LHARANGO@OWUCOMCN (Lauren Arango) (02/13/90)
I thought MAKS' latest posting on abortion was very good. I have always
felt that life began at conception; placing the beginning of life at any
other point in the development of the child seems arbitrary and iffy to me.
And I also agree that when we start saying that a human being may be
eliminated because it will not be a meaningful member of society (say, if
you find out that the baby inside you will be born with Downs' Syndrome
or spina bifida), it's only a short step to decide to eliminate Grandma
because it's inconvenient to take care of her at home and we don't have
the money for a nursing home.
When I was pregnant with Amanda (my daughter who is now 6 years old), my
obstetrician wanted me to have amniocentesis because I was then 36 years
old. He told me that if the results showed anything wrong with the baby,
I could then have an abortion. I informed him on the spot that I would
*never* have an abortion no matter what, and if that was the only reason
for doing the test, we could forget it....although I would appreciate
having it so that I would know ahead of time if there were going to be
something wrong with my child....and so could prepare myself for what
lay ahead. I did go ahead with it, and she was fine....no problem.
But as I lay there and saw her on the ultrasound TV screen, she was
a person! She had arms and legs and was moving around. There was *no*
doubt in my mind about it. And all I could think of was my obstetrician
saying that I could have an abortion when the test results came back!
And keep in mind that it takes about 4 weeks for the results to come
back (because they have to grow cells from the amniotic fluid, I think),
so my child would have been a whole month older than she was at that
time, and I still could have legally had an abortion! I had always
considered myself pro-choice before that....very strongly so....but
I think that that was the beginning of my change to pro-life. God let
me have a glimpse of what was *really* inside me on that ultrasound
screen, and having seen that, there was no way I could support abortion
after having seen that.
As far as a woman controlling her own body.... Certainly as a woman, it is
in my own interest to control my own body. And I *do* control my own body
when I make a decision to have sex, or to use birth control. Now I
realize that this is not the case with incest or rape, but I maintain that
*my* rights extend *only* as far as they don't infringe on others' rights.
I have the right to have a party at my home and play loud music, but my
right to do that extends only as far as my neighbor's right to be able
to go to bed at night and have it quiet enough to fall asleep. I have
the right to decide whether or not to have a child....but if that child
is already alive, then I no longer have the right to decide *not* to
have it. Make sense? I hope so.... I get awfully tired of abortion
being presented by pro-choice people as a women vs. men thing. I think
that's just a red herring to cloud the *real* issue.
Anyway, enough said. I have rambled on, haven't I? :-)
LaurenU1A9A@WVNVM (Bernice Tennant) (02/14/90)
Lauren,
I am glad that you made that posting. I used to be against abortion in
any form or shape. Then I listened to some things and decided that I must be
pro-choice because I hated to see women getting butchered because they made the
choice to illegally get an abortion. But after joining this list I have some-
how been in better tune with God and I now think that with God all things are
possible and women in trouble need to turn to him with their problems so that
he can help them cope and that it will never be necessary to harm one hair on t
heir babies heads. In the end, wrong is wrong and adults are responsible for
their actions. If women conceive,(whether they want to or not) they have a re
sponsibility to take care of Gods creation. Just because some women can die fr
om going against God, that is not a good reason for me to want the law to be on
their side. Whatever they do with with their children is on their heads and on
ours if our law does not protect the children. Praise God that I was in the da
rk and now I am seeing again.
Your friend in Christ, Bernice