As I was reviewing the Saddleback Civil Forum Videos with Pastor Rick Warren and Senator Barack Obama, I started pondering about the abortion debate we are having in America as well as Obama's remarks. In preparation for my article on the debates, I thought I would let down my guard, if you will, and become transparent with my audience about one of the issues I have a strong disagreement with Obama on.
During the Saddleback Civil Forum, Obama talks about how, for him, abortion is about a "woman's right to choose" because it is such a complex situation and women take a lot of time and thought when making the decision. My reaction was, "no they don't" and "you don't know what you are talking about Mr. Obama."
You see, I know what I am talking about. I am one of those women he was referring to that embraced the "right to choose" message and had an abortion. I did not take any time to ponder what I was doing, what the consequences would be, and if I should indeed even do it.
Since this debate is about women and their unborn child and whether they should or should not have the right to choose, I thought I would post part of a paper I wrote in school on this very subject as proof that Obama and all the other pro-abortion followers are wrong. Abortion does hurt. Abortion does have serious consequences. Abortion is not a choice - it is a cop-out.
I wrote this paper in 2000 but even reading it today, my worldview is still the same. Abortion is not a choice women want to be saddled with. If we truly want to be empowered, we need to take back our voice and stand up and say, "I choose to be responsible!"
Here is what I wrote in my paper about the experience.
"She was a 23-year-old, single, parent. The doctor had told her she was pregnant [...]. His prognosis was an abortion. Numb, she went to her appointment at the abortion clinic. She sat emotionless in the sterile waiting room while awaiting the appointed time. When the nurse came for her, she moved onto the table without thinking. The heat of the lights warmed her body as if trying to take the chill from it. She quietly inhaled the gas mixture the doctor gave her to relax. Suddenly, there was incredible pain. She jerked her legs up and cried. The doctor yelled at her and told her not to move. If she moved, she would bleed to death. Her mind was swimming. This didn't seem right. This wasn't a normal medical procedure. Why didn't anyone talk to her? Why were they all so cold? Why was she here?I was raised to believe in the sanctity of life. Yet, the above story is mine. In 1985, I chose a "woman's right to choose" instead of making a responsible choice.The gas was having little effect on the pain. She told the doctor she was feeling pain but he icily responded that he wouldn't give her anything else. The pain ripped through her body again. Hot tears flowed down her cheeks as she turned her head in shame.
Suddenly, a machine that sounded like a vacuum cleaner roared. As she looked up she saw clear tubes. And then she saw it passing through the tubes. What had she done? She felt as if they were tearing this child out of her body. Would she ever forget the noise of that machine? Her chest heaved in uncontrollable sobs as the realization of what she had done to her unborn child sprang forth in her soul."
For some reason, I did not enter adulthood understanding the discipline of choice. I did not understand that every human act is accompanied with the ability to choose, nor did I understand that with that ability comes an individual responsibility for the consequences incurred from the decision made.
Even though I was raised in a Christian home, when I moved out of my own I chose to embrace society's truths. I wandered form the truths of integrity, morality, and character that I had been taught. I embraced a "woman's right to choose" because it released me, in my mind at least, from my responsibility for the consequences of those decisions. If I had a right to choose abortion, then I could continue a life of promiscuity and eliminate any "consequences" that might come along.
Obama and planned parenthood can continue telling us that abortion doesn't hurt women, that a "woman's right to choose" is more important that the child's life, or that abortion is a choice. However, that doesn't make it truth. I lived through the after math of an abortion. Besides the fact that I "murdered" a living human being, I suffered physical consequences in my body, my mind, as well as my spirit. When something that is so intricately intertwined with you is ripped away, it leaves a lasting imprint. There will always be a hole where that child was even when you are healed in spirit, mind and body. Nothing can take that away. One day you were carrying a child, the next...your weren't. A woman's body wasn't designed to endure the aftermath of an abortion.
I have come to peace with what I did those many years ago and my purpose for posting this isn't to garner sympathy but instead to put a face to it.
I'm just one woman who fell for the lie. One of millions. A fetus is a human being at conception. There is no debate about it. Just ask someone who has had an abortion. We know.
I don't think any woman who has an abortion makes that decision on a whim. She does so because she believes an abortion is the best decision for her circumstances. It is a personal, painstaking decision, granted; one that often stays with her for a lifetime. But,I think "personal" is the operable word here. Nobody has the right to tell a woman what works best for her life; her body. I am a Christian but I would not opt to give birth to baby I conceived by rape or incest. Having an abortion would be a decision that I would make through prayer and consultation with God. God is bigger and more understanding than we often understand Him to be. We all see what happens to an unwanted child. They suffer their entire lives. While I can't impose my position on you,and I am saddened for you, for your subsequent frustration, I believe no one has the right to tell me what I can or cannot do when it comes to that "personal" choice. I too, had an abortion many years ago. And while I actually am opposed to them, there are some circumstances where I feel they are necessary.