40th Anniversary of Roe V. Wade

Yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision allowing abortion to be legalized.  I don't judge women who have had an abortion.  That's not my place at all.  I do hurt for them though.  Seven years ago when I was still working in video I was hired to produce a piece about abortion.  I recorded the accounts of four or five different women and their stories of having an abortion(s) and the pain it caused them both physically and emotionally.

If we are going to support a woman's choice to abort or not then I think it is only compassionate to try to understand the pain they will suffer alone for their whole life because of the decision.  It's not a quick fix.  It has huge long term consequences.  Of course letting a child live and choosing adoption or to raise the baby is a long term choice too.  In fact Jane Roe, the central figure in the notorious ruling, never actually had an abortion.  She gave birth to the child and gave it up for adoption.  Now she passionately defends unborn/pre-born life and is fighting to overturn the decision that bears her name.

As I was thinking about the issue of abortion these last few days there were times when my breath was taken away and I had to fight hard to keep the tears back.  What if...the mother that is carrying my son chooses to abort him?  I want him.  I want him so badly.  I believe that he is supposed to be part of our family and God made him for us.  Do you know what it's like to have someone have the "right" to kill your child?  I would a million times rather her choose to keep him and me live with out him knowing he is alive than her kill him.  This is messed up stuff.

There are only four main differences between a newborn baby and a baby/fetus inside the womb:

Size:
  Ok, I get that when they start out that they are microscopic.  So.... Does this mean that those who are larger get to rule over those who are smaller?  Are NBA framed men more human than petite women?  What about the disfigured and those without limbs?  Are they not wholly human?  Are they just a blob of cells too?  Who gave us the right to decide what a human looks like?  The DNA is there....

Level of Development:
   Do fetuses feel pain?  Can they think?  I don't know?  Do you?  Do you remember being a fetus?  Or a newborn?  Or a one year old?  If we judge life by the level of development then once again we are judging the already born by their ability and development.  There are people that have diseases where they can't feel pain. There are plenty of people with major brain abnormalities and retardation.  What about my four year old daughter, is she less of a human because she is not fully developed as a woman yet?  Here's one more, someone in a coma- they can't feel pain, aren't self aware and aren't thinking-do the families have the right to kill them (and I'm not talking taking someone off of a vent)?

Environment:
   The argument exists that if a fetus can not survive outside of the womb then it is not viable-err not a human.  Why again are we making these silly rules up?  Fetuses are still breathing and using their lungs.  They are still interacting with their mothers.  What is it about the way an unborn child breathes and where it grows that devalues it's existence?  Are astronauts in outer space not human?  They can't survive in space outside their specialized gear.  Could it be that just like the engineers who invented and designed the gear that allows them to survive in a place other than our normal habitat that there is a Heavenly designer that designed a system and protection for unborn children to grow and live safely in a place other than OUR normal habitat?

Degree of Dependency:
   Once again there is an argument that an unborn fetus could not survive outside the mother's womb so it must not be "viable" or worthy of life.  Of course the fetus is dependent on the mother and could not survive without her.  An infant couldn't either.  Or how about this, a friend who works at a hospital told me today about a man that had been doing therapy at the hospital: he is homeless, has no family, no friends, diabetes, one leg is amputated, he has no job, no money, he is an illegal alien.... forget being dependent on one person he is dependent on everyone and yet no one claims him.  What happens to him when the  hospital can't let him stay there any more.  What happens when his diabetes claims another limb and he can't get insulin?  Should someone kill him now because of the inevitable?


I know you may not agree with me and your desire to support a woman's rights may trump all, but please consider: first, the life long pain these woman will carry from their choice, second, the innocent lives being snuffed out because they weren't big enough, smart enough, and functional enough for societies taste, and lastly, women like me:  women who want these children and believe it is in God's plan for them to adopt.  You may think it's ok for them to kill their babies but please- realize that it might be my baby that they're killing.