Pax Nortona – A Blog by Joel Sax
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Letter about Abortion
Posted on April 30, 2004 in Abortion Mailbox
This is the one email I received in response to my Tuesday opinion about abortion. I will print followup emails if I receive them, contingent on their being thoughtful and personal expressions as this one is — not regurgitations of one side or another’s talking points. I am especially interested in hearing from women who have had abortions, women who thought about abortions, women who put their children up for adoption, women who chose to become single mothers, the spouses or boyfriends of any of these, and people who were adopted as infants. If requested, I will keep your identity private. This is a discussion, not a battleground. If you want to tell your story, click here.
Joel, I agree with you wholeheartedly on the abortion issue and
congratulate you for speaking up about it in a way that is not hysterical, as much of this debate (from either side) tends to become.
I have stopped discussing the subject, especially with women, because I can’t stand the polemics, whether they are pro or against. Abortion is vile that is the truth. I have had two, for reasons that were not valid
reasons, and I deeply regret my decision in both cases. I had the choice and I
made the wrong choice.
e=”color:blue;”>A recent documentary film on TV showed scans of the foetus within the
womb at various stages – 8 weeks, 10 weeks, 24 weeks. This is the truth. The
truth is that tiny living creature: it is not a thing, it is a human
being. And twice in my life I chose to kill. Even now, many years later, I
can’t think about this without the deepest sense of guilt and sadness.
I refuse to go and carry placards and march for either side of the
debate. The grief I feel is much too private and too deep to be put on parade.
I’m commenting here because I feel that your stand is worth listening to.
It’s hearing the women speak that has always moved me. Too often I’ve heard them feel trapped by circumstances more than anything else. Putting the keynote on whether abortion should be legal or not only serves to preserve the status quo wherein women are turned into victims by the fact that they bring new life into the world.
I point the finger at both sides. I point my finger at those who see it as birth control. I point it at women and men who stay silent when their employers don’t provide child care for the women who do choose motherhood. I point to those who allow women who bear children to become second-class citizens. I point to those who block the teaching of sex education in the schools. I point my finger at those who jeer women who enter clinics because the ones outside only see her as a baby machine. I point my finger at men like the young man who shot his girlfriend in the head after dragging her out from a clinic. Doubtless there are those in the pro-Life movement who think that this kind of vigilante action is justified but these also ignore the teachings of Christ/Buddha/etc. against violence and celebrate the Death Penalty.
