I used to walk past the Lyndhurst Memorial Hospital to get to work, and every day, there were between five and fifteen pro-life people protesting there.
They weren't loud, or waving placards, but they were bowing their heads in prayer over a large portrait of the Blessed Virgin, right by the driveway. I can only assume that they had to tone their act down a bit since one of them got arrested for tunneling his way into the hospital.
They're still intimidating. That is the whole point of the pro-life movement: You think you can kill this baby? Then God is going to do a number on you.
Women who choose to have abortions are not baby killers. They are not monsters, nor sinners. They are people who have made a difficult and traumatic decision that is not the business of a cowardly busy-body who is going to tell his daddy on you.
My step-mother Mk1 has met the local leader of this protest movement. She describes him as a beast of a man, whose own family cowers before his rage, who tread fearfully lest they provoke him into violence. He has no other occupation except to direct them into preparing his propaganda literature, stand outside of clinics and hurl abuse at traumatized women and girls, and watch television, occasionally yelling at its representations of a godless world.
Why am I pro-choice? Because raising a child is a huge responsibility, and if you feel that the time is not yet right, if you feel that this child was unfairly thrust upon you, then you should have options. Because it is a matter for a woman to decide, along with the father (if he is sticking around- aparantly a penis comes with a 'run away from responsibility free' card-) and in consultation with whoever they confide in.
Ultimately, its none of your business. If you make it your business, you are an asshole. And if there is a God who would punish someone for refusing to raise a life in poverty, or hatred, or despair, then he is an asshole too.
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