Petitioning for Life "I had an abortion," Ms. Magazine urges its readers to declare...

opinionjournal.com ^ | August 17, 2006 | JULIA GORIN

[cpforlife.org]

FAMILY MATTERS

Petitioning for Life "I had an abortion," Ms. Magazine urges its readers to declare. How about "I wasn't aborted"?

The Web site of Ms. Magazine--yes, it still exists--is calling on readers to sign a petition: "I have had an abortion. I publicly join the millions of women in the United States who have had an abortion in demanding a repeal of laws that restrict women's reproductive freedom."

Well, so much for the right to privacy. If Ms. readers hadn't had so many abortions, there might be more Ms. readers. As for the rest of us, here's a petition we could all sign: "I wasn't aborted."

Having narrowly escaped being aborted, I'd be the first in line.

Like most Soviet-era fetuses conceived in Russia by couples who were already parents, I was scheduled for abortion as a matter of course. In a society where abortion was the only form of birth control, it wasn't uncommon to meet women who had double-digit abortion counts. Often a couple would schedule the appointment before they even stopped to remember that they wanted a second child.

My husband, also a second-born, and I were lucky to have been two such afterthoughts, each brought into the world thanks to one of two parents' change of heart. (Actually it was Anya Isaakovna, my mother's usual at the public clinic, who sensed a tinge of reservation and kicked her out.) Coincidentally, both my husband and I were to be the third abortions, each of us having had two siblings who weren't so lucky, which unfortunately was lucky for us.

[Gerish]

Oh, that is just sad. Curious as to the number of women who would actually sign such a petition.

[SJSAMPLE]

I think your choice of the word "mother" is correct, in that our interpretation of the word fits correctly.

However, I wonder if the abortion mills and their agents have ever used the word "mother", even inadvertantly?