Since then, the support for abortion has dramatically increased in this country – 61 percent now favor allowing abortion, while 36 oppose any abortion.
Part of the reason why more Americans now support abortion is because the issue is hitting home. For many, no longer is it just an arbitrary yes-no decision, but studies have shown:
a) As more women in more families try to seek abortions, it becomes a close-to-home issue. Our sons’ wives and daughters may be seeking abortions, or grandsons and granddaughters – frequently without finding a way to get one.
b) Not only are abortions curtailed, but we now read of women whose lives become endangered because they may have an ectopic pregnancy, or they get a septic infection or they carry a dead fetus for weeks, under great pain and causing deaths and near-deaths.
c) Abortion training for physicians is decreasing after Roe v. Wade was overruled. Fewer medically trained individuals want to be Ob-Gyn physicians.
d) Many abortion clinics around the country, especially in states that disallow most abortions (including rape and incest), have closed down. Other clinics provide some health services for women – but not abortion.
Why I changed my mind
When my four sons were all in college, a postcard arrived on a Saturday years ago, reading “My dear friend. Our suspicions are confirmed. We must talk about what we do now. Love, K.”
I tried to reach my son at UC-Berkeley, but it was football season and he was at the game. I worried constantly through the afternoon, thinking that my son is only 19, and if he becomes a father and has to raise a child before he even finishes college, he will never achieve his goals. I debated to myself whether I should tell him she should get an abortion. Wait, what am I saying? All these years I thought abortion was wrong, but now I want her to get one.
I got ahold of my son that night, and when I told him about the postcard, he just laughed! Oh, K is only teasing you. Mom. K. thought it would be a great joke. He laughed again. I said the postcard was a stupid, infantile, hurtful thing to do. Are you sure she was just kidding?
She was not pregnant. Both finished college, then he got a Master’s and a Ph.D. at Stanford,
I am still not laughing. But I did realize what an unwanted pregnancy can do to a person and his/her family
••••••••
Years ago, I was a good Catholic who practiced rhythm and did not use birth control. Four sons in four years later, my doctor suggested birth control pills to allow some rest before having another child.I jumped with joy at his suggestion, and went on the pill, during which time I thought through time and again why the church did not allow birth control or abortions.
A woman ovulates about 12 times a year, and stops menstruating around 50. If a woman starts her periods at age 13, and ends at age 50, that means that she has ovulated about 12 x 47 years during her fertile years – 444 times. I am sure God did not want a woman to get pregnant 30 or 40 times.
The “rule” about-abortion and anti-birth control regulations were made by Church fathers – they did not consult with women. The same is true for all those men in each state legislature (with of a majority of me). These decisions about a woman’s health and body were made by men. Yet today it is women who are being targeted – the women must prevent pregnancy, if she has a baby, it’s the women who must pay the price of an unwanted pregnancy.
Yet, as we all know, it takes a man and a woman to create a baby. But for many men, abortion is now simply a woman’s problem—like it’s all the female’s fault.
Why is abortion a national issue, and not a personal issue between husband and wife? Why should the government tell me, a woman, how to use my body? The government has allowed slavery, decided who can vote and when, and a myriad of other interventions into how we live.
I am adamant that no legislature – or church – should dictate to us what we can do with our bodies. Women -- and men --must decide for themselves. It’s my body and not theirs. Women must have this freedom to decide.
Understand, Supreme Court Justices?
