Roe vs. Wade - Yet Again
Wed., January 19, 10:09 AM
Yes, it’s cold here. I’m not even talking numbers any more. When the inside of your window is frosted – in a heated house – it’s cold. When you put on a pair of slacks over your sweats and warm socks and shoes and two hats – just to go outside for a minute to get the newspaper, it’s cold.
There was a picture in the newspaper this morning of an old man, bundled up to his eyeballs, because he was out demonstrating. The same guy who’s out there blocking the entrances to the women’s clinic every year, in no small part because the newspaper gives him free publicity every time. “Sure, it’s cold,” he said, “but we saved three babies today.” Oh, really? I’m damned if I’m gonna link to him, because he’s getting no publicity from me!
It’s almost time for the yearly Roe vs. Wade column, so here it comes again. This is one of my recycled letters, published in that same paper about four years ago. At least they’re fair enough to air an opposing view.
I feel compelled to protest any man’s stand on abortion. No man knows, nor will he ever understand, all of the factors that go into a woman’s decision to terminate a pregnancy.
How many times has he experienced three months of flu-like symptoms, followed by six months of indigestion and inability to manage his body? How many nights has he lain awake worrying that he can’t provide for a child that he’s carrying and weighing the unborn child’s welfare against that of children already in his care?
How often has he worried that the unborn child is going to inherit some lethal disorder that afflicted him or his family? Will a chronically ill child grow to be a burden to his healthy siblings, if not a ward of the state?
For the man who’s against abortion, fine; he is entitled to his opinion. He doesn’t ever have to have one. But he is not entitled to stop me if I want to terminate my pregnancy. (And no, I’m not pregnant; I’m the mother of three and well past my child-bearing years.)
Every time I read about another child neglected, abused, or worse, I wonder what kind of advice its mother had before the child was born. Where were all the holier-than-thou pro-life advocates when these children needed help? Did they volunteer to adopt one of the unwanted children and take responsibility for its welfare for eighteen years?
Certainly, in a perfect world, no woman would bear a child unless she was ready and able to care for it. Education about avoiding pregnancy would not only be available, it would be heeded.
But the world is not yet perfect, and will not be as long as people like these are telling other people how to live their lives.
I know only one woman who might be allowed to make such judgments. She opened her home to a pregnant teenager, found the girl a job, gave her love and support through her delivery, and proved a home for both mother and child.
Now there’s the basis for a positive program!
