Posted on 06/02/2004 1:17:51 AM PDT by Lexinom
Put up a picture, Carolyn, from one of the sites. Tape it to the inside window of your vehicle, or home. I've just printed mine. I'll be driving in the thick of Seattle rush-hour traffic, when hundreds of people will see the picture later this morning. We CAN make a difference. We ARE the media, now. Godspeed.
Insightful post, Jazzlite. There are many ways to look at abortion: Abortion is murder. Abortion is female liberation. Abortion is population control.
All of these statements are generalizations and do not address the particular, individuals who have experienced abortion firsthand. Abortion has undoubtedly both caused and been a part of a deadening of sensibilities with regard to the sanctity of human life and dignity overall. This we have seen in the film arts over the last three decades, in music, in education, and it came to a head in Abu Ghraib - controlled by, incidently, children of this culture. It would seem we laud the causes but lament the results.
Astute observations.
I'm a little scared to post this, but I admit that I used to be pro-choice. ("Choice" sounds so much better than "abortion," doesn't it?) I never thought I would change my mind, but I have. My theory as to why it is so accepted in our culture now is that we put the freedom and convenience of the individual above everything, including all moral principles. Divorce, adultery, abortion, it's all part of the same thing. When man is the center of the universe instead of God, this is what happens. I just want you all to know that, having been on the other side, it's very easy to be pro-choice. Now I know that abortion is wrong, wrong, wrong. My only caveat is that it may be necessary if the mother will die if the child is carried to term, but I know well that many of you disagree with that. I would appreciate hearing from anyone else who has seen the light, so to speak.
There are plenty of us who used to be on the other side of the fence, I was one. (and I'm about to become an ex-episcopalian myself, what a coincidence)
I really bought into the "choice" line. I guess I was fine with the concept, but the reality of it began to sicken me. There was this girl I used to work with. She'd had three abortions, because she could never say no to a guy, and because she could never get her act together in the birth control department either. Then she got pregnant on purpose, because the most worthless man she'd been with to date was about to leave her. THEN she got pregnant again, a few months after giving birth, because she didn't think she could get pregnant while she was nursing. This child she aborted as well.
Being pro-choice at the time, some mental contortions were necessary in order to make all that acceptable. I'm sure you know what I mean by mental contortions. I think I ended up settling for "Well, it's probably for the best that someone as stupid, selfish, short-sighted, and ignorant as _____ doesn't have a lot of children, she'd raise them to be as bad as she is".
But it really got to me. I had only heard about the first three abortions, mentioned as an aside the day she announced she was going to carry the fourth baby to term ("I don't want to have another abortion, I've already had three, and besides I want to have my babies while I'm still young."). The fourth abortion happened with my knowledge. And being pro-choice, I didn't utter a word against it. It was her "choice" to give birth to one baby and shower it with affection and dress it in cute clothes and show it off proudly to the entire world, and then kill that adored baby's sibling in the womb. It was also "practical", since she was after all involved with a worthless and selfish man who wasn't contributing anything but active semen to her life.
But it was all hitting close to home. My parents had plans for the first few years of their marriage that didn't include children. I was a diaphragm baby. So their plans had to change. My mother also believed the old wives' tale about breastfeeding preventing pregnancy, with the result that my twin brothers were born thirteen months after I was. It was very difficult for my parents, because they had no money and were living far from their families. Imagine if abortion for convenience had been legal, promoted, and honored as "choice" back in the fifties. My mother could have pursued her career as a substitute teacher, putting my dad through law school, just as abortion allowed ______ to continue the important work of being a retail salegirl. It's so much more important that women have "careers" and pay taxes than have babies.
I reached my breaking point when Amy Grossberg and Brian Peterson, two rich kids with no excuse at all, drove to a motel, delivered the baby she'd been carrying in secret, bashed its skull in, and left it in a dumpster. I remember screaming at the TV, "Why didn't she just get an abortion?", as if that were any better than what she'd done in the end. The realization that abortion wasn't any better hit me right then.
It might have happened earlier, if I hadn't been actively resisting it. If I hadn't thought that particular freedom was so "important" for women, in spite of the evidence of my own eyes, ears, and brain.
Admitting to myself that I had been dead wrong about abortion was such a relief. I don't have to embrace the evil anymore.
Don't be afraid to say you were pro-choice once. People NEED to have their minds changed, and it's useful for those who have already changed their minds to explain how and why it happened for them.
Hey, if all we did was sit around and talk about theology, our faith would be pretty darn useless, right?
While I agree that the preventative measures you list are good and necessary, I do not understand how one cannot vilify abortion killing once a child has been conceived. Ok, so the child "shouldn't have been." So what? It's after the fact. It doesn't make any sense not to condemn his or her being butchered.
I do not cry foul when corpses of war are displayed in the news. The point is that the corpses of babies butchered by abortionists are not shown by the news media.
I saw the picture of the tiny feet when I was 23 years old, along with some pictures of aborted babies. I was instantly converted from my ignorance, and from then on I have been immune from the lies of the abortionists.
Cordially,
Thank you so much for your response. Yes, I also found that it is a great relief to admit I was wrong. The pro-choice stance was one of the liberal lies I discarded over this past year. My change of heart actually was a surprise to me. I used to get really angry when I saw Operation Rescue trucks around town with the lurid, blood-soaked images painted on the sides. I would think, "How dare they try to shock us!" I think the rise in abortions, and the eventual legalization, came about because everyone was having so much unrestrained sex with so many people (at least in the 60s and 70s), it was bound to produce lots of "unwanted" babies. Since we don't want to give up our precious "freedom" and our pursuit of "self-actualization," we must have abortions on demand to allow us to continue our evil behavior. We don't want to be responsible for the consequences of our actions. When I finally got serious about being a Christian, all of the pieces of right behavior started falling into place, including respect for life.
It was a little different for me. I didn't realize it at the time, but persisting in that wrong belief (and others, though that was the main one) was keeping me away from God. I didn't become a Christian until a couple years after I'd rejected abortion on demand.
I didn't change my mind for religious reasons, but I don't think I would have religion today if I hadn't.
The drive to work with the large printout taped to the back window of my pickup elicited a few looks - one woman in an SUV looked over at me as she passed with an open gaping mouth and look of astonishment. She had her own reasons for this, I am sure. Hopefully seeing these images will make people think...
Anyone else who does this, please share your stories!
Sorry to get off-topic on an activism thread. I just wanted Ex-Episcopalian know that there are a lot of us here who've made the change.
You've got it my friend.
I want to thank each of you individually for sharing your comments of encouragement and for your interest in the cultural struggle before us. So many Americans just don't care. Each of you stand out.
Many of you have probably done far more than I ever will for the cause of protecting innocent life. This idea with the images is just one born of frustration that so few Americans really know. Today's results, as I interpreted them, were an encouragement.
It is unfortunate, I will grant, that pro-choice == pro-woman in too many peoples' minds. We as pro-lifers know the truth - the lasting scar and subsequent grief, denial, and (in some cases) hardening of the conscience that follows does far more harm to the would-be mother than child-rearing ever would. Viewed in this light, which side is pro-woman?
Your average pleasure-loving, cotton-brained, heathen American does not think these things through. While most would oppose killing out of the womb, the fact the baby is hidden makes the murder more palatable. PP and its minions encourage this by not considering the baby, or her pain, or (what should be) her rights. It is ostensibly all about the woman, but really about their coffers.
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