To a large degree, I have to agree with Dozer. It seems to me that "conservatives" put emphasis on having the baby, but once that baby is born, it and its mother becomes a "burden" on society.
The topic of abortion is near and dear to my heart for three reasons. First being, my mom with me. She was an RN, and the same day she found out she was pregnant with me, she also found out she had been exposed to measles. For weeks, her OB/GYN, and many of her doctor friends tried to convince her to have an abortion. They told her that there was a 25% chance or less that she would even be able to carry me to term, because I would be so deformed she would likely suffer a miscarriage. Why put yourself through that they asked her. She never had a doubt in her mind what she would do. Granted I was born 2 weeks early, but other than that, a healthy kid.
Many of you who have been on here a while know I had an unplanned pregnancy when I was a 1st Lt. I was not married, and it caused some pretty significant issues for my career, in the short term. Once again, people in leadership positions urged me to have an abortion. "Officers don't get knocked up" "You have to a choose between a career and a child as a single parent" blah blah blah. Luckily I had the support of the people that matter the most to me, my family. Mom, as a die hard Catholic, was upset that I had put myself in that situation, but she NEVER had anyting but compassion and love for me, and without her and the rest of my family, I wouldn't be where I am today. They all have played a significant role in raising my daughter, to the point that J sometimes says she has 4 mothers and 3 fathers
I never once considered having an abortion. It wasn't an option for me. I knew it would be hard, but I could not let my child die, because I made a poor decision in life. I can still remember the day she was baptized in the church I grew up in. There were those who appreciated the fact that I did not take the easy road, and had J. Then there were those who are against abortion, but like Dozer case with his son, looked down their nose at me since I obviously was going to need "help" raising my child. Meaning from the federal government, because Lord forbid I actually have a good job and a support network that would keep me off the public dole.
The final story is the most painful for me. My then 19 year old stepdaughter called me one day in May 2 years ago to tell me she was pregnant and needed to get an abortion. She refused to talk to her mother, and begged me not to tell her father. I told her I would never keep a secret like that from her dad, but if she didn't want her mom to know, I wouldn't tell her. In return I begged her not to have the abortion. I would take the baby, my sister who can't have children would take the baby, my best friend from college who can't have children would take the baby. All to no avail. She was not raised in my home, and therefore did not have the religious background to ask God for help and support. Her relationship with her mother is tenuous at best, and she could count on no support from her. Additionally, she was across the country, and any talk of coming out to us was out of the question. So she had the abortion, and my heart still aches any time I think of it.
So while these three stories go from a wed mother having a child, to an unwed mother having a child, to an unwed mother having an abortion, in my mind they provide a look into the reasoning why some decide to have their child, while others don't. Yes we have an epidemic in this country of single mothers having more and more babies, which almost to a person on this BB state they are tired of paying for. But until we can find a way to provide some support mechanism to these mothers, instead of just thinking they are another leach on society, we are going to continue to have issues such as this topic come up.
In my opinion, either we value the life just as much AFTER it is born, as when it is in the mother's womb, or we are hypocrits. As much as most of us would like to believe that "abstinence" is the best way to prevent an unwanted pregnancy, it isn't realistic to believe it is fullproof. I was raised to believe sex was for marriage. Look where that got me. We need to be teaching sex ed in schools. Maybe not to kindergarteners, but at the 5th and 6th grade level. We need to get young girls to believe they have more worth, than as jsut some cute guy's one night stand. (J's 10th grade class has almost 25 girls in it that either have babies or are pregnant right now). We need to teach young men that there is nothing "queer" about waiting to have sex, and if they do have it they need to start respecting themselves, as well as their girlfriends, enough to use a condom.
Off my soap box because I could rant about this forever. I believe abortion is murder. But I also think that condeming all mothers that choose to go this route, is wrong. As my parish priest said during his Easter Homily yesterday, Christ ate with sinner, Christ lived with sinners, Christ loved sinners. He did not condemn them. He slowly tried to get them to see the errors of their ways, with compassion, not condemnation. He showed us that strength of conviction and compassion are not polar opposites. Harshness and compassion are. So which are we going to choose to be?