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Tuesday, July 17, 2007

How much more disgusting is society going to get....

I was just taking my children out of the tub and getting them ready for bed when I received a phone call. I looked at the caller ID and saw a number from an area code that I didn't recognize and normally I don't answer those calls but for some odd reason, I decided to answer this one.

It was a woman on the phone and she said that she represented Concerned Women for America. My immediate thought was "Oh Lord, what am about to get myself into?" I have heard different stories of Planned Parenthood and other organizations calling people to get their opinion (and allegiance) on the abortion issue. I am a christian, a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, and I have had an abortion. I was 17, unsaved, not even out of high school and knocked-up by a 23 year-old alcoholic who had just gotten out of jail. He worked at Popeye's and so did I. But, I digress.

This woman on the phone asked me if I would consider myself pro-choice (I am and will explain that later), pro-life, or in the middle. I told her I was pro-life (because my version of pro-choice is not the mainstream version) and paused expecting to pull out the claws and brawl. She said that that was good and proceeded to tell me about a bill currently introduced in the Senate and the House titled the "Freedom of choice Act". Nice, innocent little title isn't it? What she said was that this bill would basically allow any woman, for any reason, at any time in her pregnancy to get an abortion. She was trying to get me to pledge a financial donation to help them to fight this bill and while I am planning to give them something, I could not commit to the amount that they asked for seeing as how I am a stay-home-mom and we don't have much surplus at this time. I asked her to send me some info about the organization (don't want to go around giving money to people you don't know anything about-that is never wise)and I asked her to give me the info about the bill so I could research it for myself.

Now, while I didn't see anything specifically stating that if you want to get an abortion at nine months gestation you can, this is the part that troubles me and the part that I want to expound upon:

SEC. 4. INTERFERENCE WITH REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH PROHIBITED.
(a) Statement of Policy- It is the policy of the United States that every woman has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child, to terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability, or to terminate a pregnancy after fetal viability when necessary to protect the life or health of the woman.
(b) Prohibition of Interference- A government may not--

(1) deny or interfere with a woman's right to choose--
(A) to bear a child;
(B) to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability; or
(C) to terminate a pregnancy after viability where termination is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman; or
(2) discriminate against the exercise of the rights set forth in paragraph (1) in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information.
(c) Civil Action- An individual aggrieved by a violation of this section may obtain appropriate relief (including relief against a government) in a civil action.

Now the parts that I want to key in on are 1B and 1C "to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability" and "to terminate a pregnancy after viability where termination is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman". Viability is a loose term. I looked up the term viable in the dictionary and it means "capable of living and developing normally". That encompasses most human embryos. Unless there is some sort of genetic defect or prenatal care was inadequate, the unborn baby would develop normally and thrive inside and then outside of the womb. And what's more, would an unborn child that had a defect be considered "not viable" at any point in the pregnancy because it would not develop normally? Do you see how the lines can get blurred here.

I think what is even scarier is the part where the child can be "terminated after viability when it is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman". Which health? Physical, emotional, psychological or all of the above? And which life? Her actual physical life or her lifestyle? How many women will come out to say that they need to terminate the pregnancy after viability because it will affect their emotional or psychological health to have the baby. That they would be suicidal if they were forced to have this child. Or that it will affect their way of life, that they simply cannot afford to have a child or another child. This is ridiculous. When the crap are we going to stand up and start making people be responsible for their actions? And please don't message me with the crap about rapes and "What if it is in the instance of a rape?" You and I both know that the vast, vast majority of people seeking to get abortions are people who were consenting in their action to have sex and got pregnant.

What I mean when I say I am pro-choice is this: Choose to get a condom, Choose to get birth-control, Choose to "get off" another way without actually having intercourse, Choose to be honest with yourself and realize that you are not in the position to have a baby and so you probably shouldn't be having sex since sex is the #1 cause of pregnancy. I am not some goody-two-shoes who didn't even have premarital sex and am on my high horse looking down on women who have abortions. I am someone who has been there and know what it is like to think about that baby and what it could have been. I am someone who has children and sees what that "lump of cells" becomes and am thankful for those "fetuses" everyday. This has got to stop. We have got to stop lying to ourselves and lying to women. You know with all the "freedom" and "choice" we have, are we any happier or are we more "oppressed"?

3 comments:

Rebecca said...

I'm about as pro-life as they come. I have never had an abortion. I know a few people who have. Praise God for forgiveness because He has forgiven you. Your story and you opinions in this post are so POWERFUL! And your version of pro-choice - I love how you stated that!

So so powerful!

Big Momma Black said...

Thanks for your comment. I wondered why no one chose to take a stab at this post but then abortion is always one of those "elephant in the room" topics.

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