Abortion… From an Adoptee Point of View

Ever since Governor Sarah Palin was announced as Republican Presidential Nominee John McCain’s running mate, the argument of Pro-Life vs. Pro-Choice has resurfaced with a life that nearly dwarfed the importance of the fight against terrorism and the recent 9-11 anniversary. Governor Palin’s views on adoption vs. abortion have evoked an extreme reaction from the liberal left, merely because she doesn’t agree with the decision/outcome of Roe v. Wade.

How dare she have her own opinion?! How dare she, a woman, be responsible enough to rear a child with down syndrome? How dare she allow her daughter to be responsible enough to follow through with child birth and… ready for this?… get married?! Who does that!? Especially in this day and age.

Ahh… you know the world is coming to an end, when a 17yr old woman actually takes responsibility for her actions. The world, my friends… is in peril. We also know we’re in trouble, when a working woman also wants to have children…

At least, that’s what traditional (aka extremist) feminists would have you believe…

Sheer poppycock! Poppycock, I say! Liberals are jumping all over the Palin family, based on ridiculous claims and actually utilizing a moral compass. Amazing! Still, it amazes me even further to know that women of the feminist movement are jumping on the bandwagon. Whose side are they really on?

From one adopted person to everyone else… allow me to give you my thoughts on the subject of Pro-Life/Pro-Choice, (Roe v Wade) and adoption/abortion.

But first, a few facts to acknowledge (borrowed from Guttmacher.org)…

1. Approximately half of all pregnancies in America are unintended. Four out of ten of these are terminated in abortion. 22% of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion.

2. Forty percent of pregnancies among white women, 69% among blacks and 54% among Hispanics are unintended.

3. In 2005, 1.21 million abortions were performed, down from 1.31 million in 2000. From 1973 through 2005, more than 45 million legal abortions occurred.

4. Each year, about two percent of women aged 15-44 have an abortion; 47% of them have had at least one previous abortion.

Yeah… 1.21 million abortions in one year, in one country… OUR country. 47% of which, were irresponsible women who didn’t think twice about doing it again – making the same mistake again. If you ask me, there’s something very wrong with that.

This country’s moral compass has been critically going down the tubes over the last 10-15 years. When the country decided that it was “ok” for Bill Clinton to have sexual relations in the White House with someone other than his wife, and then it was “ok” that he lied on the stand and whilst impeached… I knew something was certainly wrong with the way things were going. Amongst liberals, he’s touted as being one of the best presidents we’ve had. That’s laughable. There are definitely more reasons than just this instance of betrayal to dislike the ex-president of the United States, but that’s a subject for a different day.

I digress… Back to the subject at hand. Abortion. What a touchy subject. Pro-choice vs. Pro-life. Typical Conservative vs Typical Liberal. Is there a right decision? Is there a wrong one? Maybe there is no answer to this perplexing question, but at least you an get the perspective of someone that’s been adopted right here… right now.

I used to be pro-choice. In fact, I was all for abortion or adoption up until I actually grew up. Once I matured, I started thinking about politics and life in a different way, from a different point of view. I started to see moral injustices from both sides of the aisle; liberal and conservative. I started seeing inconsistencies in arguments and a widdling down of everything that makes America great.

Now, I’m pro-life with some provisions, of course. Here’s the reason why I’m pro-life, and to me, it really is just common sense…

The legalizing of abortion has really only made an additional excuse for women to behave irresponsibly. I’m not saying they’re irresponsible or responsible all the time, nor does this apply to everyone, but I’ll explain.

By looking at the numbers I cited above, you can see that many women, usually teens to young adults, are unintentionally becoming pregnant. Why would you think that is? Most are probably having unprotected sex, either because they’re partying too hard and forget or just have enough faith that becoming pregnant will never happen to them. Still, there’s another percentage of those women that just don’t seem to care. They see pregnancies as another chance “thing” that occurs sometimes on behalf of having a good time… having sex.

Now, I’m all for a good time and I do enjoy sex, but even married I still have protected sex and I always have. Why? Because I’m not ready for a child. That’s called being responsible in my book. Having made abortions legal has given women an easy out. They’ll have unprotected sex, because it “feels better” (and it does) or for whatever other reason that they think of. Women, in this day and age, literally have no fear of commitment or being held responsible for something, because they no longer have to.

What would happen if we kept abortion legalized, but added some stipulations to it? For one, victims of rape would be one exception to the rule. And two, if a woman’s life/health were to be placed in danger due to the pregnancy. The only reasonable time, I would think (and according to most medical professionals that I’ve heard from), to perform the abortion would be within the first trimester.

Ok, so why victims of rape?

I think it’s important to note that rape is a horrible offense and anyone that’s been raped will have to live with the memory of that attrocity for the rest of their lives. In the instance that a rape victim is impregnated, she has no control of the situation and couldn’t have stopped it from happening. As horrible as it is to think about, I do believe that a woman that would potentially keep this child would live to regret it for the rest of her life. Any time she would look at her baby, adolescent, teen, college student, adult… she would always be reminded of her assaillant… her rapist. The person who took her freedom away and violated her. Who knows how this would affect someone? Maybe she would neglect the child? Maybe she would treat the child as if it were no different. I don’t know and I’ll never pretend to know, but I do believe the woman should have a choice in this instance.

Why should the health of the mother supercede that of a the unborn baby? This should be completely up to the woman, as it’s her health and her life. She should have the final say, since it has everything in the world to do with her livelihood. Even in the case where a woman did not know until the third trimester, that the birth of her baby might kill her, she should still have that choice. This, I believe is the only moral exception to the 1st trimester rule.

Won’t women still have unprotected sex and still try to have abortions underground? Isn’t this what lead to Roe vs Wade? Well, if abortion were still made legal with these exceptions/stipulations, doctors could still practice legally. They would have no reason to go underground and the medical organizations and government responsible for upholding the medical ethics code and standards could regulate these doctors. Doctors operating under the radar would obviously be prosecuted and could stand to lose their license.

The American people need to wisen up. They need to create and utilize a new moral compass that everyone can agree to. Morality needs to be brought back into the United States. In order to do this, however… a passing of a law is not enough. Parents, teachers and children need to be educated, as that’s where this starts. The government cannot legislate morality or even responsibility, they can only provide the means to lead a moral and responsible life.

Thus, sex education should incorporate various protective and preventative measures: condoms, abstinence, birth control pills/shots, etc. Schools should teach children about the benefits and importance of adoption and it’s effect on society. They should teach and deglorify abortion and show that it’s not all it’s made out to be. It has repercussions, both physically and mentally, scarring people for the rest of their lives. Adoption should be taught and seen as a responsible action for someone that can’t care for a child themselves.

It starts in the class room, but it doesn’t stop there. Parents need to become involved. There’s been so much neglect and ignorance in the United States over the past several years and it certainly shows. You can see the results, publically, in any school, at any mall and pretty blatantly in Hollywood. Kids are looking up to Britney Spears, Madonna, and Paris Hilton, when they should be using their parents as role models. Parents must also be responsible and they need to teach their children a moral code to live by; they need to be strong role models.

You may think I’m being a little too harsh. However, I do believe that responsibility is a non-issue for young adults and even older adults. I think that most teenagers are apathetic towards pregnancy and will continue to have unprotected sex and continue to be irresponsible until certain actions are taken. Reform the abortion laws, increase sex education in the homes and in the schools, get teachers and parents involved with the children, and hopefully we can turn this country around.

Would I pass a law to ban abortion completely? No. Would I pass a law to reform abortion laws? Probably.

What would you do? Why am I right or wrong? You tell me. =]