Lately, the newest topic of discussion on the Northup Family Yahoo Group, has been the issue of abortion, which has been hotly contested since The Supreme Court through Roe v. Wade in 1973 formally legalized abortion. This topic came back into the attention of the media following the Bush Administration's attempts to get a more Conservative Court through the appointment of two key Supreme Court justices. Also, in November, former President Jimmy Carter, interviewed by reporters about his upcoming book, "Our Enduring Values-America's Moral Crisis", stated: "I never have felt that any abortion should be committed - I think each abortion is the result of a series of errors...I've never been convinced, if you let me inject my Christianity into it, that Jesus Christ would approve abortion...I have always thought it was not in the mainstream of the American
public to be extremely liberal on many issues."
Of course, to add to the mix, Norma McCorvey, who was the "Jane Roe" in the Roe v. Wade suit, has changed her opinion on the matter, 23 years after she first brought suit against then Dallas County District Attorney Henry Wade, because he denied her the right to an abortion. Now, she is bringing a new suit against the current Dallas County District Attorney Bill Hill, asking that the previous decision be over-turned. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to hear McCorvey's arguments March 2, 2004. On Sept. 14, the 3 judge panel rejected the opportunity to re-open litigation, basing its ruling on procedural grounds.
I have always been opposed to abortion on a personal level, exactly as Jimmy Carter has outlined, however I have also always favored Roe v. Wade, based on an assumption it was saving a lot of young women from coming under the knife of illegal Abortion doctors in back alleys all over the country. Seems like many people have forgotten this aspect of the whole issue. It has been reduced to the simple analogy, "Choice versus Life". Nothing is ever this simple, unfortunately. Early on, I made the statement that I knew one gal, violently opposed to abortion on moral grounds, who paid for two abortions for her teen-age daughter.
My contention is and always has been that every case is unique and needs to be studied on a case by case basis. The High Court has consistently rejected all attempts by various venues attempting to circumvent Roe vs Wade. Essentially, what they accomplished in the 1973 decision was to prevent a single county or municipality from making any sort of law regarding abortion. This right they reserved for the highest court in the land. The Federal Government has spoken, "We hold this right to be self-evident..."
Katy Texas
15 years ago
9 comments:
So young women go to legal abortion doctors, aren't told the risks and the doctors aren't much better than the back alley doctors of 35 years ago.
Here's an article from family.org by a women who almost had an abortion.
Behind the Walls
by Rebeka Nancarrow
Some have said my story is unique in that I have had the rare experience of being behind the walls of a Planned Parenthood Abortion Clinic.
The father of my child did not want this pregnancy . He viewed my initial refusal to have an abortion as a way of trapping him. I was scared and could only see the hardships associated with being a single mom.
Only one month after my college graduation, I took the $8 at-home pregnancy test that confirmed my biggest fear. I took the test and two accusing lines stared back at me. The volume of my thoughts was immeasurable.
This once-devout Christian girl had not only engaged in premarital sex, but was actually contemplating the extermination of her child. "Who am I?" was all I could think. I was educated and convicted that abortion was in fact murder, but still those two pink lines whispered, "Hide it. . . Hide it."
Convinced that I would regret this decision for the rest of my life, I told the father that I could not go through with the abortion.
He left me, of course, with his final words being that my child would always be illegitimate and that I had ruined his life.
I believe many girls make the decision to carry through with an abortion against their own will due to the added pain of losing the man who had been that consuming force in their life.
Pregnancy outside of marriage carries its own burden, but when the father leaves and confirms his hate for you, that burden becomes suffocating.
My thoughts were juvenile, "I only want him. I do not want this child." My peripheral view became very narrow and my decisions irrational. I made the appointment for Wednesday.
When I made the initial call to the clinic, I asked the usual questions. How much does it cost? Does it hurt? How long will it take? How many days of work will I have to miss?
The answers were as follows: The procedure costs $276, which includes a sonogram, a sedative (valium) with pain killers, and three months of birth control packs.
The procedure itself lasts a total of 10 minutes, although I should expect to be there for at least 5 hours total. There will be slight pain that feels like cramping in my uterus that I shouldn't remember due to the sedatives.
I asked about this memory lapse and they explained that the IV administered would also include a drug that "erases" 2-3 hours of memory. I thought this to be strange, but not remembering what I was about to do seemed agreeable, and I asked no more questions.
As that dreaded day neared, I called Planned Parenthood and canceled my appointment. I did this three times. I finally willed myself to complete an unspeakable sin.
The night before my final appointment I visited with my best friend. She had no clue of the following day's events. We sat on her back porch with a wine cooler and talked of boyfriends and television sitcoms.
I tried to sleep late the next morning to lessen the conscious hours of thought and dread.
They said to call the morning of my appointment to receive directions and explained that there would be an armed guard at the medical suites to escort me to their office.
The guard was there as promised. He had a clipboard with a sheet of names and times. I glanced down at the paper and thought, surely all those names weren't for abortions.
Upon entering the waiting area, it proved true. It was like walking into a high school cafeteria. Ninety-five percent of the girls there were undoubtedly teenagers.
Laughter was the overwhelming sound as I surveyed the room. Most were there with friends, giggling, reveling in the excitement of missing a day of school. An excused absence nonetheless.
A few boyfriends sat around the room. They were all so young, with no shame on their faces at all. I walked to the counter. The receptionist was polite and gave me a clipboard with nearly a dozen pages of paperwork and general information. I was given a cup to produce a urine sample to confirm my pregnancy.
I read through the material slowly, secretly cutting my eyes at those around me, trying to gain some understanding to why we were all doing this. There were two older men there, much older than their teenage girlfriends, a few mothers, inconvenience on their face with having to miss a day of work to take care of their daughter's indiscretion.
Then there was me. Alone. Twenty-three years old and feeling like I was prostituting my body in the midst of utter sin. I hated myself. I hated being looked at as surely as I was looking at those around me.
I had contempt for every receptionist, nurse, doctor, even the security guard with his judging eyes. I wondered if they liked their jobs. Such a tidy little business that centered on this "Right to Choose."
As I pretended to read my book, tears stung my eyes while I engaged in the most sincere prayer I have ever uttered. "Please Jesus, send me out of here. Convict my heart. Move my legs toward the door. Do not forsake me now." Nearly two hours passed in the first waiting room. I hadn't finished one page of my book.
"Rebekah, birthday 4-12," they called. I hated the sound of my own name. Quickly I walked to the door, hoping no one would remember my face. I made no eye contact with the nurse. She was young also. Nineteen, 20 years old maybe. This clinic was plagued with youth and foolishness. I wondered if this was her internship.
We entered the sonogram room in order to determine how far along I was. She asked if I was nervous. I said, "No, just sad." She looked at me with compassion in her eyes and said, "Don't worry. You'll feel so much better once this is all over with."
I just looked away. She had no guilt or remorse for what she was a part of. She honestly thought she was doing me a favor. I was sad for her. I was suddenly sad for every worker there.
The sonogram screen was faced 180 degrees away from the table I was lying on. It would have been impossible to see the screen from my view although I didn't even try. She determined that I was 9 weeks along which meant a "suction procedure" as she described.
These words were so sterile; "procedure," " far along," " suction." I don't think I ever heard the word abortion one time throughout my entire dealings with Planned Parenthood. It would have been easy to never think that what we were engaging in was simply the end of a life.
I was directed to put on my clothes. I could return to the first waiting room if I had someone waiting for me, or I could go to a separate room for those who were alone.
The room was small and I was the only one there. I waited another two hours in that room. There was a television in the corner reporting the latest on the World Trade Center tragedy, but I hardly noticed. There was so much sadness in that room.
I had arrived to the clinic at 10 a.m. and it was now a quarter past two. Why must we wait so long? I remember being extremely cold the whole time. There were blankets in the first waiting room stacked on a chair as though they wanted it to be cold for a specific reason. Nearly everyone had a blanket on her legs.
I chose to remain cold. It kept my mind busy. The view out of the window was beautiful. Green trees about to change colors for the fall. I looked out into another world of warmth and life.
The last step before the actual 'procedure' was to talk to a counselor. She led me into a very small room with a counter and two chairs. The woman behind the counter was well into her 40s and far too old to buy into foolish decisions of the very young. She asked if I had any questions.
"Yes," I said, "I want to see a picture of a nine-week-old BABY." I enunciated "baby" very slowly and precisely. She caught on to my innuendo. "The FETUS," she replied, "is very small. I don't think it would be a good idea for you to see a picture."
I continued, "I want to know if the heart is beating." She said, "This is just going to make it harder on you." All at once it made sense to me. We weren't in that room to discuss options. We were closing the deal. She was at the end of her sales pitch and about to lose her account.
"I would like to see a picture, please." Reluctantly she pulled out an old, smeared copy of a hand-drawn "fetus" with a few statistics underneath concerning the baby's weight and length at nine weeks. That was all. No more details.
The "counselor" took it upon herself to validate this old sheet by saying, "At this point the fetus has no heartbeat. The spinal cord and nervous system have not been developed."
I hardly heard her, because a picture of a nine-week-old child is simply that. A picture of a child. I stared at these little hands and feet and head. I took a deep breath and quietly said, "What's the next step."
She proceeded to ask me a few questions. "When was the last time you drank alcohol?" With no thought I confessed, "Last night." She closed my file and said with a sigh, "We cannot do this today. We are going to have to reschedule." She explained that I could not drink within 24 hours of the procedure because they didn't know what effect it would have on the medication they would give me.
I had been here four hours and now they wanted me to reschedule. She said the next the next available appointment was in six days.
At that statement I knew I would never be back. I couldn't do this again. I couldn't wait six more days with the knowledge of having to start all over.
She said I owed them $70 for the sonogram that day and I could go ahead and pay for next weeks visit as well. Out of curiosity I asked if the $70 I would have to pay then would be deducted from next week's appointment. She said no flatly.
Suddenly it all made sense. It was for the money. Planned Parenthood is a very profitable, thriving business that exploits the foolishness of youth and veils it with their coin phrase, "A Woman's Right to Choose." There were no women in that waiting room. I myself am a child at 23.
She took my credit card. I felt raped. I signed my $70 receipt and tore up the carbon copy quickly. I had just sponsored the most vile business ever started.
I walked quickly out of the first waiting room, making no eye contact. The security guard stopped me outside the door and asked if I would be returning. Quietly I said no and retreated to my car.
I sat under those same green trees I had looked at through the waiting room window and touched my belly. My prayer had been directly answered. I have prayed my entire life for what now seems like very silly things. But that day I begged for the life of my child and it was granted to me.
Rebeka Nancarrow is a freelance writer
Copyright © 2005 Focus on the Family All rights reserved. International copyright secured.
Frankie, asnd whoever else may find the time to pass this way. Please do not get me wrong. I feel plenty of compassion for this young lady, and since this is the case with 90 % of abortions, I can concur, it is the most highly abused of all priveledges people enjoy today. I hate abortion and I hate the thought of destroying even one baby in the name of a woman's right to choose. However, I still maintain that it should be up to each and every one of these silly children to have to make that Choice on their own, for they will live with the consequences of their decision for the rest of their lives. It is not up to me to make that decision, and it is not even up to God. He has given us free choice to make that decision on our own and live with the consequences. I am sorry, I can not and will not reverse my position. Just as God made the Choice to allow Adam and Eve to make the final determination on eating the Forbidden Fruit, I have to follow His example and allow this sin to continue as long as Sin is in the World.
Then why have laws at all. Abortion is MURDER. Over a million abortions are performed every year and thousands of women have died during legal abortions. The clinics aren't equipped well enough to care for patients when things go wrong. Often women are sent home bleeding and have to call an ambulance to be rushed to the hospital. All the while, young girls are lead to believe there's little risk involved. I praise God that those babies are in heaven now but they aren't even drugged to spare them the terrible pain of the abortion.
This is truly a sad subject. With all of my pregnancies, even a premarital one, I never once even contemplated "abortion". I agree in a sense that if someone wants to do something wrong it's hard to stop them. But my God people, Jesus didn't stand there and watch as the people bought. sold and traded items in the temple courts. He threw a Holy Fit! I have no right to take away someone elses rights. I cannot on my own take much of a stand against this huge business. It will never stop until Jesus return. All I can do is pray for all those young little girls that go hide with there boyfriends and do the exact things that there parents think they would never do at that young age. This is where the decision is made first. This is the stand we need to take. We need to be on our knees in prayer for the next generation in this world of sin.
You guys are all making some very valid points. God's Law is clear..."Thou shalt not Kill..." Our own Law is alittle more vague. I do believe our current Law is where God wants it. You let the people know what is right and what is wrong, but you allow them the freedom of choice. To be in His Will, or outside it. We know what is expected. Sometimes, the choices are not so cut and dried or simple to make. I have nothing but compassion for those who are confronted with these choices. I will stand by them to my death bed, that they have the right to make their own choices, just as we all have this right to make our own choices in regards to other sinful behavior. Cyndi is carrying a second baby out of wedlock. Is that against God's Law?? Surely none of us disagree what is legal and what is not legal in God's eyes. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that as soon as we have hated our brother in our heart, we have killed him as surely as if we had picked up a weapon and shot him. These are hard words. They are much harder than any debate about abortion. If we are guilty of murder simply because we have harbored resentment to our brother, how can any man be saved?? Simply put, none of us deserves Salvation...We are all Saved simply because Jesus has chosen to be our Benefactor. End of story.
Cindy, as far as God is concerned you already are married. It is no longer a question. God doesn't require a certain order of rituals and words spoken to be considered married. When you layed together for the first time you were united as one in God's eyes. At this point it is only a concern of whether or not the laws of this world align with the laws of God's world.
I don't think what you say is true, Cyndi. I have not done a recent comparison study, but I do know our Income Tax laws do reward you for having children, and I think they also reward you for getting married. That is the primary reason Gays want Marital rights. I think I would do a more thorough research project on this one.
Cyndi's right about the taxes. The federal gov. has increased the deduction for marrie couples recently to eliminate some of the "marriage penalty" but MN's taxes have an add-back on this years returns.
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