I am alarmed at the tone of our country's current political climate reguarding the subject of abortion. I cannot accept that that one of our most basic rights ... that of being in control of what happens to our own bodies ... is in such grave peril. I do understand that this, like other rights similar to it, have, and will be abused by those who do not wish to accept responsibility for their actions. HOWEVER, for the rest of us it is occasionally a neccessary LAST RESORT.
In the case of the girl who concieves as the after effect of rape ... Can we honestly expect her to raise, love, and care for the product of such a violent attack? Yes, there is the option of adoption, but what of the girl/woman's mental state? To have this thing growing within her that was the product of a vile and hateful act...itself to be seen not as a helpless child ... but as a cancer growing within while her own spirit whithers. Those who would condemn her for ridding herself of this thing would never consider taking it to raise as their own child.
And, as one more example; what of the woman whose life is threatened if she carries to term? It happens more often than people wish to believe, and no one that I have talked with has been able to give me a suitable answer. What shall we do? Sacrifice a mature, working member of society for a mewling thing that will not be able to care for itself for at least sixteen years? What of the father in this case? What if he blames the child for the death of his beloved? What kind of situation would we send this helpless thing into ... and what kind of warped values and ideas will it be ingrained with by the bereaved family?
As evidenced by the reactions to this in other countries, the choice becomes one of legal vs. illegal abortion, NOT abortion vs. no abortion. A botched, illegal abortion with it's associations of increased guilt and fear decreases the chance of problems being treated immediately. This can lead to an infection (peretenitis) which can, and does, lead to a painful death. Why, with all our advances in medicine would anyone be willing to hurt that much, and then die in an equally painful way? The increased guilt (bad enough as it is) and fear of discovery from going through with an illegal abortion.
So what happens now, since this new legislation to allow (read that as "force") pharmacists to refuse to sell women the morning-after pill, and birth controll pills? Accidents happen. Condoms break. You can now no longer rely on being able to buy birth control, and sometimes those do fail. What happens to the woman who knows that if she carries to term, she will die, if her pharmacist refuses to sell her this drug? Or the 14 year old girl, who through preassure, or choice, just had to experiment with sex? She will never finish high-school, and will be stigmatized from that day on.
Girls like that now have very little chance to make something of themselves. Oh yes, I can hear it now "It was her choice, she has to live with the consequenses". True ... true... and when she goes on to welfare because she cannot get a job, when that child she was forced to bring into the world turns to gangs or drugs because life is unbearable otherwise ... what then? Is the mother's mistake the child's fault?
Do we truly wish to subject our mothers, sisters, and daughters to this horrifying eventuality? And, who is to say, that once this most basic of rights -to control our own bodies- is removed from us, what will be the next right to be stripped away? Where, ultimately, will this terrifying chain of events lead us?
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