This was a very interesting op-ed by a woman who shares her experience in a women’s book club meeting in which five of the six women (the author being one of them) admitted to having an abortion in the early years after Roe v. Wade:
We were among the first wave of girls who came of age after abortion became widely available in the 1970s. This past week marked the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the United States. Because of that, my friends and I – and millions of girls and women who followed us – were offered a safe alternative to shaming our parents, dropping out of school, marrying too young or suffering the trauma of adoption.
We sought abortions greedily.
Fewer women are having abortions these days. A much-discussed study released recently by the Guttmacher Institute showed a drastic 25 percent decrease in the number of abortions performed in the United States over the past decade. That may be because teens are better educated about sex or women have better access to birth control than we had. Or perhaps society has a more humane attitude toward single parenthood and adoption. I really don’t know why.
What I do know is that many of us who gratefully sought abortions in that first wave are mothers now. And our feelings toward abortion have become more complicated over time. For some, abortion is still viewed as our liberator, the event that allowed us to live the rest of our lives.
For others, it’s our burden. We can’t look at the children we have now without thinking of the babies who were never born.
Abortion is many things to many people, but to those who have experienced it first hand it is something uniquely personal. We would do well to keep a sympathetic eye out in our public discussions on the matter, for one never knows whom might be post abortive.
For those who seek it, healing is possible
3 Comments on “The Legacy of Abortion”
It’s kind of creepy, in a way. It’s story about women who, after all, killed their babies. Why? So they’d be remembered as cheerleaders and honor students and not as “the girl who had the baby”?
I don’t like the way she goes from “our abortions made the good lives we have now possible” to “abortion is acceptable”. John List had a very nice life after he killed his entire family. Can we argue backward from his good job and happy marriage, and conclude that killing his mother, wife, and children was therefore the right thing to do, even though it was painful? Do the ends always justify the means?
Wow, thank you for linking to that. Speaking of which, I just wrote a post about my conversion to being pro-life that you might enjoy.
Anyway, thank you for sharing this. I never cease to be amazed at how many women I know who have had abortions (and almost all of them deeply regret it).
Christina,
Recognizing the good that has resulted from a terrible tragedy doesn’t excuse the evil act, but is a witness to the grace and mercy of God. St. Paul tells us that where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. I liked the article because it is always surprising to see how, even though a woman doesn’t yet recognize the abortion as a bad thing, there is often still a sense of loss and regret that goes along with it. Many who have been touched by abortion have to live with the idea that the living children that they care for today might not be here if it weren’t for the death, the murder, of a child years before – a death that they were responsible for. Some aren’t yet spiritually mature enough to recognize the act as still evil, though God, in his infinite mercy, allowed for a greater good to result.
Of course most of the women, as the author points out, did get abortions for superficial reasons, but that is the pressure that is put on young women who find themselves in these situations. That is the tragedy that we’re trying to fight.
Jen, I have not yet read your post, but I look forward to it. I keep scrolling past it on my bookmark toolbar!
CZ