This is probably going to cost me, posting this. There are some friends I have that won't be so any more. There are many at my church, that, if they should read this (they probably won't) might ask me to the door. But I don't care. There are things I need to say.
I am a Christian, and I am Pro-Choice. No, that is not an oxymoron. Seriously, you can be both. Let me explain.
I don't like death of any kind. I think life is important, sacred, and should be preserved. Whether it's a baby in the womb, an AIDS victim, or a 98 year old great grandmother with Alzheimer's, we need to do everything we can to protect, preserve and heal those lives.
I don't LIKE abortion. If anyone claims they LIKE it, that person should be put away in a rubber room. No one LIKE death or blood or violence. But these things exist in our world. Even those who make money off of selling weapons and such will tell you that, if the gun they sold was pointed at their own head, they wouldn't like it so much.
And while the phrase is "Pro-Choice", I don't LIKE the choice. I don't like that there has to BE a choice. I don't like that a teenage girl or a woman living in poverty or even a successful business woman has to make a CHOICE about what to do with their unborn child. I don't LIKE that there exists situations where a woman has to choose between the relationship there are in or their baby, keeping a minimum wage job with no benefits and a baby, keeping their hard earned success and a baby. I don't like that we live in a world where unwed mothers are stigmatized and ostracized and a choice has to be made.
But that is the world we live in.
Now at this point we could start arguing facts and figures. Figures about how many loving parents are waiting for babies to adopt, or how many women died from illegal abortions before it was legalized, or how many women are able to successfully juggle kids and careers, or how many unwanted children are mistreated, abused and sick, how much taxpayer money is used to perform abortions, how much medical research can be advanced, and on and on and on. But I'm not writing about facts and figures. I'm not writing about how bad the act of abortion is or what would happen if it suddenly became illegal (my opinion is that it would be bad and bloody, but that's another post), or the benefits of keeping it legal.
What I'm talking about is us, the people of the world, all of us everywhere that have built ourselves a society where such a thing as abortion can even exist. That there can be even one woman, somewhere, anywhere on the planet at any time, who has to face that choice, that has to find out she's pregnant and think "Oh, God, what will I do now". How have we come to that?
And what can be done about it?
I don't have answers to either one. At least not on a "OMG that's the answer for the whole world" scale.
What I do know is that suddenly stamping the word "Overturned" on Roe v. Wade solves nothing. It doesn't solve the issue of 'unwanted pregnancy'. Electing a President or Congress-person because they will "end abortion" is not the way to go. Cutting off taxpayer money funneled to Planned Parenthood doesn't make it stop. Making the act of ending a pregnancy illegal doesn't touch the root of the problem - the fact that an unwanted pregnancy could even exists.
But it's a start, you might say, chop the head off the dragon and eventually the rest will die.
I respectfully disagree. Like the mythical Hydra, this dragon will just grow more heads. And more. And more. The only way to slay the dragon is the heart.
And the heart of this problem is not ending abortion, it's making it UNNECESSARY.
And how do we do that?
I don't know. And that's why I'm pro-choice. Because I don't know what else to be. I don't have any answers. Oh, I have opinions, ideas, things I can do, like educate my children, talk to the boys and girls in my life, at my church, my nieces, nephews, and grandchildren and TEACH them how not to cause an unwanted pregnancy, but that's not a solution. And no guarantee that any of those kids will actually listen to me.
Until there is a sweeping change in society, where every pregnancy is wanted (whatever form that may take) we all must act in love, peace, and compassion for our fellow woman (and man). Until we stop judging the pregnant woman for getting pregnant, then judge her again for her choice, then judge her again after that choice is made - until there comes a time when there doesn't have to BE a choice, then all we should do, all we MUST do is act in love.
Everything else feeds the dragon.
