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The slogan “pro-choice” has been very helpful for those supporting abortion during the past three decades since Roe v Wade. People who call themselves pro-choice on this most controversial of issues can claim to be personally against abortion, but open to allowing others to have one if they choose. Their “mind my own business” approach is very American and, as such, has wide support. Supporting people’s right to choose, however, may prove a double-edged sword for pro-abortion groups. Recent advances in medical imaging technology are threatening their denial that what is being aborted isn’t human life and that abortion is about a woman’s control of her own body. It’s becoming more and more clear that there’s another body involved and abortion kills it.
How many times has a pregnant woman shown you an ultrasound image of her baby? Just about everyone has seen several by now. How many times did the mother say, “Would you like to see an ultrasound of my fetus?” My guess is never. When a pregnant woman is going to have an abortion, she calls what she’s carrying is a fetus if she talks about it at all. Otherwise, it’s a baby. Every year, the images are less blurry and it’s more and more difficult to deny that the image is that of a tiny human being just like us. Such images make their right to choose abortion vastly more difficult and that’s a big problem for the abortion industry.
On May 15th, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford signed a bill into law which requires abortion clinics to notify a woman seeking an abortion that she has the right to see an ultrasound image of her child one hour before the abortion. According to Lifesitenews.com: “Only [South Carolina] and Oklahoma require the one-hour waiting period after the ultrasound to give women a chance to reflect on the information without feeling pressured to continue with the abortion. In South Carolina an ultrasound is mandatory if the baby's gestational age is estimated to be 14 weeks or older or is unknown, according to state regulations. The ultrasound remains optional before 14 weeks of pregnancy.”
Women who have been brainwashed by radical feminists into believing that what they’re aborting is just a lump of tissue don’t make an informed choice. Activist groups who call themselves “pro-choice” like the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) should favor provisions that inform women of what their choices are, but instead they fight these statutes vehemently. “A woman has already made an agonizing choice before showing up at an abortion clinic and this law would put them through more unnecessary anguish,” they argue. What they don’t take into account, however, is the anguish many women feel for the rest of their lives after abortions. According to a 2004 study of Russian and American women, “65% report symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder they attribute to their abortions.” Suicide rates are many times higher in women who have aborted. One hour of reflection required by South Carolina may save a lifetime of torment.
Women need as much information as possible to really make a choice. According to the May 16th Elliot Institute News:
A survey released by Feminists for Life of America has found that many college students who become pregnant are unaware of resources available to them or don't have access to good resources. FFL president Serrin Foster noted that when pregnant students look for resources, ‘either they can't find them or the resources are inadequate or expensive.’ One pregnant student noted that without resources, ‘it sure doesn't feel like I have much of a choice.’ . . . [S]tudents who become pregnant are often immediately referred for an abortion by campus health center officials and are not given any information about other options or resources. [Other] surveys have found that lack of resources or support, and pressure and coercion from others, are leading factors for abortion.
Coercion indeed. The leading cause of death for pregnant women in America is homicide and several of these murders have gotten wide national attention. For too many pregnant women, the choice isn’t theirs; it’s someone else’s. Too often it’s the man who fathered the child or the under-aged girl’s abuser who is really choosing the abortion, not the mother. If people insist on being pro-choice, they should go all the way and insist that enough information is available for a women to really know what she’s choosing.
6 comments:
"Too often it’s the man who fathered the child or the under-aged girl’s abuser who is really choosing the abortion, not the mother."
Really, now? You offer zero proof for this assertion. Typical rightwing condescending blathering.
Only a Chucklehead would question the vercity of the statment, "Too often it's the man who fathered the child or the underaged girl's abuser who is really choosing the abortion, not the mother."
Reasonable and intelligent people do not require proof of what is known to be factual.
If a man informs a child, it is not condescending, it is called education.
Thanks for the helping to educate us Tom.
Bob Sharkey
Tom, Thank you for taking a public pro-life stance.
"Reasonable and intelligent people do not require proof of what is known to be factual."
What an interesting position, Mr. Sharkey. Basically, that means that if you consider yourself to be reasonable and intelligent, you can believe whatever you want, facts be damned.
Hmmm. That will come in handy as I argue my liberal positions. I can just stop worrying about what may be 'factual' and just declare that my position is the truth. I'm sure you and Mr. McLaughlin will just accept what I say, since I'm so reasonable and intelligent...
R. Dyer
Okay R. Dyer. Since you put some kind of name down and you keep coming back, here's some evidence:
http://www.unfairchoice.info/Coerced.htm
Tom, you are absolutely right that a woman most likely to choose abortion is a woman who has been emotionally abandoned by the man who has impregnated her. You might want to include the woman's family: often parents lobby hard for her not to have the child and threaten to turn their backs on her, emotionally and or financially if she does. Been through it myself one time and it's the deepest regret I have in my life.
Make no mistake - I am liberal in most things, but not abortion or the death penalty, and I'd love to see marijuana decriminalized because the laws unfairly target the poor and minorities, leading to incarceration which ruins the lives of many young, non-violent, non-criminal adults. This isn't much different from the abortion you speak of because it aborts the life of a young person going through the experimental stage.
I think that if pro-lifers want to reduce the number of abortions, they need to reduce poverty and discrimination. This will promote marriage, because a poor man can't afford a wife; he has little to offer her and knows it. Yet most human beings want children, including men or they wouldn't be so damned careless. I think their desire to procreate is unconscious, and then they get scared when it happens and they run like hell.
It's a complex and painful issue. If more women had social and financial support and more men had decent jobs, this would save many lives of the unborn. First, though, I think we need to save the lives of the already born for them to be willing to have that child.
At any rate, I liked your article.
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