It seems to me that at least 30% of abortions are monetarily related. 26% feel they are not ready or that baby would be raised in a bad situation. Over 6% deal with health issues, either that of the mother or the fetus.
"Health" An umbrella term indeed. At what point do we finally decide that health is a broader topic than face value. Will the mother or baby be irreparably physically harmed from the birth of this child? If your answer is yes, then alright, right? Wrong! What if health encompasses a greater term? Like the mental health, spiritual health or future life of that mother. Does she not have a say in what she may be willing to deal with? What if the condom broke? What if she realized she has HIV and not the money to make it livable? What if she is in an abusive relationship and doesn’t want to stay, but has feared leaving? What if she has been raped? I look at this from all angles with my discerning Christian lens and I do not see the sense in forcing a woman to give birth. If you stand on that principle, then you need to stand up and fight against every war that has or will take place in your lifetime. While we are on the subject, you should get cracking, because there have been over a million people to die since 2003 in the Iraq war and I think they should have a right to life also.
I almost had an abortion. My family was supportive in the fact that they didn't try to talk me into an abortion. Unfortunately, I was homeless for nine months, before I gave birth. In the process, I made choices against my belief system (if you’re wondering, I did not sell my body) to raise enough money to shelter my new baby. It was the hardest time of my life, chosen by me at 17 years of age, hardly enough time to learn to drive and now completely responsible for the life of another human being. Now my daughter is 12, she is talented, beautiful and funny. However, she was raised by a self absorbed, single mother who could barely provide her basic physical and emotional needs.
The thing that upsets me most, is that many of these young kids like myself, pregnant at a young age are usually left without the support of their family. They are thrown out on their own to try to support themselves, in a system that humiliates them out the door. I see many of them homeless or near homeless, working as many minimum wage hours as they can to financially support their baby, while the rich picket in front of Planned Parenthood. How about those same people in front of Planned Parenthood go lobby for a young couple that are too broke with too little time to do it themselves.
The parents also have to decide what to do if their children are having children. Do they have the money to support another human being, when they were not planning on having any more children? On today's budget I would say usually, no and at that point teens are left to do it by themselves. Parents need to talk about sex, as often as they can, until they, the parent not the kid, are no longer uncomfortable with the subject.
Another thing, it was so horrible having to wait in line for my WIC check or my food stamps. It was even more horrible using them at the grocery store. Here I was an abomination to my country. I was another teen loser with a baby, using government subsidy to get by. I was the curse of every free market, let them sink or swim, republican. I walked around with three scarlet letters hanging around my neck and they were “HRS”.
Allow me to bring up the fathers now. If we were not in such a broken world, the fathers would be more able to secure the futures of the lives they are helping to create as well. Don't think they are capable of having it any other way themselves or they would. How about we bring the men in and see if they are interested in either making the relationship work or having to pay child support, leaving them barely able to support themselves. I have seen that side of the coin too. With over 50% of relationships tearing at the seams, men and women walking away from each other (thinking I can do better than him/her) and they move on to be strapped with, a good time romp turned 18 year financial acme anvil.
Something is amiss. We either have to lay down our judgments, daggers and picket signs and give our time to something a little more helpful to these pregnant women and men, or just shut up and deal with it. When it comes to the government having a say in this subject at all, I believe they need to stop. They need to stop allowing it to even be known that abortion is going on. HIPAA should protect what these women and their doctors are doing behind closed doors. No one should feel that it is their right to tell a woman what side of the battle lines she should be on, when waging war within herself. No one should believe that it is an easy thing to decide to have an abortion. It is harder than giving away money and yet women, undergoing the procedure, are doing both at once.
McCain further states “But, look, Cindy and I are adoptive parents. We know what a treasure and joy it is to have an adopted child in our lives. We’ll do everything we can to improve adoption in this country”. If you would like to split hairs with me about adoption, I believe it is one of the greatest gifts you can give to someone you will never know. Someone you may one day regret you didn't, considering they may have your eyes and sense of humor. What if a woman just knows she can't be depended on by another human being for financial reasons? Should we then force her to be harmed further by giving birth and giving her child to a more well off member of this class society or should we allow her the heart break now? Again, this should be left up to the pregnant mother and father to decide and not up to the government or “we the people”. It is none of our business. "To give away money is an easy matter ... and in any man's power. But to decide to whom to give it, and how large and when, for what purpose and how, is neither in every man's power nor an easy matter. Hence it is that such excellence is rare, praiseworthy and noble." – Aristotle. Could you imagine if Aristotle were being asked to reflect on adoption instead?
So my final argument is, we should look more at the real issues instead of condemning people for their choice of solutions. We might clamor at the thought of sex education in our schools while avoiding the talk in our homes with our own children. We force the government to fight both sides of this very personal, moral and financial dilemma. We don't educate enough in the right way. We slap sex hungry ads everywhere. We fill our eyes with TV and internet sexual imagery, making us an oversexed society. We need to have an overall change in the way we face sex in this country and not just attack the outcome.
I couldn't be happier that McCain shared his true feelings during his final debate, unless he gets into office. I couldn’t be sadder that while the GOP talks of smaller government, less corporate regulation and less tax for fewer programs in America, they still want to micromanage women in the worse spot they might experience their whole life long, having to choose what to do about an inopportune pregnancy. I hope that as a nation full of women, we take the stand; that on some issues, we should not even try to walk in another’s shoes unless we have in fact been in them. It is time for us to back off of the topic of abortion and leave the humiliating process and moral decision between a woman, the man who helped her conceive, God and the doctor.
Let's finish up with a look at McCain's voting record or past support of women's issues and see exactly what he stands for.
MCCAIN’S VOTING RECORD
· NO on the Right to Choose
· NO on Sex Education
· NO to lift the Global Gag Rule, an anti-family law that bars foreign non-governmental organizations in undeveloped countries from receiving U.S. family planning assistance if they provide abortion services or advocate for pro-choice
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