Here's to Choice!

I personally do not care what the reason is that leads a woman to choose abortion. I do not hold an abortion in the case of rape, incest, or medical defect to be any more "right" than an abortion sought for an unplanned/unwanted pregnancy. I am not in a position to be so morally superior. I am not God; it is not my place to judge.

All I know for certain is that:
This is difficult


This is even more difficult

Pregnancy is an active, physically demanding condition. Even an "easy" pregnancy is never truly easy. Anyone who has ever been pregnant can attest to that and if you have never been pregnant or lived with a pregnant woman, spend some time reading blogs*, not books, and you will quickly discover that pregnancy is a mentally and physically draining cycle.

Viability will continue to become earlier and earlier, but until an embryo or fetus can survive outside of the womb, forcing a woman to carry a pregnancy is controlling her body, not protecting an unborn child.

We all know that pregnancy does not end with labor and delivery.** The majority would agree that parenting is the one of the most difficult jobs a person can ever undertake and undoubtedly the most important. Yet, our country continues to cut programs that enable women to "choose life" and feel safe with the knowledge that they will be able to properly provide for themselves and their child(ren). If parenting is as important as "we" say, then "we" should not want people to parent before they are ready.

Women are not stupid. We are not incapable of thinking rationally. Abortions cannot be performed on a whim; clinics do not operate this way and the laws certainly do not allow for walk-in, on-demand abortions. No matter how unwanted the pregnancy may be, I doubt there are women celebrating their abortion. Not regretting the choice, yes, but actively celebrating, I doubt it. I am more pro-choice now that I am a parent because I know the time, dedication, money, and emotional support it takes to raise children.

There must always be a choice.

*In the blogosphere, many of us who are pregnant have the luxury of whining about our pregnancy while we sit in our warm homes at our expensive computers using our high speed internet access. Imagine how much we would whine if we did not have such comforts. Oh wait a minute, we would not have time to whine because our focus would have to be on day-to-day survival.

**I am not delving into the topic of adoption.