When was the last time you adopted a child, or even opened your home to foster children?
I do think abortion is sometimes the best choice for women in the situations I've described.* Adoption is better, but the fact is that there aren't enough people willing to adopt the unhealthy babies often borne by these mothers--and there are far too many children getting older and older in foster care because nobody was willing to adopt them.
I'd much rather live in a world in which nobody ever had to make the choice of carrying a baby to term or killing it (I won't use terms like "fetus" in an attempt to make it seem more palatable). We don't live in that world. It is, therefore, up to us to change our world to provide more and better choices to women who would otherwise choose abortion. Until those choices are there, I will not stand in the way of any woman who wants an abortion.
Obviously this isn't a simple issue, but working to stop teen pregnancies will go a long way towards slowing the number of abortions. The Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (404-524-2277) is concentrating on that, and they seem to be doing some good work. Of course, Planned Parenthood has been around and working for a long time, and in fact they have a whole page of links about teen pregnancy and sexuality.
The best treatment of the abortion issue I've ever read was in the book Solomon's Knife by Victor Koman (the book won the 1990 Prometheus Award).
Nobody who advocates, or even tolerates, actions like blowing up clinics and murdering doctors who perform abortions can call themselves "pro-life." It's telling that the "pro-choice" advocates have never stooped to similar acts of violence.
Last updated October 17, 2000
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