Am
I the only one who catches the irony in that?
Most
women who have abortions do so because they feel as if they don’t have any
other choice.
This
actually makes sense . . . after all, are there really any women out there who
say, “Gee, I sure do hope I get to have an abortion one day!”?
Not
likely.
No
woman wants to find themselves in the
position of considering an abortion.
But
approximately half of all pregnancies are unintentional, and approximately half
of those pregnancies end in abortion.
The
overwhelming majority (more than 90%) of women who do have abortions do so for personal
reasons (in other words, not for medical reasons and not because they’ve been a victim of
sexual assault). Those personal reasons most commonly include feeling that they
do not have the financial resources to bring up a child, believing that they
are not ready for the responsibility of raising a child, feeling that their
life would change too dramatically if they had a child (for example they might
believe that they would need to give up their education or their career),
believing that they are too young or not mature enough to be a mother, or knowing
that they already have all the children they want.
Of
course you may be thinking to yourself that such concerns could easily be addressed
by putting the baby up for adoption, but very often these women feel pressured
to have an abortion. Sometimes the pressure is direct—either from her parents or from the father of the baby—and sometimes it is more indirect—such as from the fear of what will
happen if others find out that she is pregnant. (The short forward for A Lady in Defiance details the
reality of some of those fears and can be read in its entirety for free by
following this link to Amazon and simply selecting “Click to Look Inside”.)
What
would happen if every woman who found herself in the midst of a crisis
pregnancy was able to easily secure all of the financial and emotional support needed to see that pregnancy through?
What
can we do to help them choose life?
Thank you for addressing this issue. We live in a culture where girls and women are objectified and sexualized and date rape happens a lot more often than we think (even in marriages, sadly). When girls are harshly criticized for being teenage moms and/or getting an abortion. As a society we undervalue single mothers in the work force but judge them as lazy when they need government assistance because 1 and 2 and 3 minimum wage jobs is not enough and judge them as mothers when their kids are emotionally unbalanced, needy and high maintence in school, because they get maybe 10 hours a week of their mothers connection and attention There is a serious disconnect and we as a community need to pay attention to all the mixed messages we are sending, do some soul searching and come to an understanding of what is we value. Life? or the individual value and story that each life carries with it.
ReplyDeleteThe issue of abortion is one that I have followed closely ever since my sister found herself in the position of being an unwed mother. The most startling thing that has happened in the last thirty years is that abortion is touted as remedy...a guilt-free remedy to carelessness, self-absorption, ignorance. Thanks to a pro-choice culture, there is very little moral pressure on girls/woman today to think about the life of the child rather than the life of the mother. After all, they can't afford the baby or it will be an inconvenience. Snap. Have an abortion. Problem solved. Every 26 seconds in the USA, a baby is aborted. A LIFE is ended, when the girl could have simply chosen to pop a birth control pill or get her partner to use a condom. I don't believe in free passes for bad behavior. I believe in trying to change the culture to respect the life of the helpless and the innocent. My hat is off to the mothers who choose to keep their babies and face the storms of life. True ladies in defiance!
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ReplyDeleteI just found out that my aunt Cindy is raising money for First Choice Pregnancy Solutions! Likely a limited time thing (unlike my blog, which will go on forever!), but I thought it was worth posting the link to her "Go Fund Me Page"! https://secure.ministrysync.com/ministrysync/event/website/?m=2676452
ReplyDeleteThank you for this. Nancy Weaver
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