Abortion Can Be a Sacred Choice [Minister lobbies for abortion]

Newhouse News ^ | 2/3/2006 | Connie Schultz

[Incorrigible]

Abortion Can Be a Sacred Choice

BY CONNIE SCHULTZ

With the simplest of gestures, any woman in America can lay her hands on the battleground here at home.

It's beneath the soft flesh of her own body, the area nestled between her hips where babies are conceived or not, carried to term or not. By merely resting her hand across her abdomen, a woman can find the combustible intersection of politics and religion where the mighty turf war is being waged.

If you listen only to those who scream the loudest, you might think that most Americans of faith believe abortion is a sin against God. It's a common misperception, and one that deeply troubles the Rev. Dr. Carlton Veazey, who heads the Washington, D.C.-based Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and founded its Black Church Initiative.

"The majority of religious people in this country support choice, but you wouldn't know it by the noise and ink in the media from the other side," says the 69-year-old Baptist minister. "People tend to identify religious people with anti-choice, but that is the opposite of reality."

Polling last summer by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life revealed that while a majority of Americans want more restrictions on abortion, they overwhelmingly want to keep it legal. Even among evangelicals who were polled, fewer than half favored overturning Roe v. Wade. Only 15 percent said abortion should be eliminated.

None of these findings surprise Veazey, nor does he find them inconsistent with religious faith.

"I was raised by my father, who was also a minister, to believe in the moral agency of individuals, that they had a right to make moral choices. Choice is a God-given right. To have a child can be a sacred choice. By the same token, to not have a child can be a sacred choice.

"The woman may not be prepared to bring a new life into the world. She may not be able to provide for a child. She may decide, `My life is not where it should be."'

The willingness to empathize with a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy is what brings many of us to support the right to reproductive freedom. Even those who are certain they could never abort a fetus under any circumstances can understand why someone else would, if only they start to imagine a whole different set of circumstances in their lives.

What if I were a teenager? Or completely alone? In a violent or abusive relationship? What would I do if I knew there was something genetically wrong with the fetus inside me? What if I were pregnant from a rape? What would I do if I were pregnant and poor?

"I keep thinking of what Joycelyn Elders told me," Veazey said, referring to the former U.S. surgeon general. "That 70 percent of poverty in the black community can be traced to teen pregnancy."

So Veazey has taken his sermon to the road. On that, he had no choice, especially in light of Samuel Alito's appointment to the Supreme Court.

"We are going to become a theocracy if we aren't going to be more outspoken as religious progressives. One thing I have to give the opposition: They're very skillful in working the media."

Some of them are also emotional terrorists.

Earlier this week, I spoke with a 65-year-old grandmother who recently started escorting patients into an abortion clinic. A devoted member of the United Church of Christ, she told me that navigating women past screaming protesters has bolstered her faith and made her fiercely pro-choice.

"These people taunt and abuse these women. They scream, `You're murderers!' They don't even know why some of these women are there. They may be coming for counseling or diagnostic tests, but the protesters attack them anyway, as if they have all the answers for everyone in the world, as if they alone have the pipeline for God."

They frighten her, which is why she didn't want me to use her name. They will not, however, scare her away.

"I did not know the pain inflicted on these women," she said. "Women have the moral integrity to make these decisions for themselves. It's terrorism on their hearts."

It's also just another tactic in the war over who controls a woman's womb.

Feb. 3, 2006

(Connie Schultz is a columnist for The Plain Dealer of Cleveland. She can be contacted at cschultz@plaind.com.)

Not for commercial use.  For educational and discussion purposes only.

[Incorrigible]

 

Let me pull a few quotes to get the complete attitude:

By the same token, to not have a child can be a sacred choice.

What Bible does this "Baptist minister" actually read?

What would I do if I were pregnant and poor?

Right.... So let's imagine some Republican administration of the future mandating abortions for single mothers under the poverty line.  Who would be howling the loudest?

Being a dumb Lib should be justification for abortion but I certainly wouldn't vote for even that.

"That 70 percent of poverty in the black community can be traced to teen pregnancy."

Jocelyn Elders, promoter of "self sex", also approves of "self genocide".  Margaret Sanger would be quite comfortable utilizing "black churches" as a means of promoting abortion.

I spoke with a 65-year-old grandmother who recently started escorting patients into an abortion clinic.

Ahhh, so this is how it's going to be Connie; an un-attributed source so your editor can not accuse you of making it up when the actual person can't be found.

Maybe there was a time, and maybe there are still places where people shout at those going into Planned Parenthood.  Anytime I've seen protesters in front of a clinic, it's been in silent prayer and a few signs letting women know there's an alternative.

 

These folks must be from the DUmmie religion.

 

[CondorFlight]

Right. Killing infants was a 'sacred choice' for Baal worshippers and Moloch worshippers.

Didn't hear when it became a 'sacred choice' for Christians, though. . .

[Incorrigible]

Related Thread:

Michelman Hopes Court Changes Will Awaken Women's Rights Advocates
 

[Izzy Dunne]

To have a child can be a sacred choice. By the same token, to not have a child can be a sacred choice.

I agree with both of those.

However, there is a time for making the choice, and 3 months or 6 months or 9 months down the road is PAST TIME.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Make Womb For Baby

Tiny ‘Hand Of Hope’ reaches out to Doctor...

Fetus emerges from Mom's womb to grasp Doctor’s finger – “Thanks for the gift of life!”

21-week-old unborn baby Samuel Alexander Armas is being operated on by surgeon Joseph Bruner. The baby was diagnosed with spina bifida and would not survive if removed from his mother's womb.

Little Samuel's mother, Julie Armas, is an obstetrics nurse in Atlanta. She knew of Dr. Bruner's remarkable surgical procedure. Practicing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, he performs these special operations while the baby is still in the womb. During the procedure, the doctor removes the uterus via C-section and makes a small incision to operate on the baby.

As Dr. Bruner completed the surgery on Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon's finger. Dr. Bruner was reported as saying that when his finger was grasped, it was the most emotional moment of his life, and that for an instant during the procedure he was just frozen, totally immobile.

Little Samuel's mother said they “wept for days” when they saw the picture. She said, “The photo reminds us pregnancy isn't about disability or an illness - it's about a little person.”

Samuel was born in perfect health, the operation 100 percent successful...

I have nothing else to say !

[Jim Noble]

Well, I agree that a woman has the right to choose not to have a child.

Until she goes and conceives it, that is.

Once she conceives the child, she has chosen.

[Knute]

That 70 percent of poverty in the black community can be traced to teen pregnancy

And the answer to this poverty is a return to morality, NOT the murder of innocents in the womb!

[SmoothTalker]

"To have a child can be a sacred choice. By the same token, to not have a child can be a sacred choice."

I agree with this statement 100%. There is nothing wrong with deciding you are not ready to have a child. I find it a mature and responsable thing to do. If you decide you are not ready to support a child, I fully support you in keeping your legs closed and avoiding any chance of having a child. If you decide that you aren't ready to have a child but engage in reckless behavior that might lead to having a child, you don't have an excuse to murder to cover up your own mistakes and the fruit of your dangerous lifestyle.

[brivette]

Well said.

[md2576]

"That 70 percent of poverty in the black community can be traced to teen pregnancy."

Teen pregnancies have not dropped in number since abortion became illegal. They have have risen substantially.

To answer his own questions.

What if I were a teenager?

You broke the law by having sex before the age of consent and you should pay for your consequences, not the baby.

Or completely alone?

You had sex with someone so you can't be that alone and if you're so alone then thank God he gave you someone in your life to love more than anyone else on Earth.

In a violent or abusive relationship?

Doesn't make it O.K. to violently abuse the child by ripping them apart.

What would I do if I knew there was something genetically wrong with the fetus inside me?

Like what? Perhaps the baby might be a dwarf? What if the doctors were wrong in their diagnosis and the baby turned out to be normal after you killed it? To abort the handicapped is ugly and sinful to say the least.

What if I were pregnant from a rape?

Give the baby up for adoption. It's not the child's fault you were raped. Two wrongs don't make a right.

What would I do if I were pregnant and poor?

Most people who get pregnant are probably poor anyhow and make it just fine. This is a retarded question. You should kill your baby because you can't afford it? BS, we have programs and welfare to take care of you and your child for years to come.

[narses]

+

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Abortion Can Be a Sacred Choice

They misspelled Scared.

[Grendel9]

Hear! Hear!

[lastchance]

What is scary is that the death eaters do not seem to realize that all their pro death arguments can be used to justify infanticide. That day is fast approaching.
Moloch never stops hungering. We must never stop praying for life.

[butternut_squash_bisque]

One of the most amazing pics I've ever seen. Still brings a tear to my eye when I see it.

[Frank_2001]

Exactly!

[Ostlandr]

Us pagans must really be screwed up. To us, Life itself is sacred, and one of our most holy symbols is a pregnant woman.
I guess those Christians know God's will, though. Kill all the babies, praise the Lord!

I find the idea of a "black church initiative" for an abortionist group entertaining. The KKK and the Neo-Nazis must be celebrating like it's Hitler's birthday or something!
Imagine if all the white supremacist groups got together and promised to fund free abortioins for black and Jewish women?

[Old Professer]

I see a female Gulliver, strapped down on her back while hordes of tiny spear-carrying Lilliputians scramble all about while pouring gasoline over her blanched, protective hand lying helplessly on her belly,; the cold, steaming liquid primed to set the mother of all brush fires...

Overhead, the RoncoMatic MaceMetaphorAtor hums ominously...

[KarinG1]

The author must be on crack. Anybody sane with any self esteem does not allow, "the soft flesh of her own body, the area nestled between her hips where babies are conceived" to be violated on a whim. That is what husbands are for. If they brought home a big paycheck and were really nice all week. Wine and flowers would also be helpful.

[MBB1984]

Satan has his ministers, too.