That Gray Area Between Pro-Choice & Anti-Abortion

There’s a lot of hoopla about the abortion fight lately. There’s a lot of name-calling and word-twisting going around. It’s almost dangerous to join into a conversation and express your opinion because the truth is very few people are 100% extremely for or against abortion and the people in the middle are in a mosh pit of sorts.

The Blogsphere, especially the feminist-leaning ’sphere, is filled with a whirlwind of terms and phrases — War Against Women, Women-Haters, Women-Opressers, Pro-choicers, Pro-lifers, Anti-abortionist, Anti-lifers. Personally, I’m not fond of the “pro-life” and “anti-life” versions as they really don’t reflect the groups labeled as such. I think “pro-choice” and “anti-abortion” are probably the best fits I’ve heard or read so far.

Personally, I’m pro-choice — and, yes, I do believe in God too. I kind of think I have a strange unique view on all of this as I can honestly say that I’ve never had to worry that I might have to make this choice. Yes, that’s true. This month I’ll be 35 years old, never married, and a virgin (a personal choice I made years ago).

I understand the religious implications and beliefs of the anti-abortion crowd. In fact, I believe that given the choice, I wouldn’t have an abortion myself because of those religious implications.

However, I also understand that not everyone shares my faith or beliefs and that maybe there isn’t anything wrong with that.

I also understand that no one knows anything 100%. No one can say when a fetus becomes a real human being with a soul. No one knows. In real life, women often miscarry, most often during the first trimester. Is God murdering those unborn souls? No one knows?

So, I don’t think I have a right to make that choice for anyone else and I really don’t think that anyone or government has a right to make the decision for a woman to carry a child to term for whatever the reason whether it’s her health, a rape, incest, economics, religion, her age, or something else entirely.

N2 and I were discussing this on Sunday as I was upset about the whole S. Dakota abortion ban and she asked me what I thought about partial abortioins. It was obvious to me that she doesn’t approve of them. That’s fine. I don’t approve either.

O.K. So I admit it. There’s no black and white. It’s all kind of grayish. The fact is that I don’t think that women should have abortions after the 4th month because I kind of believe that by then she should have made up her mind, by then she’s had enough time to decide, and by then the baby is well on his or her way to becoming a real human being.

I guess I kind of take it personally because I was a premie. I was born at 7 months and I figure if I was ready to come out at 7 months, then I was speedily developing in there and I can’t be the only one boogying to get out and see the world.

So I guess I’m pro-choice with limitations, if that makes any sense. As far as legislation, if given the choice between a world of two extremes where abortion is illegal and women are dying from illegal abortions or abortion is legal and women can choose to have one or not, I’ll go with the world where abortion is legal.

I know that for the foreseeable future, unless something drastically or tragically changes for me, banning abortion will not likely affect my person, but it’s a step backward in my civil rights as a woman. I am not a second class citizen. I am not a possession. I am head of my household. I pay my bills. I am dependent on no one. I may not need to make that choice but I have the right to make it should I want to and when I want to. No one should be able to tell me what I can and can’t do with my body.

It’s time for you men to notice that there are more of us than there are of you and start treating us with more respect and it’s time for you women to wake up and realize that we really do have the power — power in numbers and power in motherhood. Don’t you see, they’re trying to control the one thing they can’t do themselves.

tags: pro-choice, anti-abortion, abortion, War on Women, Women's Rights

6 comments

1. on March 7, 2006 at 5:51 pm

   Lady Cletic said:

   Hey, I appreciate your thoughtful blog on this subject. I agree there is alot of hoopla about it, but we do need to do something about it ya know. I was adopted as a child, so I am PRO adoption. I know there are other alternatives,BUT I am also pro choice because I feel that it isn’t my body, its not my decision and if this woman who has one believes in a God, then she has to reconcile with him, not me… I also agree that Partial birth abortions are wrong…

   Thanks for putting such a finely tempered post… All posts on this are needed…

2. on March 9, 2006 at 10:05 am

   The Naked Truth » Blog Archive » Why Does Congress Hate Women? said:

   […] Why? Didn’t I just confess to the blog world the other day that I am the world’s oldest living virgin? […]

3. on March 9, 2006 at 9:08 pm

   Big Dog said:

   Interestingly, we share the same birth month.
   But I am not 35 and I have kids though I have only been mariied once (still am) for over 25 years.

4. on March 9, 2006 at 9:08 pm

   Big Dog said:

   I forgot again to subscribe….

5. on March 9, 2006 at 9:39 pm

   n. mallory said:

   OK I’m really, really tired so I can’t resist asking.

   Pisces or Ares? I’d be willing to bet you’re Ares. You just have that attitude about you.

   I’m a cusp baby; so I’m mixed myself.

6. on March 9, 2006 at 10:45 pm

   Big Dog said:

   I am a fish with an attitude.
   If you are cusp your s is about 4 or so days after mine.
   I celebrate on a Saint’s Day

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