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A personal story about abortion
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER ^ | March 29, 2007 5:02 p.m. PT | DEBORAH SCHNEIDER

Posted on 03/30/2007 7:52:47 AM PDT by Sopater

A personal story about abortion

Friday, March 30, 2007

DEBORAH SCHNEIDER
GUEST COLUMNIST

The March 21 P-I editorial, "Abortion: Insulting women," insulted me.

As a local speaker for the group Silent No More Awareness, I regret my abortion in this state in 1971 when I was an 18-year-old university student. Most women ask for all relevant information before making any medical decision, with the exception of abortion and contraception.

We blindly accept taking pills, patches, emergency contraception and abortion without asking what the current or long-term affects might be to us. It is insulting to suggest that women don't need or want accurate medical information. I wish I had had some of this "insulting unnecessary information" provided by an ultrasound of my baby's beating heart at 18 days after conception.

Maybe I wouldn't have believed it was only a blob of cells at 12 weeks after conception. Maybe I would have been told about the risks and side effects of abortion, so when I suffered a miscarriage, anorexia and clinical depression and other problems, I would have recognized them as the after-effects of a past abortion and sought help. As for the pricey ultrasounds, there are crisis pregnancy centers that offer them by qualified, trained and licensed medical personnel.

Of course, I suspect the P-I's argument isn't so much about money, as it is about not wanting a woman to see the truth of a little human being in her womb and facing reality. Speaking from personal painful experience, keeping a secret of shame for a past abortion for decades is much more traumatic than being shown what your child looks like in the womb. Through speaking with SNMA, I and others tell the uncensored truth about abortion through our testimonies.

As for the lack of necessity for additional regulation, ("It's not like the state doesn't already have laws regulating abortions"), Washington state has no such restrictions because of a 1992 state law, which ensured a woman's right to abortion, regardless of Roe v. Wade. Washington has one of the most liberal laws in the country and constitutional language protecting a woman's right to end her pregnancy, throughout the entire pregnancy up to the moments before birth.

The editorial appeared to me as a veiled attempt at intimidation and deception to suggest to women that somehow what is being considered in other states would have an effect on the women of Washington. An informed woman is an empowered woman, so women should study up on what our state actually allows.

Let's give women access to necessary medically accurate information, including ultrasounds and what happens during an abortion procedure and the risks involved and then give them the time to absorb it, so that they can make an informed, unrushed decision. Most women make an abortion decision out of lack of information, lack of emotional and financial support from the man involved, parental pressure, abortion clinic prompting or lack of confidence in themselves and their ability to take care of a baby.

To limit any information and to keep women vulnerable to intimidation by others, including the P-I Editorial Board, under the guise of concern for women is well, just insulting.


Deborah Schneider lives in Shoreline.

© 1998-2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Washington
KEYWORDS: abortion; moralabsolutes; prolife
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To: chickenNdumplings

Sugar coat it all you want...it's part of the debate.


61 posted on 03/30/2007 9:02:16 AM PDT by Hildy (Too err is human, to moo...bovine.)
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To: rwa265
It is hard to take serious someone who lies so easily: "At four weeks after conception, the embryo is mostly a group of undifferentiated cells, a blob of protoplasm the size of a pea."

The embryo began differentiating his or her cells (yes, the sex can be determined even so early in their lifetime begun at conception) as he or she journeyed down the fallopian tube. Had differentiating cells not occurred, the embryo would have no chance of implanting in the uterus. The first and most striking differentiation is the division of his or her cells into the stem cells which will build the placental encapsulation and the cells which will build the body of organs for continued life in the air world. The writer is merely using a more subtle method of dehumanizing for the earliest ages in the lifetime begun at conception.

62 posted on 03/30/2007 9:03:00 AM PDT by MHGinTN (If you've had life support. Promote life support for others.)
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To: Petronski

All I'm doing here is giving you guys the flip side of the argument. But, as usual, everyone's emotions get too high to have one and it'll end with me being called a baby killer, as I always am...so...


63 posted on 03/30/2007 9:03:39 AM PDT by Hildy (Too err is human, to moo...bovine.)
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To: Theo

I agree with you. But that's not usually the way it works, and you know it. And our adoption laws are so ridiculous. I wish they would be reformed as well.


64 posted on 03/30/2007 9:04:33 AM PDT by Hildy (Too err is human, to moo...bovine.)
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To: CindyDawg
Me too. We need to support these moms though, if they decide to have the baby. I'm not talking about carrying but helping. IMO it would be wrong to say "ok great. you changed your mind. See ya.

Exactly! And it won't be easy, not with many of them. Some of the young women (and not so young) just aren't ready to be parents or even responsible or have dependency issues. There would be a lot of work to do. One woman at a time. But eventually it would have an effect, just as feminazi indoctrinations have had effects over time (sadly). At least girls might start to realize that it IS NOT just a blob of tissue (first couple weeks or so notwithstanding, when it is seemingly so).

65 posted on 03/30/2007 9:04:41 AM PDT by fortunecookie (My computer is back!)
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To: cyborg

Some babies a burden on the state (see #59) and/or a member of a less-desirable racial group, so why not rush them off straight away to special treatment? It's best that way, as it also serves to salve the conscience of the effete liberal who can't bear the thought of their "terrible fate."


66 posted on 03/30/2007 9:05:35 AM PDT by Petronski (FRED!)
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To: Hildy
...it'll end with me being called a baby killer...

Truth hurts.

67 posted on 03/30/2007 9:06:26 AM PDT by Petronski (FRED!)
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To: Petronski
Some babies a . . .

Ach! Should be:

Some babies are a . . .

68 posted on 03/30/2007 9:08:30 AM PDT by Petronski (FRED!)
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To: Hildy

Being on welfare is not the worst thing that could happen to someone. I and my sisters were project brats. Today we have paid enough taxes to clear our debt, plus. We have contributed to society, 2 nurses, an engineer, 2 business managers and an electrician. The taxes continue to roll in. Times were hard for my mom, but I'm grateful that she didn't abort any of us.


69 posted on 03/30/2007 9:08:34 AM PDT by CindyDawg (Thank you, Lord.)
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To: Hildy

Well I'm not as strident as my husband is, not sure if that's good or bad. He is his own man as a very passionate debater on this issue. I won't call you a babykiller but I hope you can understand why people's emotions would get high over babies and abortion. I'll bet we agree that women should not be forced to get anything so thumbs down on that SC bill. Still PP has a lot of money and believe me they can more than afford one ultrasound machine for a clinic.


70 posted on 03/30/2007 9:09:37 AM PDT by cyborg (my baby is back!)
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To: Hildy

I don't "debate" the sanctity of human life. I do not believe that economics and social engineering are more important than human life. I will never believe that. I cannot debate it. It not negotiable. It is not debatable.


71 posted on 03/30/2007 9:12:05 AM PDT by chickenNdumplings
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To: Hildy

I'd far rather pay for the ultrasound than pay to murder the baby.


72 posted on 03/30/2007 9:12:27 AM PDT by wagglebee ("We are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom." -- President Bush, 1/20/05)
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To: CindyDawg

There's a society stigma on welfare because a lot of people have abused it. It's unfortunate because it's there for folks who've fallen on hard times.


73 posted on 03/30/2007 9:13:19 AM PDT by cyborg (my baby is back!)
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To: fortunecookie

That is where churches and charities come in. Government can't do it. Women need to know that they have "family" support.


74 posted on 03/30/2007 9:16:02 AM PDT by CindyDawg (Thank you, Lord.)
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To: fortunecookie
Even if it starts out as a blob of tissue, it doesn't really matter because they censor pics like these! The tiny clump of cells is generating biophotonic energy, it has LIFE and is ALIVE. Abortion isn't like stepping on a cockaroach or an ant as some feminazis would have us believe.
75 posted on 03/30/2007 9:16:45 AM PDT by cyborg (my baby is back!)
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To: Sopater; BykrBayb; 230FMJ; 49th; 50mm; 69ConvertibleFirebird; Alexander Rubin; ...
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I have known many women who have had abortions, and without exception, they have had to deal with emotional and spiritual guilt over them.

I am well aware that there are a FEW women who have killed their babies and are gleeful about it. The only conclusion I can reach from this is that either they are not yet emotionally or spiritually capable of facing it, or their hearts are so hardened that their souls have been destroyed.

76 posted on 03/30/2007 9:19:08 AM PDT by wagglebee ("We are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom." -- President Bush, 1/20/05)
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To: Hildy
So your solution to too many single mothers is to kill their kids.

brilliant!

77 posted on 03/30/2007 9:20:22 AM PDT by MooseMan (Sarcasm included at no additional charge)
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To: cyborg

I agree. I've often thought we should give no or low interest loans instead of grants for anyone having hard times. If people know they have to pay the money back they will be wiser with spending and it will raise their self esteem. What would have hapened if Katrina victims were given a set loan with the understanding that there will be no more, and there will be no government assistance? "No free food. No free houses. This is enough to help you get on your feet, now go make things happen".


78 posted on 03/30/2007 9:21:09 AM PDT by CindyDawg (Thank you, Lord.)
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To: Hildy

No I don't. But gov't is, and if so, they should add this in to the cost of abort procedure. If enough people decide not to it could reduce cost overall.


79 posted on 03/30/2007 9:22:46 AM PDT by statered ("And you know what I mean.")
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To: CindyDawg

Agreed. At the same time, the truth needs to be revealed for these women to make informed decisions -- the truth that a beautiful baby is growing inside them, the truth that abortion rips this baby apart, tearing flesh, breaking bones....


80 posted on 03/30/2007 9:23:33 AM PDT by Theo (Global warming "scientists." Pro-evolution "scientists." They're both wrong.)
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