I find it very hard to think on your level on the subject of abortion. Do you honestly believe that making abortion illegal will solve the problem?
Let's go back to the times before it was made legal. Women were dying constantly in back alleys at the hands of "doctors" with dirty knives. What good is it to be "pro-life" when in all reality, more deaths will occur if you have your way? The way I look at it, we'll go back to our more primitive methods. It won't stop abortion. It will only kill a woman as well as an unborn child. Never under-estimate the desperateness of a woman in trouble.
Also, this initiative would only allow it to women who have the threat of dying if they give birth. Now stop and think of all the young woman or rather children ... 16 years old ... 15 years old ... 14 years old ... 13 years old ... raped and pregnant. Is it fair to make a child go through that? Did they ask for it? Not only would they have gone through an already traumatizing experience, but now they would be forced to bear the child that a man so crudely created.
I don't mean to insult your opinions on the topic. I just ask if you can really believe that this initiative will help. Now, it could just be that me, being the naive 16 year old that I am, doesn't know a thing of what she's speaking of, but doesn't it make the slightest bit of sense?
Thank You,
Sarah
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Dear Sarah,
Thanks for your letter. I always appreciate hearing from high school and college students. It arrived while I was down in Peru, so I have been slow responding.
We have something in common in our concern for women faced with an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy. I often see ones who have been hurt physically, emotionally and of course spiritually by our largely unregulated abortion clinics. The experience is not just anecdotal--there have been studies documenting the harm done to women in legal abortions. I believe both those who are "pro-life" and "pro-choice" could find some common ground by working for some sensible protections in that area.
I would agree with your second paragraph in this sense: Yes, if my sister's house were being robbed, my biggest concern would be her physical safety. It might even be possible to argue that if burglars were given their "right to choose," such a concern would be nugatory. The comparison might seem silly since robbery is recognized by all as a crime we cannot allow. But many of us would argue what a woman carries in her womb after conception is infinitely more valuable than the contents of anyones home.
When I was in Peru, a high school girl from here had come with me. At one point I picked up a child six or seven years old. The girl with me commented on how pretty and bright the child was. I told her, "this child is the result of a rape." Both of us remarked how grateful we were that the mother had not responded to violence with an even worse act of violence.
Do write again, Sarah. A blessing.
Fr. Phil Bloom
Lifeissues.net (Clear Thinking about Crucial Issues)
He Approached the Victim: "It's much more likely one of your relatives will lose his life by surgical abortion than by heart attack."
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