If I were going to convert to any religion I would probably choose Catholicism because it at least has female saints and the Virgin Mary

~Margaret Atwood~


Very few times in my life am I actually smacked with my own opinion up side the head, today however this very thing has happened and made me question my own beliefs. I tend to think with the idea: you leave me alone, I'll leave you alone. I rode the fencepost so long, not really knowing what to believe. Yet, somehow, still knowing that when I lay my head down to sleep tonight, I'll drift off just fine.

(Before I start this rant, please let me clarify... Yes, I did go years without ever having a definitive view on any controversial subject. However, in the years since then, I have made up my mind and have voiced it over the last few years.)

I am of the opinion that it is a woman's choice as to what she does with her body. You cannot legalize morality and I think that it is unjust to do so. I have never known anyone to use abortion as a birth control option and nothing more. I have known several girls that had abortions while we were in high school. They were young, unsettled and were not prepared for the responsibilties of a child. I have known the occasional rape/incest victim that has had an abortion. All with reasons that when asked they could clearly explain to me. Let me restate, never have I known anyone to use it simply as a form of birth control and nothing more.

Today, I found out an acquaintance was pregnant. This person is recently divorced with children. She has met someone that she really does like and they have been together about 3 months. Yesterday, she found out she was pregnant. The new man in her life does not have children and may or may not be excited about the possibilities of fatherhood, but is ready to accept them. She who talked non-stop about wanting more suddenly does not. Without being able to give me a reason as to why this was an option for her, other than "we forgot to use protection".

This person is not accountble to me in any way. She doesn't have to give me a reason. She does not have to have face to face counseling with me before she does what she has decided to do. However, during her divorce it was brought up more than once that she was Catholic and divorce was just unacceptable. Now the idea that divorce is unacceptable but abortion is ok, kinda threw me. I'll admit, I was not prepared for it. She asked what I thought about her decision. I just stood there. Unable to comprehend, how once upon a time, someone who wanted another child so badly they were ready to adopt, comes full circle for an abortion. How divorce was the ultimate sin, but abortion was ok.

Simply put, I could not rationalize it. I still believe that she should have the right to choose, but she is my age. She has finished college. She is settled for the most part. There is a man that is willing to be a father. Yet, she jumps straight to that option. There was nothing that I could justify it with. Nothing horrible. Nothing life threatening. I simply could not put myself in her shoes and make the same decision. Then the realization occurred, I was trying to justify it. While it should be a woman's right to decide what is right for her and her body, I had never encountered it so blatantly before.


I can kick and scream all I want to, but justification is not needed.


"Funny business, a woman's career, the things you drop on the way up the ladder so you can move faster. You forget you'll need them again when you get back to being a woman. It's one career all females have in common-being a woman. Sooner or later we've got to work at it no matter how many other careers we've had or wanted. And in the last analysis nothing is any good unless you can look up just before dinner or turn around in bed and there he is. Without that you're not a woman. You're something with a French provincial office or a book full of clippings but you're not a woman." Margot Channing, All About Eve