Abortion: We Can Do Better
Society’s acceptance of abortion denies women a true choice in an unexpected pregnancy. Abortion will never be rare as long as we allow it to be the cultural default position.
Hollywood and the entertainment sector are not known for its pro-life views. However, the times may be changing. Several high profile women known for their contributions to fashion and performing arts are adding a pro-life message to their list of credentials. These include swimsuit model Kathy Ireland, television star and Emmy award-winner Patricia Heaton and motion picture actress Jennifer O’Neill. In recent months, each of these celebrities publicly proclaimed her opposition to abortion, each woman with her own reason and message.
For Ireland, the humanity of the preborn child in the womb makes it impossible for her to accept that abortion is good for women. Heaton takes her cue from the founders of traditional feminism — early suffragettes — who vehemently opposed abortion as the ultimate exploitation of women. And, O’Neill’s personal story echoes the emotional difficulty many women experience after an abortion. These individual perspectives are perhaps best reflected in one statement by commentator Frederica Mathewes-Green: “[A woman] wants an abortion as an animal, caught in a trap, wants to gnaw off its own leg."
The trapped animal analogy resonates with women. It speaks to the desperation they often feel when faced with an unintended pregnancy. Trapped animals do desperate things to escape when they feel threatened — even killing those they perceive to stand in the way. Likewise, abortion pits mother against child. A woman may believe that her only (or best) response must be at the expense of her own child’s life. However, women are not animals, and it’s not natural for women to kill their children. A woman knows this intuitively, so abortion offers them an unnatural solution to often-circumstantial problems.
Just ask Rebecca and Tisha, whose stories are posted on the Web site, www.ThinkAboutItOnline.com Tisha writes that she was “panic-stricken” when she became pregnant in college. After her boyfriend abandoned her, she “had few options or support” and had an abortion. Rebecca’s boyfriend also turned tail to run, leaving her scared and only able to “see the hardships associated with being a single mom.”
Women like Rebecca and Tisha have discovered the hard way that abortion does not empower them, nor does it move them toward relational equality. Abortion becomes the trap that awaits pregnant women who are without an adequate support system, namely a stable marriage relationship. Being single adds to the dilemma.
Even if a woman wants to continue her pregnancy, financial worries and the disruption of school or career plans are what most often pushes her toward abortion. This is where society’s acceptance of abortion denies women a true choice in an unexpected pregnancy. Women need to know that they can continue their pregnancies and keep their place at school or on the job. Unfortunately, abortion has become the cultural default position. And, women have gotten the message that in less than ideal circumstances, you are better off to abort your child. Society accepts abortion as an easy out, not just for women, but for all of us. Abortion will never be rare as long as we allow it to be the default position. Abortion is no choice for a woman who thinks that it is her only choice.
Each time women like Ireland, Heaton and O’Neill speak to the inequities abortion creates, the spotlight of shared responsibility shines on us all. Women in unintended pregnancies deserve more than abortion; they deserve better choices, and these are often ones they cannot see or accomplish alone. After three decades and nearly 40 million abortions, it’s time to admit that abortion is inadequate and a poor excuse for offering women real alternatives. We can, and must, do better.
The preceding “opinion-editorial” (or op-ed) was published by in the following newspapers in January 2003 marking 30 years of legal abortion in the U.S:
Gazette, Colorado Springs, CO (Circulation: 98,980), The Pekin Times, Pekin, IL (Circulation: 12, 537), Northwest Arkansas Times, Fayetteville, AR (Circulation: 13, 958), Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Bartlesville, OK (Circulation: 11,188), Benton County Daily Record, Bentonville, AR (Circulation: 12, 437), Public Opinion, Chambersburg, PA (Circulation: 21,448), Daily Times, Ottawa, IL (Circulation: 27,924), Tuscola County Advertiser, Caro, MI (Circulation: 10,000), Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, Lancaster, OH (Circulation: 17,122), Amarillo Globe-News, Amarillo, TX (Circulation: 43,572) State Gazette, Dyersburg, TN (Circulation: 8,400), Atlanta Inquirer, Atlanta, GA (Circulation: 61,082).
Carrie Gordon Earll is the Senior Policy Analyst for Bioethics at Focus on the Family and a fellow with the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity.
If you enjoy reading stories like this one, sign up for the free CitizenLink Daily Update e-mail. You'll get news and commentary from Focus on the Family Action delivered right to your computer.
