Speaking as a person who recently heard her mother admit to having contemplated when I was conceived -and- having had an abortion prior to my conception, speaking as someone who is the reason for her mother never having finished college, becoming a pilot in the air force and thus obtaining her dream, speaking as someone who watched her mother go through job after job hitting a ceiling because she didn’t have a degree, speaking as someone that lived in a trailer for nearly three years of her lives because neither parent could find a job to support a family in a house or apartment- I find the pro-death stance highly offensive. When mom told me that she had even thought about having an abortion when I was conceived she broke down into tears over breakfast. She told me that had she aborted me, she would have been aborting her best friend, that she would have been aborting the person who jumped into a swimming pool to pull her drowning sister out, the person who spends weekends helping with little projects, etc. Mom carries the guilt of her prior abortions and the notion that she almost put me to the knife so to speak. Yes, Mom was unable to finish college and yes it’s led to hardships but that’s part of life. All those kids that are being aborted haven’t even had the chance to live and make something of themselves. How many foster kids go on to write best selling books? How many kids that are wards of the state turn their lives around to start a charity or become leaders of outreach programs? God does what he does for a reason. Mom’s dreams didn’t come true, no, but I am grateful that mom gave me the chance to accomplish mine.
Please don’t get me wrong. I am glad that some women feel that they can handle it - I think it shows a strength of character and maturity, especially when they’re able to do it without assistance. And I think if a woman can support the child financially and emotionally, it is her responsibility to do so (she is the one who got pregnant, after all).
But for some women, I don’t think that’s always an option, especially for single mothers who have no other means of financial or emotional support and are barely scraping by themselves.
As far as the ‘what ifs’ - we’ll never know. That unborn child could just as likely be a criminal as an award-winning novelist. As I said before, poverty is very hard to rise out of, and for the number of kids who do make it - there’s probably a significant number who don’t.
A single mother who doesn’t abort could spend her life in debt and poverty trying to pay for trying to raise a child - who might just as easily turn around and make the same mistakes.
In short, I just can’t judge a woman for aborting when, if I ever found myself in that position, I might make the same decision.
Long story short, I don’t care what someone does with their own life, but it’s the life of another person that they’re taking along with all the potential for good and bad that comes along with it. I won’t judge someone for having an abortion, my mother had one herself, but it saddens me to see a life reduced to a matter of choice. If the woman wants to choose not to have a child, she should choose not to have a sexual lifestyle. No child should have to die so that his or her mother can fool around in the bedroom without consequences. Life is a gift from God, regardless of how it comes about. But if he’s willing to forgive a woman for aborting a child, then who am I to deny forgiveness for the same thing?