You felt the need to make your feelings known when you saw us standing outside the abortion clinic. We were holding signs that said things like "Women do regret abortions" and "Choose Life." You told us that we were ignorant and that we ought to be ashamed of ourselves. You accused us of trying to exacerbate poverty in America. One of you did us the courtesy of coming over and speaking to our faces. One of you yelled at us out of the window as you drove by. Both of you were angry. Neither of you were inclined to listen.
We laughed it off and
reminded each other to pray for those who persecute us. "I'll bet that person has a hurt
somewhere deep inside," is what we usually say when someone yells at us, sometimes in a sympathetic manner,
sometimes with a "whoops, you missed me" jocularity. Sometimes we huddle up on the sidewalk and
have a "Can you believe this?" gossip session to relieve our
feelings. Because it hurts.
It hurts when you would assume that we have no facts to back
up our stance. No one likes to be thought of as ignorant, and you won't know how much we know until you're willing to engage with us. Moreover, we
think you really ought to listen to our facts before you start throwing things
at us, literally or verbally. For
instance, you accuse us of making more unwanted children, when as the statistics
stand, there are five couples waiting to adopt an infant for every one baby
that is aborted in the United States.*
We feel hurt when you accuse us of judging you when the people
standing outside that clinic are
generally the least judgmental people you're going to find. We don't judge clothing or economic
status. We don't judge you on your
ethnic background. We don't assume that
you're at an abortion clinic because you're selfish and want to live a rowdy
life. We are perfectly willing to extend
you every benefit of the doubt, but we want you to consider what it is that
you're about to do. Abortion is a
terrible decision.
You accuse us of wanting to limit women's choices. No, we want women to understand their
choices, and to choose options that bring out the best for everyone. We want them to understand that abortions
lead to a higher chance of reproductive cancer, medical emergencies, suicidal
depression, later pregnancy complications, sterility, and attachment
disorders. We want women to have accurate
information about the development of a baby, so they can understand that in all
likelihood, the baby will feel what is about to happen to it. We want them to know that they will miss the
little life that is growing inside of them.
You accuse us of protesting innocent businesses that don't
do abortions, only birth control. No, we
assure you that we spread out our resources very carefully. The clinic we stand outside of distributes
RU-486, a drug that strips the placenta out of the uterus, starves the baby to
death over a period of two weeks, and then causes the uterus to go into
sustained contractions to push out the necrotic fetal tissue. They distribute this drug all the way through
the first trimester. That's an
abortion.
You tell us that babies in utero don't deserve our
protection because they can't survive on their own. Neither can you, really. We all depend on the support of others. But to pursue your point,
babies ex utero can't survive on their own either. Without the care of their parents, they would
die in a matter of days too. But killing a helpless baby after it is born is considered a heinous form of child abuse. Why should killing a baby when it is even more helpless be called a decision? Logically, what is a human being the day after it was born was a human being the day before it was born. It's the same person; it deserves the same considerations.
So, to the women who gave us the benefit of their opinions this morning, I wish you wouldn't do it from a car window or on your way walking past. I'm sure you
firmly believe that you are doing what's best, but I wish you extend us the
same grace and come over and really talk to us and listen to us. We are considerate people. We're not going to hit you over the head with
our Bibles or prayer books. We'd like the chance to show you the answers we have for your objections. We'd like to give you the chance to consider our real position.
I'm not going to assume that you don't want to hurt us
because the whole point of public castigation is to make people feel bad so
they'll stop doing what they're doing.
We are not going to stop. You
can't make us feel half as bad as the thought of 3,353 babies dying every day
makes us feel or the thought of twice that many people throwing away precious
life and perhaps purity in the bargain.
If you wanted to make us flinch, you did. If you wanted to make us leave, it's not going to happen. We can't leave. There's too much at stake.
Sincerely,
JenniferA.
Sincerely,
JenniferA.
*Paul Placek, “National Adoption Data”Adoption Factbook IV (National Council for Adopion, 2007), 9. in "How will we care for the "extra" children?."(April 11, 2011.) Abort73.com. Accessed February 27, 2013. http://www.abort73.com/end_abortion/how_will_we_care_for_the_extra_children/
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