Frozen in Disbelief

For most of us, thinking about the subject of abortion is uncomfortable, while the prospect of a discussion can raise our discomfort to unsustainable levels. For some, it is simply a subject not fit for discussion in polite company, like having polyps removed.  It happens, but we don't need to talk about it.  For others, discussion of the subject can hit too close to home, dredging up painful memories that we would prefer to remain buried, whether they are from our own past or perhaps someone close to us.  

For many years I was proudly pro-choice, mostly because I never fully considered the reality or the impact of what is lost in that seemingly simple, clinically sterile procedure known as pregnancy termination.  I had bought into all of the safety-minded and appropriately heartfelt jargon that softened my instinctual  understanding that abortion was, at its core, the triumph of one life, one lifestyle, one carefully mapped-out future, at the expense of another.  

It was during my own first pregnancy that I came to understand that what was growing inside of me was much more than a 'blob of tissue', or 'potential life'. At around the same time, science began to show us a more detailed view to the womb than had ever been seen before, and life inside that dark cavern was being explored in all its mysterious complexity.

Over time, I slowly came to understand that a fetus may be small, but it is a life:  no less grand, and no less ignoble, than my very own.  The tiny fetus that a woman in turmoil, or a man, or a family, contemplates the fate of on any given day in America, has its own unique destiny to fulfill on this planet, and we play god each time we impose our own will upon that destiny.  Sadly, many have since learned that playing god comes at a cost, and there are now generations of the 'walking wounded' among us today:  women, men, girls, mothers, fathers, lovers, brothers - each of whom have had a hand in the taking of one life so that another's may continue, in the mistaken view that life as they knew it could go on as before.   The sad reality is that abortion never claims only one victim.

This woman's story, while disturbing, is essential to understanding the reality of abortion.  If the director of a Planned Parenthood clinic could have her entire viewpoint changed by having to witness that reality firsthand, then I think it behooves us as members of the human family to read her story.  It is compelling.