STORY BY SARAH GROSSMAN
After winter break over 500,000 men and women participated in the “Walk for Life” as “A voice for the voice-less.” As a Catholic and a female it is a topic close to my heart. I’m pro-life. Everyone has a right to life. I support those who have lived, have experienced, have sacrificed and have suffered.
I believe that all men and women have a right to their lives. They have a right to education, to a home and to basic sources of happiness, but most importantly, I believe men and women have a right to their own bodies and a right to whatever choices impact said bodies.
Now, as a pro-life/pro-choice Catholic my views have always incurred negative reactions from others within my religion.
I’ve been verbally attacked for my views, and I have learned not to state them. I have been told I’m “pro-abortion,” which is vastly incorrect.
I love children, especially babies, and I believe they are an incredible gift. But, there are thousands of children who are unloved, uneducated, uncared for, abused, suffer and die around the world from highly preventable diseases.
Yet, instead of using our nations resources to prevent these issues, congress is ignoring them. For instance, funding for education is down (which education actually decreases the rate of abortions), and congress is pushing forward an agenda not even supported by a majority of Americans.
On the day prior to the 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the House of Representatives, with an overwhelming republican majority, attempted to pass a bill outlawing abortion after 20 weeks. After years of watching congress struggle to pass legislation with a split house, it was interesting to see this bill also fail.
However, the 16 who spoke in favor, all but one a white male, were surely shocked to see their carefully planned bill lack the necessary support.
With such a movement to prevent late term abortions, along with anti-legislation for their healthy and costly access, I took it upon myself to determine why women would decide late term. Since this empathy for women is never mentioned in “pro-life” debates, I decided to attempt to create some.
Eighty-eight percent of all abortions are prior to the 20-week mark. These occur because a woman could not afford the procedure prior, due to healthcare bans or did not realize she was pregnant. Some abortions after this are to abort fetuses that will not survive life for more than a few weeks after birth or will die prior to birth.
There are multiple states that require a fetus to die inside the mother before she can have it removed.
Waiting for your child to die inside of you when you are well aware and when the doctors are well aware that it will die, is an insane and psychological form of torture, but few on the anti-women/anti-bodily rights/anti-safe healthcare debate seem to mention that.
So, finally, I wrap up this controversial topic, that I am sure will receive lots of feedback, with a quote from the pope himself, seeing as separation of church and state is an unattainable anomaly,
“We have to find a new balance,” Pope Frances said, “Otherwise, even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel.”
I agree. All I want is this balance. Understanding, empathy and love for all forms of life, not just the unborn, because, believe it or not, while this movement may give a voice to the voiceless, it also silences many.
