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Wednesday, June 28, 2006

It's the Woman's Choice

Owen Robinson, author of the blog Boots and Sabers, has a new column in the West Bend News. This one is on the subject of abortion and Robinson goes off the deep end with this one. But not right away. He sounds very reasonable and throughout most of his essay I found myself nodding my head in agreement.

You see, my wife is 12 weeks pregnant and we saw the ultrasound pictures of our baby a week ago. The baby is just 2.5 centimeters long. The baby was quiet at first, but then s/he began kicking and moving about. I was transfixed by the show. Life is so incredible.

On the way home, those pictures evoked a discussion with my wife (who is rather conservative by the way) about abortion. We are both pro-choice, but we could not help but question some of the tenets of what we believe after seeing our baby.

Robinson nicely lined up all the points of our discussion in his, but most importantly he asked as did we: when does life begin? He decided that that life begins at conception. I tend to agree with him, but that still does not change the fact for me that it should only be the woman’s choice to continue or end a pregnancy.

I would prefer to see abortions so few that the only times they are performed are in cases of harm to the woman or rape (more on this). However, I cannot go so far to make it illegal. I am not a woman and cannot ever know how gut wrenching it must be to make the decision to terminate a pregnancy.

I do feel disgust, though, with Robinson’s decision that women who have been raped have no recourse. He’s right; he will never have to face that decision. He’s not a woman. Here’s hoping one of his daughters or his wife never has to face that decision either. Or will they be good little troopers like Robinson?

Here’s hoping that Robinson never has to experience watching his daughters or wife go through the psychological and physical agony of carrying to term the reminder of the day hell descended on them.

I’ll bet he couldn’t do it. He’s lying if he says he could!

6 Swings of the bat:

Julie said...

Personally, I believe that life does not start at conception. If the embroyo never attaches to the wall of the uterus, it never becomes a human being -- ever. Every day, an ovum becomes fertilized by a sperm just to fall completely through and never attach to the uterine wall. When that fertilized egg flows out of a woman's body, should we be checking for it, lest we throw out a "human being".

I am totally against abortion, even more so now that I am in the midst of fertility treatments and trying to jumpstart nature into granting me motherhood. I stand by my philosphy, if you don't want your baby, you may bring it to my house and I will raise it as my own. I got that idea from Mother Theresa, a saint if the world has ever seen one.

Anyway, I don't want to see abortion become illegal if only to prevent the coat hanger abortions of the past. Let's work together to lower the unwanted pregnancies. In cases of rape or incest, every woman should be allowed to receive the morning after pill -- if she so chooses -- to prevent the fertilized egg from attaching to the uterine wall and hence, eliminating the need for an abortion.

If the pro-life people put as much effort into preventing unwanted pregnancies as it does trying to illegalize abortion, we wouldn't have anymore unwanted babies.

Finally, God Bless you and your wife on your impending baby. I'll keep you and yours in my prayers.

Julie

Other Side said...

You are absolutely right, Julie. By the way, my wife and I also went through fertility treatments only to be told that there was little or no chance of pregnancy, so we decided to go the adoption route. We have completed the home study, but have put the rest on hold due to the miracle that occurred.

Regarding the morning after pill, that is a good clean alternative to abortion, but I don't think Mr. Robinson would even consider that ... I may be wrong, though.

Good luck to you and I hope your wish comes true.

Finally, Julie, they are not pro-life people ... they are anti-abortion. That's a post for another time.

Anonymous said...

Abortion is a very sticky issue with most of America - my biggest argument against it is that I don't believe that it is soley a woman's choice. It took two people to concieve the child. If, abortion is legal, then it ought to take two people that concieved the child to abort that child and not just the mother.

Other Side said...

Clint, are you suggesting that rapists, abusive husbands and absentee fathers should have a say?

I suspect that mothers and fathers (and even men who have taken responsibility) do discuss this option together in most instances, and come to agreement.

Ultimately, though, it is the woman who must carry to term and deliver.

I have seen some bloggers (not you) who seem to think liberals like and want more abortions. This is horse shit. Nobody likes abortions ... it should be everyone's goal to reduce these to the bare minimum (for cases of rape, incest and abuse). Education is the best and only way to do this.

James Wigderson said...

Supposedly this was the most unfair question asked at a presidential debate:

CNN's Bernard Shaw opened the debate with this question to Gov. Dukakis: "Governor, if Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?"

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/debates/history.story/1988.html

Other Side said...

What's your point?