Surprise!

I am pro-life.  A lot of my more liberal friends may have a heart attack at that statement.  However, I mean it differently than most.  I am a vegetarian.  I am against the death penalty.  I am also against abortion. 

However, this doesn't mean that I want to murder abortion providers and allow mothers to die in order to make sure their fetus lives.  

In all things, I feel that killing in self-defense (or the defense of others) is forgivable.  So, if the mother's life is in danger, abortion is an acceptable (albeit sad) action.  Any mother would be heartbroken to destroy the life inside of her, but it would also be heart-wrenching to face one's own death and the child's life without the mother.

In the case of rape, I do not know how anyone could judge someone who wanted an abortion.  Can anyone imagine having to re-live that night for every day of the rest of their lives?  That child is going to be a constant reminder.  And, that's not going to be fair to that child because the mother will end up resenting him or her.  

In the case of simple birth control, I do not understand so much.  I feel that women should be responsible and use preventative methods.  However, I have not been in those other women's shoes so it is hard for me to judge them.  I cannot imagine a situation where I would be comfortable with abortion, but I also know that I have been very fortunate.  

I am terrified for Planned Parenthood.  As someone who is personally opposed to abortion, I can sort of understand the extremists' want to prevent abortions.  However, I think that getting rid of PP is not the answer.  In fact, without access to affordable care and contraceptives, the abortion rate is only going to rise.  How is that helpful?  

As someone who has been without healthcare from high school until just a few short months ago, I understand the need for women to be able to have affordable options.  People just are not going to stop having sex.  It's not going to happen.  So, there need to be affordable options to prevent pregnancy (and disease).  Simply ignoring the problem is not going to make it go away.

One of my bigger problems with typical pro-lifers is that the only alternative they offer up is adoption.  So, you either have to suck it up and raise the child (knowing that it's not likely that you will be able to afford the things that your child needs -- and struggle to find help.  Isn't it weird that the same people who want women to have children they can't afford are the very people who do not want to give them government support?) or put it up for adoption and hope for the best.  However, how many pro-lifers end up adopting?  People want to offer it as an option, but aren't really willing to adopt children themselves.  

Yes, I am pro-life.  Yes, I would love a world where abortion was unnecessary.  However, that is never going to happen since we keep taking away the options women have for birth control.  It's also unrealistic when there aren't enough people willing to adopt.  I will continue to dream of that perfect day, but it's not going to happen until people are willing to give realistic options. 

Wisdom

I got this in an email again, and I still really like it. So, here it is:

A worried woman went to her gynecologist and said, "Doctor, I have a serious problem and desperately need your help. My baby is not even 1 year old, and I'm pregnant again. I don't want kids so close together."

So the doctor said, "Okay, and what do you want me to do about it?"

She replied, "I want to end my pregnancy, and I'm counting on your help with this."

The doctor thought for a little while, and after some silence he said to the lady, "I think I have
a better solution for your problem. It's less dangerous for you too."

She smiled, thinking that the doctor was going to accept her request.

Then he continued. "You see, in order for you not to have to take care of 2 babies at the same time, let's kill the one in your arms. This way, you could rest some before the other one is born. If we're going to kill one of them, it doesn't matter which one it is. There would be no risk for your body if you chose the one in your arms."

The lady was horrified and said, "No, doctor! How terrible! It's a crime to kill a child!"

"I agree," the doctor replied, "but you seemed to be okay with it, so I thought maybe that was the best solution." He smiled, realizing that he had made his point.

He convinced the mother that there is no difference in killing a child that's already been born and one which is still in the womb. The crime is the same!

Heroes + Pro-Life Thoughts

So, I started off naming this post "Heroes + Abortion Thoughts", but then when I thought about it, I thought it might give people the wrong idea ("Tara! You're pregnant?! And you're having an abortion!?" ... Oh, how the rumors would fly.).

Anyway, last night was the return of Heroes after a 2 month long hiatus. I was going nuts! I love HEROES! It was pretty good; I wasn't disappointed. Now I can't wait until Monday to see another new episode! I think that I will probably start going through some of the stuff on NBC's website. The extra heroes stuff. They have online episodes which are different from the ones aired on television. They focus on different characters and such. It sounds cool but I don't know if it could be as cool as the show aired on tv. I mean, it is AWESOME! :)

Also, on a completely different note, the other day I heard people talking on the radio about abortion. There was some excuse about how this woman would have to raise the child on her own and she was having the abortion for the child's sake so that it wouldn't have to grow up like that. It made me think. How many kids do you really think actually sit down and think, "My life sucks. I wish my mom would have had an abortion." ??? I don't think it would be very many.

I mean, my mom was still in high school when she got pregnant with me. She went to her senior prom alone and very pregnant. She graduated VERY pregnant with me. She had morning sickness all throughout her pregnancy with me. She married my dad and moved into a trailer. She must have been miserable and frightened. We were incredibly poor up until I was about high school age. My dad was mean (not a good father or husband) up until I was in high school (long story... it took my mom leaving him to figure out not to take us for granted). But, I have never once thought, "You know, I wouldn't have to be here in these miserable circumstances if my mom would have just had an abortion."

And I worked with underprivileged kids at KMS in Salisbury. A lot of their parents were in jail or were addicts. Some of them were homeless or living in a group home. I can't imagine one of them wishing that their mothers had just aborted them. They were struggling, but still happy to be surviving.

Joe's mother got pregnant with him at the age of 16 (and she had already had one child! And she had 3 more after that. There are at least 3 different fathers for them... no one is exactly sure). She was a drug addict. A lot of pro-choice people would have agreed that it would have been best to abort the fetus. Where would I be now if that were the case? I can't imagine not meeting Joe.

Joe had a hard life growing up. He'll tell you that. While he's a little on the crazy side, does he seem to be any worse off now than most people who grew up in normal homes? I don't think so. I think he is a wonderful human being.

I may have become more liberal during my stay at Catawba, but I will never ever be Pro-Choice. Nothing will ever make me sway from my Pro-Life stance. I don't believe in killing of any kind. Especially not that innocent fetus inside of you with so much potential. No one will ever convince me otherwise.