14 September, 2007

What's "Alive"

I pass an abortion clinic on the way home every day. They have a bunch of carefully worded no trespassing signs around, including ones that make it very clear standing in their parking lot is a no-no unless you're a patient. And every couple months there is a bevy of activists hanging around with unpleasant handbill and signs.

It's kind of hard to miss.

I don't think a lot about it. I stand convinced that abortion is a violation of God's gift to man, but abortion's been around for a long, long time and I don't see Paul or Christ spending a lot of time on it. Your mileage may vary, and I stand with brothers and sisters who stand against abortion, just not for very long. The church is in much worse shape than reproductive sins in my mind.

But as I drove by there was a young unisex person leaving the building and locking up. Surrounding (let's say) her were 4 or 5 children of various ages, and it was hard not to notice the incongruity. These children were skipping and laughing out of a place they might not have survived had they been there barely a handful of years earlier.

It was shocking.

The question that came to mind for a young lady considering "the procedure" was, "What if it's alive?" I mean my arm is living, but it's not alive. If you cut my arm off, you hurt me but you don't hurt it. It cannot hurt. Only I can hurt, because I am alive. My arm won't fight to stay alive after it's been disconnected from me.

What if the viable tissue mass ejected in the procedure is alive? Like those babies laughing and skipping are alive?

Could you sign the papers then?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a difficult subject. I know that some will read that fist sentence and disagree, they will say nope it’s easy because it’s wrong.

Now here is where I stand on this.

I thank God that the women who gave birth to my nieces chose adoption instead. It must be hard to carry a child then let it go but they did and for that we are blessed.

I wish that my friends had made other choices one wasn’t even fifteen when she was raped the other was with a guy who gave her no support, he did however offer to pay for the abortion.

I tried to talk one out of it because I felt that she wasn’t informed. I place articles around the house so that she could take the time to read them, I tried to tell her that she had our support if she decided to have the baby. I failed, she had it.

Rape is a horrible thing and for a young girl to have a baby from it is awful, they aren’t psychically or mentally prepared. So on this one I understand and if it were my child I do what it takes to help her make this difficult decision.

I have yet to meet a woman who said it was the best thing for her, they hate themselves and what they did. They morn the loss of the baby.

I’m sure out in the world somewhere there are women who think it’s right even after they do it but I have yet to know them.

I have been blessed with a family who loves me and would have taken me in no matter. Not all women are. I never had the heart for it myself , I mourned the loss of a baby when I lost one very early on. No it isn’t something I could ever do but then again when I was faced with a friend forcing me down in the back seat I was able to free myself.

Kevin Knox said...

If you've not seen these posts by Amba, you need to read them. They are brutally honest, penetrating and balanced. I know I've posted them before, and as always, hat tip to Weekend Fisher

Amba's Abortion Rant: Part I
Amba's Abortion Rant: Part II

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this post. I hate abortion...and I applaud those with the conviction to fight for the unborn...who else will speak for them? It's an ugly battle. One I don't have the stomach for...in terms of standing on the street with those handouts, confronting those making a painful choice at that stage.

Among my friends and acquaintances...anyone that will seek my advice - no question I will be there. Always thinking of the innocent unborn.

I don't care whether it's legal or not...I just want reasonable people to agree to try to raise our children to respect life. To know the consequences of their actions, and to do everything they can NOT to create an unwanted life.
And if that fails, to have a conscience when it does.

I think in the area of tragedy...real tragedy, there are so few that disagree on that - it's just not where the battle is, is it?

Anyway, thanks again. Something that, as a woman and a mother, is never far from my thoughts.

(And thank you milly, for your thoughts as well...)

kc bob said...

"my arm is living, but it's not alive"

Really said well CP! That is truly the question isn't it ... when does the living become alive. I guess we can debate that one ... I think that it is a lot sooner than most think it is but am not dogmatic on it.

About the politics of abortion, I do have an abortion opinion but it may not be radical enough for some. I'd like to see us come together in the pro-life world around the viability of the baby ... surely we can agree on that can't we ... if so then maybe we would be able to get something done - maybe.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to get back to this one so late, long weekend at work I managed to get about eighteen hours in plus made it to church.

I’m going to be brutally honest here.

This isn’t a perfect world, in a perfect world we’d have no need for abortion.

But we aren’t in that world yet.

I grew up seeing faces of girls. I knew that they knew of things I’d never know and I knew that I was blessed to be so innocent.

No first I have to say that in today’s time we have little need for abortion. We have so many ways to keep from getting pregnant that you almost have to be stupid to get that way. I was married for several years before conceiving my first. How did I manage to keep from getting pregnant? I use more than one for of birth control. Folks I knew the moment of conception because we didn’t use anything that night. One time without and I was going to have a son. I takes a moment to hit the grocery store, take that moment and use more than one way because condoms don’t always work. A nurse told me that they call people who use condoms parents, more than one, ok.

I think that consenting adults are old enough to know what to do to prevent. If you don’t and you find that you are having an unwanted by you baby then put it up for adoption, there are lots of people who want to love that baby.

As for when it becomes a baby and when you can abort. I don’t care what the law says at conception it is something living, growing, and becoming a baby.

Now where my grey area is.

I could have gotten pregnant in the sixth grade. Have you looked at most sixth grade little girls? They are hardly capable of handling a child physically or mentally.

So then where does that put that little girl who’s mom brings home a man who crawls in bed with her? What about that girl who’s father got her pregnant? Or was it her brother? Folks this is the sick truth out in the real world. I saw those faces I know the look in their eyes. Sick men do sick things.

Look into that little girls eyes and tell her she must now go through more pain and suffering, that her little body will now have to carry a baby. Tell a sixth grade little girl this.

Abortion for us stupid adults?
NO someone want to love your baby

Abortion for those women who are raped?
NO someone want to love your baby

Abortion for a little girl because of what some sick scum did?
YES

Anonymous said...

. . . and the men need to step up.

Lynne said...

Milly, I stand with you in this one. I am against abortion, utterly, EXCEPT in the cases of rape of young girls. Those kids have already been through a hell they should never have had to face, to make them endure 9 months of pregnancy as well, plus childbirth, is just wrong. maybe I'll be pilloried for saying this, but I think raped young girls should be given the morning after pill, or something similar, so they never have to consider whether they might be pregnant as well. I say that as a mother.

Anonymous said...

The problem with giving young girls the morning after pill is that many rapes go unreported. They are afraid or feel that some how it was their fault. Some are so young that they are clueless as to what happened. A friend once told me that she was so confused as to why her stepfather did that to her she didn’t know what she had done to get him to do that while playing with her dolls.

I agree with the mom point of view I’d be hard pressed to force my baby girl to have a baby in the sixth grade.

Kevin Knox said...

Guys, thank you for putting so much thought into this. I respect each of your positions. As you may suspect, I'm a natural hardliner. Still, if you read Amba's rant, you'll understand if I shut my mouth and just respect the love you've each shown here.

Thank you.