Abortion and Secrets
Last Sunday a million people participated in a pro-abortion march in
Washington.
What is it that makes the abortion issue so contentious? I think it comes
down to secrets.
Most of those In the "March for Women's Lives," were women. What was their
secret?
Consider the banners and signs they carried: "It's Your Choice....Not
Theirs," said one.
"My Body - My Choice," screamed another. "Who Decides?" asked many.
What I read into those signs is a huge secret. A stunning 43 percent of
American women have had an abortion. Most were unmarried at the time. If
they had given birth to the child, it would have disrupted their lives. So
they have grounds, in their minds, justifying their choice.
However, the justification is really a rationalization. Consider another
one of the signs many were carrying: "Pro Choice - Pro Child." How can
abortion possibly be considered "Pro Child?"
The child in the womb, who is utterly dependent on his or her mother, has
its life extinguished by that child's own mother.
Yes, there were a few men in the crowd. Most were with a woman. I
wondered how many of them were responsible for fathering a child, and
responsible for pushing the woman to have an abortion. More secrets.
One of the more famous marchers was Ashley Judd, the beautiful young
actress. What would her mother, beloved country singer, Naomi Judd, have
thought about her daughter being a poster child for abortion? For many
years, Naomi has been open about her secret of becoming pregnant as a
teenager who firmly rejected abortion. She even worked as a labor and
delivery nurse, repeatedly witnessing the miracle of birth, and told Sally
Jesse Raphael in 1998, "I have seen the ultrasounds...you know that those
babies are real."
Surely, Ashley knows her mother's secret in detail. Yet she marched
against life.
What prompted a million people to fill the Mall between the Washington
Monument and the Capitol? Hatred of President Bush who has backed with
actions, his statement that unborn children should be "welcomed in life and
protected in law."
In his first weeks in office, he reinstated the Mexico City policy
prohibiting federal funds from supporting foreign abortions. He blocked
federal funding of research that kills human embryos and signed both the
Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act.
In signing the latter law, he said, "The Born-Alive Infants Protection
Act is a step toward the day when every child is welcomed in life and
protected in law. It is a step toward the day when the promises of the
Declaration of Independence will apply to everyone, not just those with the
voice and power to defend their rights."
Consider the historic words of America's most sacred document: "We hold
these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness - That to secure these
Rights, Governments are instituted among Men."
Government's role is to guarantee that the gift of life, which comes from
the Creator, is to be honored. This is a conviction deep in the American
soul.
Yet Sen. John Kerry said in the speech which launched his bid for the
Presidency, "As President, I will only appoint Supreme Court Justices who
will uphold a woman's right to choose." Interestingly, however, Kerry did
not join the march. Why not?
Undoubtedly, he has seen the latest polls suggesting that support for
abortion is falling. According to a Zogby poll last week, only 13 percent of
Americans believe abortion should be completely unrestricted - the extreme
position taken by those in the march. By contrast, 56 percent believe
abortion should never be legal or legal only where the life of the mother is
endangered or if the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest. Even
"pro-choice" supporters agree those cases are only 2 percent of abortions.
More Americans are now "pro-life" than "pro-choice," 49 percent to 45
percent. A decade ago a Gallup Poll reported 56 percent were "pro-choice"
vs. 33 percent "pro-life."
And what is the secret on the "pro-life" side? Half of America's births
were unwanted by their mothers at the time.
My secret is that my mother was pregnant when she married my father. I
was born seven months later. I am so glad that abortion was unacceptable in
1941.
Or you would not be reading these words.