The following was written moments ago, in response to a friend who shared tales of standing in front of an abortion clinic for several days, only to observe that the majority of those attaining abortions were high school aged girls who 'just wanted to get rid of it'. I do wish to say, however, that the act of denial on the part of parents, resulting in great difficulty and embarrassment associated with teens procuring birth control, bears the bulk of the burden here.
I am not in favor of abortion, necessarily. I am, actually, primarily operating in favor of education, access and prevention. Raising the self-esteem, removing taboos and unbinding our voices to open and maintain active discourse on a subject that is a fact of life, a need not a want. People will continue having sex irresponsibly if they're not given easy access to a solution. People will continue having unwanted pregnancies under the auspices of having to sneak around.
Had you asked me a week before I became pregnant, I probably would have said that an abortion would be in order should I become pregnant. However, my Brando was welcome from the moment he was incepted. It is prevention that I long for, but as a child of a woman who should have been allowed to have the abortion she wanted when she became pregnant with me, as the woman whose soul would have chosen another home had that occurred, knowing the plight of the unwanted child, I cannot stand behind the unconstitutional act of preventing safe abortion for women who choose to do so for medical, financial, self-serving or safety reasons.
I love your stance and your experience as much as I'm grateful every second for my own son, but our children were our choice.
I stood at a pro-choice booth 5 months pregnant as an advocate of preserving the sanctity of choice and the lives already manifest here. I completely concur that we live in a selfish society, wrought with irresponsibility and quick fixes. I believe that abortion should be preventable. I know that the United States has the highest abortion and unwanted pregnancy rate of any developed nation because of the way we handle the subjects of sexuality and abortion.
It's a terribly difficult topic, inflammatory and emotional for many reasons, but we must open the discussion and find common ground if we're to improve the situation and diminish the number of abortions taking place. Too, we're talking about a church that denies access to birth control, insists upon carrying children to term and encourages oversized families in an overpopulated world. They ought to encourage utilization of birth control and adoption!
There are so many children longing for and needing a loving home. If the god loving members of my church would focus on sustainability and bettering the whole of humanity and the Earth we were given by God to tend rather than exploit, we'd all be better off. I simply find safe abortion a moot topic. It should be available to those living under a constitution which guarantees freedom of religion.... And we should focus on more pressing issues like overpopulation, preservation of the earth we all inhabit and increased cohesion between people of all colors, creeds and religion with regard to the solutions we implement.