I am going to try to be as tactful as possible in writing about this. It is a touchy subject at best and a volatile one at its worst. It has been once again brought to the forefront with the upcoming election and especially in light of Sarah Palin and her pregnant teenage daughter and Downs Syndrome son.
Yes...I am talking about abortion. I know no one who is 'pro' abortion. I have yet to speak with a family member, friend, acquaintance or perfect stranger who considers abortion a positive means to an end. It can't be. I can only imagine it must be a horrific decision for any woman and her family to make.
Yet I know many who are 'pro' choice. These people have values and struggle with the idea that there are times when decisions must be made. People who understand that these are decisions that are so desperately personal and private that no law should stop a woman from going forward. That these decisions should be carried out in a medically safe environment with medically trained personnel.
Those who consider their beliefs to be pro choice do not consider themselves to be pro abortion. They believe the concept to mean the individual right to choose. They believe that women ought to have the right to choose what is in her best interest and her family's best interest at that moment in time and it is nobody business. Again...privacy.
Sarah Palin and her daughter made their choices within the privacy of their family unit. They have an incredible support system. Neither of them, nor their children, will ever want for anything. Each will have all the resources they need. Bristol need not think about giving her baby up for adoption (another very viable alternative to teen pregnancy) because her family can support both her and her infant if her teen marriage should fail (statistics say it will).
People who consider themselves pro choice support Sarah Palin and her choice. They support her daughter and her choice. It is what is right for their family and frankly it is nobody business. Pro choice individuals support the Palin family's right to choice and privacy.
Unfortunately, not everyone is as lucky as the Palins. Not everyone has all the resources available to them the Palins do. Luckily, Bristol made a baby with a boy she loved and wants to marry him and make a family. She was not brutally raped by some cretin off the street, becoming pregnant through force and brutality. Not every woman is that fortunate.
And while Ms. Palin's son will surely have some disabilities, she choose to give birth to him and again has the resources to give him whatever he needs. She was blessed with a baby who did not have catastrophic medical problems. Not everyone is that blessed. Fortunately, the Palin women had choices. But if Ms. Palin had her way, no other woman would...she would take choice away from women.
Ms. Palin is on record as being pro-life. She does not support the right to choose in any case what so ever...rape, incest, catastrophic fetal deformity. The only time the right to choose is an option for her is when the life of the mother is in danger and then, the mother would probably not be making the choice...the medical team would.
However, she is also a supporter of capital punishment. In fact, most people I know who consider themselves pro-life also support capital punishment. Am I the only one who sees the hypocrisy here?
How can you be pro-life and pro-death at the same time? Are you only pro-life for a fetus that can't survive without the host upon which it feeds? I don't get the logic. If you call yourself pro-life, why isn't all life sacred to you?
Sarah Palin also states she is in favor of contraception...I think many who consider themselves pro-life are in favor of preventing pregnancy through the use of contraception. How many of you are aware that a great many of the contraceptives currently being used are considered abortifacients? In case you didn't know, several types of birth control pills do not stop conception, they stop implantation. What about the IUD?...same thing. Are you going to lobby to have these items taken off the market thus limiting the birth control options out there? There is already a movement to do just that...again, limiting choice.
I also don't get why women are so willing to give their rights away. I understand you may not be comfortable with having an abortion. Then don't! It may not be the right choice for you. But do you understand that by giving the government the opportunity to legislate any part of your body, you are giving up your rights to privacy and choice? Furthermore, you are also taking away mine and all other women's right to privacy and choice as well? What gives you the right?
Privacy and choice...two of the fundamental blocks our nation was founded upon. So fundamental that we have amendments in our Constitution to protect them and yet so many of you are willing to give those away...I just don't understand it.
2 comments:
Yes, that is the time . . . 2.30am in the UK. Insomnia? Menopause? Health? Who knows!
Very tactfully written and thought provoking.
I agree wholeheartedly with your comments. I would love to discuss each statement with you . . . the rather large pond between us makes that difficult, although these days not impossible :-)
Very sensitively handled. You must have re-read and re-worded it many times before posting. This is a subject that MUST be discussed and not brushed under the carpet.
Take Care . . . Sue
I originally wrote this weeks ago and have been working on it ever since...Thank you for your kind comments...someday I will be flying across that pond...until then.........
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